Yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s another Pinocchio cliché. I’m sorry. Even I’m not a fan of using Pinocchio for liars, but I made an exception for this.

When George Santos pleaded “not guilty,” my first thought was, “There’s another lie.” And when Santos met the press yesterday, he lied again. First, copying Donald Trump, he called it a “witch hunt.” You would think that if it was just a “witch hunt,” then federal investigators wouldn’t have been able to come up with 13 counts on four charges. Then, Santos whined that he was being charged while the Biden family collected millions from foreign governments.

Let’s address that. Sure, members of the Biden family have done business with foreign governments. That’s not a crime, but if you listen to Republicans, Hunter Biden owning a laptop is a crime. And while the president’s son and brother have done business with foreign companies, there’s no evidence President Joe Biden has EVER collected money from a foreign government or foreign business. And if he has in the past, it would have to be proved that he committed a crime. If doing business and raking in millions from foreign entities is illegal, then how come the entire Trump family isn’t currently in prison for doing it? Donald Trump collected money from foreign businesses and governments WHILE he was president (sic). Jared Kushner, who worked directly with the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was given $2 billion directly from the Crown Prince immediately after leaving his job at the White House. Hunter Biden has NEVER worked in a presidential administration.

And, even if Hunter’s laptop produced evidence of President Biden taking in money from China while smoking crack with teenage hookers, it doesn’t let George Santos off the hook. We don’t stop charging people with murder because OJ got away with it.

Santos has played the whatabout before. When asked where the $700,000 came from that he lent to his own congressional campaign, Santos dodged with a whatabout, saying, “I’ll tell you where it didn’t come from. It didn’t come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma.” Take note that none of that answers the question…Where did the $700,000 come from?

And George Santos should be charged. Santos is notorious for lying. He lied about where he went to high school. He lied about where he went to college. He lied about working on Wall Street. He lied about being Jewish. He lied about running an animal charity. He lied about being married. He lied about his mother dying in 9/11. He lied about ripping off veterans. He lied about bouncing checks. He lied about being a landlord. He’s lied about his own name. He lied about being a drag queen. He lied about his grandmother dying in the Holocaust. He lied about having employees dying in the Pulse nightclub shooting. He lied about being in Hannah Montana. He lied about being in a movie with Uma Thurman (too bad it wasn’t Kill George). He lied about being a Broadway producer. He lied about being a journalist in Brazil. He lied about being an assassination target. He lied about getting support from Senator Kyrsten Sinema saying, “Hang in there, George.” But, lying in itself isn’t a crime but, sometimes it is.

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York is charging Santos with seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds, and two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives. Does that sound like a witch hunt?

U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said in a press release, “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. He used political contributions to line his pockets, unlawfully applied for unemployment benefits that should have gone to New Yorkers who had lost their jobs due to the pandemic, and lied to the House of Representatives.”

Santos has been accused of fraudulently collecting more than $24,000 in unemployment benefits while he was employed. These benefits were created for people who lost their jobs due to Covid. Ironically, Santos has sponsored a bill to clamp down on abuse of unemployment benefits. I guess he would know how the cheaters cheat it.

He’s also been accused of using campaign funds for personal expenses and lying on ethics forms about his income. The use of campaign funds is a very complicated web he wove of lies and tricks that were used like a shell game.

But the seven charges of wire fraud are the most serious as it carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison. And if Santos is found guilty, then the judge gets to choose whether he serves the sentences concurrently or consecutively. In case you’re a Republican, “concurrently” means at the same time, and “consecutively” means one after the other. In case you’re a Republican, you really should know this.

Santos pleaded not guilty yesterday and was released on $500,000 bail. He was ordered to turn in his passport, but even if he was going to flee the country, he wouldn’t be able to return to Brazil because guess what. He’s wanted there too.

Guess what again. More charges may be in Santo’s future as he’s also being investigated by the state of New York, the FBI, the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn, and the Nassau County district attorney. Another thing you should know if you’re a Republican is all the nations that don’t have an extradition treaty with the United States.

When you lie, scheme, and worm as much as Santos does, the odds are some of that shit is going to be illegal. Nobody is shocked that Santos has committed crimes. The only thing shocking is that the system appears to be working. It’s just too bad that neither political party worked during the 2022 campaigns to expose Santos.

And when you look at George Santos, Donald Trump, Duncan Hunter, and Chris Collins, fraud is a Republican thing.

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