George Santos Rages Against Indictment

Embattled Republican Congressman George Santos has vowed to defeat a litany of charges issued as part of a new 13-count indictment, calling himself the victim of a "witch hunt" during a tumultuous press conference outside a courthouse in Central Islip, New York.

The charges filed by the U.S. Attorney's office in the Eastern District of New York against him are seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds, and two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives.

Santos was elected in November and almost instantly drew attention when multiple stories came out about his personal and professional past, swiftly changing the minds of his district's voters and leading to calls for resignations.

The first-term Republican initially described his lies as "embellishments," among them not graduating from college, not working for Goldman Sachs, not owning 13 properties, and misrepresenting a Jewish heritage.

"It's a witch hunt," Santos told a throng of reporters after departing the courthouse Wednesday afternoon. "It makes no sense that in four months, five months, I'm indicted. You have Joe Biden's entire family receiving deposits from nine family members receiving money from foreign destinations into their bank accounts."

Santos was booed by protesters when he brought up Biden, who was the centerpiece of a 36-page House Oversight Committee memo released Wednesday morning by Republicans. It accuses the Biden family of earning millions of dollars from Chinese and Romanian during Biden's days as vice president.

"I'm going to fight my battle. I'm going to deliver. I'm going to fight the witch hunt. I am going to take care of clearing my name, and I look forward to doing that," he added.

Santos also pledged to run for reelection, seeming to take a jab at the resumes of other elected officials.

"I'll be a chairman of a committee in a couple of years, if you just look at the standards of Congress," he said. "Look at the Senate."

A 'pathological liar'

Lisa Parshall, a political science professor at Daemen University, told Newsweek via email that Santos is following the Donald Trump script of "decrying any accountability as political persecution and engaging in whataboutism."

"Santos is benefiting—for now—from federal congressional leadership that has all but abdicated ethical responsibility in favor of retaining power," she said, referring to his hold on a congressional seat won in a district that voted plus-8 percentage points for Biden in 2020.

Since Santos does not have the same political power as Trump, she believes he will be among the most vulnerable members should he run again.

"Republican control of the House in 2024 is going to run right through New York," Parshall said. "I would expect congressional party leaders ramp up the pressure on him to resign, or primary him before waiting for the voters to turn him out.

"For now, their position seems to be that, until there's a conviction, surrendering his committee assignments is sufficient."

Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor, told Newsweek via phone that past allegations leveled against Santos, including bad checks in Brazil, Ponzi schemes in Florida, stealing dogs and defrauding charities, were baked into his "pathological liar" persona.

"I thought it was just a matter of time before this guy gets hit with something," Rahmani said.

Virginia Representative Don Beyer tweeted that House Republicans on Wednesday are beginning floor consideration of a bill that would defund efforts to crack down on unemployment fraud, on the same day Santos was charged with that crime.

"You can't make this up," Beyer wrote.

Jay Oliver, LI News Radio Morning Host, told Newsweek via email that it's "Politics 101" to not invoke the term "witch hunt" when investigated for any criminal wrongdoing.

"This won't be a smooth ride for the embattled congressman with all his past fabrications, and the seriousness of a 13-count indictment including that of embezzling $50,000 in campaign money," Oliver said. "For Santos' sake, a good impression with those designer duds and a good lawyer will leave his mark in the courtroom."

Earlier this year, instead of encouraging him to resign or to weigh impeachment in an already thin GOP-led chamber, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy gave the House Ethics Committee the ability to provide further oversight.

At least nine House GOP members have called for Santos to publicly resign, according to Reuters. But they have not included McCarthy or No. 2 Republican Steve Scalise.

"In America, there's a presumption of innocence, but they're serious charges," Scalise said. "He's going to have to go through the legal process."

On Wednesday, Representative Steve Womack told CNN's Manu Raju that the GOP doesn't "need these distractions," while Representative Nick LaLota said that Santos would take the focus away from "things like border, China and debt."

"[Santos] is a joke and the indictment speaks to that by pointing out that he embezzled to buy himself designer clothing, amongst other misuses of campaign funds," New York-based attorney Andrew Lieb told Newsweek via email. "He is a black eye on the Republican Party and Speaker McCarthy needs to decide whether keeping Santos on board to maintain his narrow hold on the speakership is enough to justify letting this indicted fraudster stay in Congress for even another day."