Serial liar George Santos to attend State of the Union three months after being ousted from Congress

George Santos, the serial fabulist who was expelled from the House in December, showed up in the House to attend the State of the Union.

“After three months away from this place, I figured I’d come visit and watch the SOTU and update my ‘friends’ in the media about my new plans for public office,” Mr Santos told Axios.

Farnoush Amiri of the Associated Press noted on X: “According to House rules, any former lawmaker can maintain their floor privileges unless they are a lobbyist, foreign agent, have a direct interest in the bill being considered at the time, or have been convicted of a crime in relation to their election or service.”

Mr Santos was wearing a bedazzled collard and silver shoes, CNN noted.

He was ousted from Congress on 1 December by a vote of 311-114 after an Ethics Committee report found that there was “substantial evidence” that he had “knowingly caused his campaign committee to file false or incomplete reports with the Federal Election Commission; used campaign funds for personal purposes; engaged in fraudulent conduct in connection with RedStone Strategies LLC; and engaged in knowing and willful violations of the Ethics in Government Act as it relates to his Financial Disclosure (FD) Statements filed with the House”.

The report revealed that Mr Santos had spent around $6,000 in campaign donations at the luxury brand Ferragamo and Botox injections, according to campaign spreadsheets. It was also reported that campaign funds were used for OnlyFans subscriptions – the site best known for hosting adult content.

Mr Santos, 35, was elected to Congress in 2022 after a failed attempt in 2020. After his election win – but before he was sworn in as a member of Congress – stories began to appear in The North Shore Leader and The New York Times outlining how large parts of his resume were made up, including his job and education history.

It later emerged that Mr Santos told lies about his mother dying on 9/11 and his grandparents being Holocaust survivors. In May, Mr Santos was charged with 13 charges in a Long Island federal court and, in October, was hit with a superseding indictment listing 23 counts. He initially pleaded not guilty to all charges, but he’s now in talks for a possible plea deal.

Last month, he mocked his old party after they lost his seat in a special election in New York’s third district.

Democratic Rep Tom Souzzi – the man who represented the district before Mr Santos won in 2022 – won back his old seat on Tuesday night in a tight race against Republican nominee Mazi Melesa Pilip.

Mr Souzzi chose not to run for re-election in 2022, instead mounting a failed primary campaign to be the Democratic nominee for governor, which he lost to incumbent Governor Kathy Hochul.

“I won #NY03 with $0 super PAC money, $0 CLF money and $0 Establishment money,” Mr Santos wrote after the election. “Tonight the establishment set $10 million on fire! I FLIPPED a 23 year Blue seat with the help of grassroots activists and by activating the base with retail politics… Hey @NassauNYGOP money does not buy votes, it’s respecting the wishes of the base that wins votes. #NY3 is #MAGA country and since MAGA was disrespected, MAGA stayed home!”

Ahead of the State of the Union in February last year, Mr Santos came eye to eye with Utah Senator and 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney. The senator told Mr Santos that he didn’t belong in Congress and “should be embarrassed”.

“Tell that to the 142,000 who voted for me”, Mr Santos is reported to have replied.

After the speech, Mr Romney called Mr Santos a “sick puppy”.