New York lawmakers renew calls for George Santos to RESIGN from Congress after he was hit with 10 MORE charges of identity theft and fraud

A handful of New York Republicans renewed their calls for GOP Rep. George Santos to resign after he faced a series of new criminal charges Tuesday.

Santos faces 10 new charges, including allegations that he stole the identities of his political donors and used their credit cards to spend tens of thousands of dollars.

The 23-count supersedes an indictment filed earlier against the New York Republican that accuses him of embezzling campaign funds and lying to Congress about his wealth, among other offenses.

“He’s a terrific person,” Rep. Nick Lalota, R-New York, told Punchbowl News. “He does not deserve to be in the House of Representatives. He deserves to be in federal prison. And I think the idea of ​​shedding is going to be something that a lot of my colleagues are going to be talking about.”

New York Republican Reps. Marc Molinaro, Mike Lawler and Anthony D’Esposito also renewed calls Tuesday for Santos to resign, Punchbowl reported.

While several House Republicans have said Santos should step down, the party would not go so far as to support a resolution House Democrats introduced in May to impeach him.

The House Ethics Committee is in the midst of an investigation into Santos.

Rep. Elise Stefanik, New York’s most powerful Republican, said in May that “the legal process is going to work itself out” and noted that Santos was not the first member of Congress to face criminal charges.

On Tuesday, Santos told reporters he would not resign, adding that he had not even seen the new charges as he attended a closed-door meeting of House Republicans discussing the presidential election.

“He rushed into his office and knocked on his door,” she noted CNN Congress reporter Manu Raju.

House Republicans are still reeling from the ouster of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy last week, leaving them leaderless and the House unable to conduct any business.

Republicans only hold four seats, so Santos’ loss could create even more chaos.

Former Democratic Rep. Tom Suotsi announced Tuesday — before the new charges were dropped — that he planned to challenge Santos for his seat in the 2024 election.

“The madness in Washington and the absurdity of George Santos remaining in the United States Congress is obvious to all,” Suotsi said in a statement. “You know me, I’ve never sat on the sidelines. From the cost of living to immigration, crime, climate change, fighting terrorism in the Middle East and globally, and just helping people, we need more common sense and compassion and less chaos and senseless fighting.”

Last week, Santos’ former campaign treasurer agreed to plead guilty to fraud.

Tuesday’s charges include allegations that he charged more than $44,000 to his campaign over a period of months using cards belonging to unknowing contributors.

In one instance, the 35-year-old charged $12,000 to a contributor’s credit card and transferred the “vast majority” of that money to his personal bank account, prosecutors said.

Santos is also accused of falsely reporting to the Federal Election Commission that he had loaned $500,000 to his campaign in an attempt to convince Republican Party officials that he was a serious candidate, when in fact he had less than $8,000 in his personal accounts.

“As alleged, Santos is accused of stealing people’s identities and charging his donors’ credit cards without their permission, lying to the FEC and by extension the public about his campaign finances,” said Breon Peace, US . Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

Santos has previously maintained his innocence, insisting he is the victim of a “witch hunt”.

The new charges deepen the legal jeopardy for Santos, who likely faces a lengthy prison sentence if convicted.

So far, he has resisted all calls to step down, insisting he intends to run for re-election next year.

Santos’ personal and professional biography as a wealthy businessman began to unravel soon after winning election to represent Long Island and Queens last year, revealing a tangled web of deceit.

In addition to lying to voters — about his distinguished Wall Street background, Jewish heritage, academic and athletic achievements, animal rescue work, real estate holdings and more — Santos is accused of running numerous fraud schemes to enrich himself. himself and mislead his donors.

He was originally arrested in May on a 13-count federal indictment that accused him of using funds intended for campaign spending on designer clothing and other personal expenses and improperly receiving unemployment benefits for Americans who lost their jobs due to the pandemic.

Free on bail pending trial, Santos has described his lies as victimless embellishments, while blaming some of his financial irregularities on his former treasurer, Nancy Marks, who he claims was “repulsed”.

Last week, Marks, a longtime Long Island political accountant and close associate of Santos, pleaded guilty to fraud, telling a judge she helped her former boss dupe potential donors and Republican Party officials by filing false reports about her campaign finance.

Tuesday’s indictment said Marks and Santos participated in the same scheme to forge a $500,000 campaign loan in order to achieve a benchmark that would unlock additional support from a GOP committee.

Santos has now been accused of falsely registering donations from at least 10 people, all relatives of him or Marks, as part of the same effort to make the campaign appear to have met those fundraising goals.

Santos was not initially charged in the criminal complaint against Marks, but was identified in court documents as a “co-conspirator.”

The new indictment alleges multi-faceted fraud by Santos, who allegedly defrauded both his donors and family members.

In one instance, Santos allegedly compromised the credit card information of one of his contributors, who had already donated $5,800 to the campaign, to give himself an additional $15,800 in payments, the indictment says.

Because the unauthorized charges exceeded contribution limits under federal law, Santos recorded the additional payments as coming from his own unwitting relatives, prosecutors allege.

Financial questions continued to swirl around Santos, who claimed to be wealthy but spent much of his adulthood bouncing between menial jobs and unemployment while fending off eviction cases and two separate criminal charges related to bad check use.

A separate fundraiser for Santos, Sam Miele, has also previously been indicted on federal charges that he impersonated a high-ranking congressional aide while soliciting contributions for the Republican’s campaign.

Prosecutors said Miele, 27, impersonated former chief of staff Kevin McCarthy, who at the time was the House minority leader, by creating fake email addresses that resembled the staffer’s name.

Miele’s attorney, Kevin Marino, had previously predicted his client would be acquitted at trial.

Santos was scheduled to return to court for the original indictment on Oct. 27.