Santos backs crackdown on fraud he's charged with committing

We're going to be voting on legislation that crafts down on unemployment fraud. How do you justify that with the allegations against you? It's been quite a week for Congressman George Santos. Yesterday, America's serial fabulist pleaded not guilty to 13 felony charges in a federal court in New York, including unemployment fraud. According to the Justice Department, Santos unlawfully applied for unemployment benefits that should have gone to New Yorkers who had lost their jobs due to the pandemic. Prosecutors alleged that Santos fraudulently received more than $24,000 in unemployment benefits between June of 2020 and April of 2021. After being released on a $500,000 bond, Congressman Santos came back to Capitol Hill for a series of votes, including a vote on a bill to fight unemployment fraud. Wait.

Yes. Really. Congressman Santos was voting yes on the Protecting Taxpayers and Victims of Unemployment Fraud Act. Do we call this irony? Do we call it chutzpah? Or do we just call it wild delusion? And there's more. Congressman Santos is a co-sponsor of the spill. He is due back in court on June 30th to face those criminal allegations for unemployment fraud. And because it is 2023 and this is now how things happen, Santos also reportedly made a deal with prosecutors in Brazil today in exchange for confessing to stealing money when he was 19 and paying a $2,000 fine and nearly $3,000 in restitution.

In exchange for all of that, prosecutors will drop criminal charges that have been pending against Santos for more than a decade. That is, once the check's clear.

Alex Wagner