Republican Congressman George Santos, now in federal custody and facing 13 charges including money laundering, wire fraud, and lying to the U.S. House of Representatives, allegedly applied for and received tens of thousands of dollars in unemployment benefits. Allegedly, one year later, in a recorded video (below), he denounced “the goddamn unemployment benefits,” claiming they prevented businesses from finding workers, and called for a system to root out those who wrongly use them.
“At the height of the pandemic in 2020, George Santos allegedly applied for and received unemployment benefits while he was employed and running for Congress,” Nassau County, New York District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly said in a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. “As charged in the indictment, the defendant’s alleged behavior continued during his second run for Congress when he pocketed campaign contributions and used that money to pay down personal debts and buy designer clothing.”
According to that statement, starting around February 2020, “Santos was employed as a Regional Director of a Florida-based investment firm (Investment Firm #1), where he earned an annual salary of approximately $120,000. By late-March 2020, in response to the outbreak of COVID-19 in the United States, new legislation was signed into law that provided additional federal funding to assist out-of-work Americans during the pandemic.”
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“In mid-June 2020, although he was employed and was not eligible for unemployment benefits, Santos applied for government assistance through the New York State Department of Labor, allegedly claiming falsely to have been unemployed since March 2020. From that point until April 2021—when Santos was working and receiving a salary on a near-continuous basis and during his unsuccessful run for Congress—he falsely affirmed each week that he was eligible for unemployment benefits when he was not. As a result, Santos allegedly fraudulently received more than $24,000 in unemployment insurance benefits.”
Just last month Santos filed an amendment to House Republican legislation that would require certain recipients of Medicaid to have to work 20 hours a week to continue to receive those benefits. As Insider reported, Santos’ amendment increases that requirement from 20 hours to 30 hours.
In a 2021 video (NCRM has not validated the video or its date), a man who appears to be Santos angrily criticizes President Joe Biden, and denounces unemployment and pandemic-related benefits.
READ MORE: Watch: Kevin McCarthy Refuses to Say if He’ll Force George Santos Out After Prosecutors File Charges
“We need you to be the President, Joe,” Santos disrespectdfiully declares. “You wanted the gig. You wanted it so bad. You got it. Now do the job. Honor us, be the president. Protect us. This is a bunch of garbage. For an entire hour you were asked great questions. You all but mocked the restaurant owner who can’t get people to work for him. Obviously because you keep extending the goddamn unemployment benefits. Yes, there are people who need it. Create a system where they can be verified so they can keep it. Don’t do this nonsense no more of blanket giveaways.”
Watch below or at this link.
Image: Lev Radin/Shutterstock