George Santos breaking news: DoJ ‘leads criminal investigation of congressman’ as campaign finance comes under spotlight

The Justice Department has given its clearest indication yet that it has launched a criminal investigation into George Santos, according to a new report.

The Washington Post reveals that the DOJ has asked the Federal Election Commission to suspend any enforcement of Santos while they conduct a parallel investigation.

The request also asked that any relevant documents be turned over to the DOJ, the newspaper reported, citing two people familiar with the matter.

The 34-year-old congressman was found to have told a litany of lies during the campaign, drawing the attention of the DOJ and the FED. And although he has admitted to “embellishing” his resume, he has refused to resign.

While working at the small investment firm Harbor City in Florida, Santos claimed to have “a personal relationship with Marcie Frost, CEO of CalPERS”.

He said they had had “a very good relationship over the last four years”.

CalPERS – the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, denied these claims and told The mail that no one named George Santos or George Devolder “has any relationship with the pension fund’s managing director”.

“We have been unable to find any record of any relationship, business or otherwise, with this individual,” a spokesperson told the paper.

While working at the small investment firm Harbor City in Florida, Santos claimed to have overturned a table in the office of Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman.

“I was actually sitting on a chair inside Blackstone’s office on the day of the deal signing … and I turned around, turned the tables on the CEO … I turned the tables on Schwarzman,” he said during a Zoom meeting, according to Washington Post.

“I walked out of there feeling like a complete incompetent idiot,” he added.

A spokesperson for Blackstone said so The mail that Mr Schwarzman “does not recall any such incident or meeting Mr Santos, and we have found no record of Mr Santos having a business relationship with Blackstone”.

Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina blasted embattled fellow GOP Rep. George Santos of New York, saying he should resign.

The Republican from South Carolina spoke with The independent in an exclusive interview.

“I mean, if you look at the allegations about his campaign finance, there are serious problems there,” she said.

Specifically, federal prosecutors are investigating irregularities regarding financial disclosures and loans, according to NBC News. “Nothing he’s ever said has proven to be true.”

A Brazilian drag artist who knew George Santos when he lived in the country revealed more about the congressman’s political past in a new interview with Insider.

Eula Rochard explained in her latest interview that Santos had once been a proud supporter of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva – the current president of Brazil, who recently returned to office after fighting corruption charges he and his supporters claimed were politically motivated.

His support for the president, who is best known by the name Lula, centered around the latter’s support for LGBT rights, according to Rochard.

“Lula promised to make laws to help us gays. They were all Lulistas and Anthony was too because he hung out with us, Rochard said, referring to the congressman by one of the names he used to go by.

“He wasn’t a bad person,” Rochard added of Santos when he lived in Brazil. “He was an ordinary gay teenager in a country where there were no laws protecting gays.”

George Santos is officially a member of Congress after a marathon vote to elect the GOP’s Speaker of the House and the swearing-in of the 118th Congress.

But it wasn’t even clear that he would make it this far: Haunted by one of the strangest scandals to hit American politics in recent years, Santos faced calls for expulsion and resignation even before he was installed to represent New York’s 3rd Congressional District .

While the freshman Republican remains adamant that he will serve two years in the House of Representatives, he still faces mounting calls for his resignation and the continued threat of investigations reportedly being launched by both state and federal authorities.

Pedro Vilarva, the ex-boyfriend of Santos, told CNN that “his ego is too big. He’s not going to go away. If they don’t figure something out to get him (to leave) he’s not going to. It is certain, knowing the person he is”.

“What he always looked for was fame and power,” he said. “That’s all he cared about, and he got it.”

Vilarva said he only learned of Santos’ marriage to a woman after he had moved away from home.

“It was like a little bit of a shock to me,” he told CNN. “But then he used to say he was going to get a divorce, he was going to get a divorce — and never got the divorce. And then I went to find out that they only got divorced in (2019).”

George Santos has another headache coming his way, thanks to amended filings filed with the FEC this week.

The embattled New York congressman was already facing calls for his resignation or removal — from both parties — before he filed with the Federal Election Commission this week. Now these registrations are becoming the source of problem after problem, each with the potential to break the law.

The latest issue reported by reporters with ABC News on Thursday stems from filings that several fundraising committees working on behalf of the Santos 2022 campaign made with the agency that specified a change in the individual assigned as treasurer for the committees. These committees are now listed as having their financial operations overseen by Thomas Datwyler, a longtime specialist in political campaign finance.

The Maryland Democrat called Santos a “compulsive liar” and a “fraudster” as he blasted Speaker Kevin McCarthy for blocking several Democrats from numerous committees.

“By refusing to put Adam Schiff, Eric Swalwell and Ilhan Omar on their committees while sitting with compulsive liar and cheater George Santos and bending and scraping for compulsive liar and cheater Donald Trump, Kevin McCarthy has shown America exactly what he believes in: nothing. » Mr Raskin tweeted Wednesday afternoon.