"Santos has a lot going on. I think he has other things to focus on in his life other than running for re-election," he was quoted as saying.
Santos was released on a $500,000 bond and is due back in court for his next appearance on June 30. This means he can go back to Washington and cast votes in Congress. As a condition of his release, he agreed to surrender his passport and to limit his travel. Federal prosecutors said they had evidence of a sweeping pattern of fraudulent behavior. "Taken together, the allegations in the indictment charge Santos with relying on repeated dishonesty and deception to ascend to the halls of Congress and enrich himself," Breon Peace, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement.
CALLS TO RESIGN Nine House Republicans have so far called on Santos to resign, including six from his home state of New York. But No. 2 House Republican Steve Scalise said the caucus would withhold judgment on Santos. "In America, there's a presumption of innocence, but they're serious charges. He's going to have to go through the legal process," Scalise told a press conference.
Santos said he had no intention of resigning and would run
for re-election in 2024.
Shortly after Santos' election in 2022 to represent a
wealthy area of New York's Long Island, the New York Times and
other media outlets revealed that he had fabricated almost every
aspect of his personal and professional history.
Among other claims, Santos said he had degrees from New York
University and Baruch College despite neither institution's
having any record of his attending. He claimed to have worked at
Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, which also was untrue.
He said falsely that he was Jewish and that his grandparents
escaped the Nazis during World War Two. Santos, who identifies
as gay, also failed to disclose that he was married to a woman
for several years ending in 2019.
He has since admitted to fabricating large parts of his
resume.
The House Ethics Committee in March launched an
investigation to look at issues from alleged illegal activity
over Santos' 2022 campaign and failing to properly disclose
information required on House statements to violations of
federal conflict-of-interest laws.
Some of the allegations in the indictment track closely with
the claims being investigated by the House panel.
In the political campaign scheme, prosecutors said Santos
laundered donations into his own personal bank accounts and used
thousands of dollars to pay for personal expenses, from luxury
clothing to credit card payments.
He also is accused of repeatedly making false statements
about his income in forms he filed with the House.
In a third alleged scheme, the indictment says Santos
illegally filed for unemployment benefits at the height of the
pandemic, reaping more than $24,000 at a time when he was
earning a $120,00 salary - a claim Santos called "inaccurate."
(Reporting by Karen Freifeld in Central Islip, New York, and
Sarah N. Lynch in Washington; Additional reporting by Moira
Warburton, David Morgan and Rami Ayyub in Washington and Costas
Pitas in Los Angeles; Editing by Scott Malone, Alistair Bell and
Lisa Shumaker)
