George Santos' campaign spending was sketchy from the start: analysis

Rep. George Santos has made a mess of his campaign spending almost from the start of his political career.

The New York Republican made a series of four-figure donations in one of his first actions as a congressional candidate in 2019, and a Politico analysis of campaign finance records shows more than $9,000 in reported donations don't match what was reported by other groups. That fits a pattern for his finances dating back to the start of his candidacy.

“The Santos campaign’s disbursements to other political committees should be mirrored on those committees’ disclosure reports, and the fact that they aren’t indicates yet another serious reporting error or perhaps even outright fraud,” said Saurav Ghosh, director for federal campaign finance reform at the Campaign Legal Center.

The Santos campaign contributed $2,800 to Donald Trump's campaign in September 2019 that the former president's joint fundraising committee and his other political groups neglected to report, and which exceeded the $2,000 limit allowed between campaign committees.

His campaign also reported contributions to local Republican groups in New York, including $1,500 to one called Town of Oyster Bay Republican Club that doesn't appear to exist, and neither of the GOP groups with that town's name reported getting money from Santos' campaign.

He also reported paying $2,000 to the Nassau County Republican Committee's account in October 2019, but that group didn't report any money at all in that account for the entire year.

“It’s impossible to believe that all three of these political committees independently lost track of political donations from Santos’ campaign during this period,” said Brendan Fischer, a campaign finance lawyer and deputy executive director at the nonprofit Documented.