A shocking House ethics report into Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) was released today, detailing a staggering level of alleged self-enrichment from campaign funds, as well as a host of ethical irregularities.
According to the report, Santos used campaign money to pay off his credit cards, subscribe to OnlyFans accounts, and shop at Hermes.
In a tweet posted on X, Santos denounced the ethics report as a “disgusting politicized smear that shows the depths of how low our federal government has sunk.”
“Everyone who participated in this grave miscarriage of Justice should be ashamed of themselves,” Santos wrote, before calling for the states to rise up in a new constitutional convention.
However, the report must have had some impact, as Santos’ post also pointed to his next step: not running for reelection in 2024.
“My family deserves better than to be under the gun from the press all the time,” he wrote, while promising to finish his term and “maintain my commitment to my conservative values in my remaining time in Congress.”
That prompted a troll from the other side of the aisle, from the representative who first went after Santos.
“George Santos, who illegally spent campaign funds on porn sites and Botox, has announced he is no longer seeking re-election,” reacted Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) the Bronx congressman who filed an ethics complaint against Santos in January. “I will be the sole surviving Jew-ish gay Latino Congressman from New York.”
Santos, who was elected in 2020, took office as the first openly gay Afro-Latino congressman. Santos is a rare openly gay Republican, the first one to win office campaigning openly. (Jim Kolbe, an Arizona representative, came out in 1996 after already serving in office for a decade).
Santos, who made headlines for years due to his frequent fabrications and fabulism about his background, also once claimed he was “Jew-ish” as a “joke” because, while he was raised Catholic, he comes from a Jewish background.
“I believe we are all Jewish, at the end—because Jesus Christ is Jewish,” Santos said in 2020. “And if you believe in Jesus, and we’re all brothers in Christ, I mean.”
Torres isn’t Jewish but has been a fervent advocate for Israel online and in office. Since the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, Torres has frequently accused critics of Israel’s government of antisemitism.
Torres spoke at the March for Israel protest in D.C. on Tuesday against calls for a ceasefire in the current conflict, which has killed nearly 13,000 people in Israel and Gaza, with the bulk of those deaths (around 11,300) coming from Palestine.
“Not everyone calling for a ceasefire wants Israel to cease to exist. But everyone who wants Israel to cease to exist is calling for a ceasefire,” Torres said at the march. “Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Islamic Republic of Iran are all calling for a ceasefire.”
Torres’ “Jew-ish” remark was a clear tongue-in-cheek joke that was appreciated by some people.
“On behalf of the Jewish community, mazel tov!” wrote one.
But others didn’t find it as funny.
“You are not Jewish you weirdo,” wrote another.
