George Santos to attend State of the Union after expulsion | EUROtoday

Sign up for the each day Inside Washington e mail for unique US protection and evaluation despatched to your inbox

Get our free Inside Washington e mail

George Santos, the serial fabulist who was expelled from the House in December, confirmed up within the House to attend the State of the Union.

“After three months away from this place, I figured I’d come visit and watch the SOTU and update my ‘friends’ in the media about my new plans for public office,” Mr Santos advised Axios.

Farnoush Amiri of the Associated Press famous on X: “According to House rules, any former lawmaker can maintain their floor privileges unless they are a lobbyist, foreign agent, have a direct interest in the bill being considered at the time, or have been convicted of a crime in relation to their election or service.”

Mr Santos was sporting a bedazzled collard and silver footwear, CNN famous.

He was ousted from Congress on 1 December by a vote of 311-114 after an Ethics Committee report discovered that there was “substantial evidence” that he had “knowingly caused his campaign committee to file false or incomplete reports with the Federal Election Commission; used campaign funds for personal purposes; engaged in fraudulent conduct in connection with RedStone Strategies LLC; and engaged in knowing and willful violations of the Ethics in Government Act as it relates to his Financial Disclosure (FD) Statements filed with the House”.

The report revealed that Mr Santos had spent round $6,000 in marketing campaign donations on the luxurious model Ferragamo and Botox injections, based on marketing campaign spreadsheets. It was additionally reported that marketing campaign funds have been used for OnlyFans subscriptions – the location finest recognized for internet hosting grownup content material.

Mr Santos, 35, was elected to Congress in 2022 after a failed try in 2020. After his election win – however earlier than he was sworn in as a member of Congress – tales started to appear in The North Shore Leader and The New York Times outlining how massive components of his resume have been made up, together with his job and schooling historical past.

It later emerged that Mr Santos advised lies about his mom dying on 9/11 and his grandparents being Holocaust survivors. In May, Mr Santos was charged with 13 costs in a Long Island federal courtroom and, in October, was hit with a superseding indictment itemizing 23 counts. He initially pleaded not responsible to all costs, however he’s now in talks for a attainable plea deal.

Last month, he mocked his outdated social gathering after they misplaced his seat in a particular election in New York’s third district.

Democratic Rep Tom Souzzi – the person who represented the district earlier than Mr Santos received in 2022 – received again his outdated seat on Tuesday night time in a decent race towards Republican nominee Mazi Melesa Pilip.

Mr Souzzi selected to not run for re-election in 2022, as an alternative mounting a failed main marketing campaign to be the Democratic nominee for governor, which he misplaced to incumbent Governor Kathy Hochul.

“I won #NY03 with $0 super PAC money, $0 CLF money and $0 Establishment money,” Mr Santos wrote after the election. “Tonight the establishment set $10 million on fire! I FLIPPED a 23 year Blue seat with the help of grassroots activists and by activating the base with retail politics… Hey @NassauNYGOP money does not buy votes, it’s respecting the wishes of the base that wins votes. #NY3 is #MAGA country and since MAGA was disrespected, MAGA stayed home!”

Ahead of the State of the Union in February final 12 months, Mr Santos got here eye to eye with Utah Senator and 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney. The senator advised Mr Santos that he didn’t belong in Congress and “should be embarrassed”.

“Tell that to the 142,000 who voted for me”, Mr Santos is reported to have replied.

After the speech, Mr Romney known as Mr Santos a “sick puppy”.