Santos Trial Set for September

Former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) is gone from Congress, but he is about to take over the headlines again in the midst of the election.

The trial date has been set for Santos’ criminal trial to begin on September 9.

Santos has been doing Cameo videos to pay the bills since having been expelled from Congress.

Tough Times

Santos was arguably one of the biggest mistakes the GOP made.

He was poorly vetted in the first place, as it was quite apparent he was a con man from the outset.

Then he got in trouble for misuse of campaign funds, living the luxury life while allegedly dipping his paws into his campaign war chest.

Santos, of course, has denied any wrongdoing, but GOP leadership did not buy his excuses and he was eventually expelled from his seat, dealing the GOP a massive credibility blow.

Santos’ lawyers are using smoke and mirrors to try to keep him out of jail.

His attorneys argued, “Unlike typical high-profile cases, Santos’s situation intertwines political controversy, complex financial crimes, and unprecedented media scrutiny in a manner that creates extraordinary challenges for seating an impartial jury.”

Prosecutors are arguing, “Far from taking precautionary steps to mitigate the impact of such publicity on prospective jurors, Santos — as he has done throughout these proceedings — spent much of the approximately nine months since his trial was scheduled making media appearances and publicly commenting upon this case.”

Santos is facing a total of 23 charges, including money laundering and identity theft.

A total of 850 potential jurors have been summoned for the case, as well as dozens of witnesses being lined up by the prosecution to testify against Santos.

There is no way I see Santos wriggling out of these charges, but, unfortunately, his legal problems are likely to haunt the GOP during the election.

Remember, many of Trump's supporters in Congress, such as Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), and Lauren Boebert (R-CO), embraced Santos while he was in office, and that is something the Dems are going to play on.