George Santos wants jury pool in his fraud trial questioned over their opinions of him
CENTRAL ISLIP, NY — Former US Congressman George Santos wants potential jurors in his fraud trial to be questioned about their opinions of him in September.
The request is one of several issues a judge is expected to consider during a hearing Tuesday in a federal court on Long Island. Santos has pleaded not guilty to a series of financial crimes, including lying to Congress about his wealth, collecting unemployment benefits while actually working, and using campaign contributions to pay for personal expenses such as designer clothes.
The New York Republican’s attorneys argue in recent court filings that the written form is necessary “with respect to the knowledge, beliefs and prejudices of potential jurors” because of the extensive negative media coverage of Santos, who expelled from Congress in December, after an ethics investigation found “overwhelming evidence” that he had broken the law and exploited his public position for personal gain.
They cite more than 1,500 articles from major news organizations and a ” Saturday Night Live “sketches about Santos. They also note that similar questionnaires were used in other high-profile federal cases in New York, including the trial of notorious drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.
“For all practical purposes, Santos has already been found guilty in the court of public opinion,” the defense’s memo filed last week reads. “This pervasive and damaging publicity creates a significant likelihood that potential jurors have been exposed to impermissible and biased information, and have already formed an adverse opinion of Santos, jeopardizing his right to a fair trial.”
Prosecutors, who filed their objections in a legal brief Friday, argue that Santos’ request is merely a delaying tactic, since the trial date was set more than nine months ago and some 850 potential jurors have already been summoned to appear in court on Sept. 9.
Public perception of Santos, they argue, is also “largely a product of his own making,” as he has spent months “approaching the press and creating media attention.”
“His attempt to complicate and delay these proceedings through the use of a lengthy, cumbersome and time-consuming questionnaire is yet another example of Santos attempting to use his public persona as both a sword and a shield,” they wrote. “The court must not permit him to do so.”
Santos’ attorneys, who did not respond to an email seeking comment, also asked the court in their legal filing last week for a partially anonymous jury for the upcoming process.
They say the identities of the individual jurors should be known only to the judge, the two parties and their attorneys because of the high-profile nature of the case.
Prosecutors said in a written response to the court on Friday that they would not object to the request.
But government lawyers are also seeking to admit into evidence a series of lies Santos told during his campaign. Before he was elected in 2022 to represent parts of Queens and Long Island, he falsely claimed to have graduated from both New York University and Baruch College and to have worked at financial giants Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, prosecutors said.
They claim that the widespread fabrications about his background are “inextricably linked” to the criminal charges against him.
Santos’ lawyers declined to comment on the prosecutor’s request.
Last month, federal judge Joanna Seybert rejected Santos is requesting that three of the 23 charges against him be dropped.
He to abandon a hopeless attempt to return to Congress in April as an independent.
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Follow Philip Marcelo on twitter.com/philmarcelo.