Freshman Rep. George Santos (R-NY) pledged that he would be donating his congressional salary to "the Department of Veterans Affairs," wrote Insider. Now he's not saying where it will go, or even if it will be donated at all.
The promise was made in two of Santos' campaigns, 2018 and 2020. By the time Santos came into Congress, his staff had explained donations would be made quarterly to groups "such as a soup kitchen or animal shelter." The same spokesperson said that the donation would be made in the first week of April.
Santos was accused of misusing funds for an animal charity he claimed he set up called Friends of Pets. In a Dec. 2020 New York Times report, it was revealed that the Internal Revenue Service had no record of such a charity. Santos set up a GoFundMe account he said would help pay for the medical help of a veteran's service dog. The money was never given to the veteran, however, and Santos is now under investigation by the FBI. Santos claims he didn't steal the money.
So, when April rolled around, Insider asked where Santos sent his salary donation. No response was given, leading to more questions.
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Santos has been caught playing fast and loose with the truth to such an extent that his local Republican Party leadership has withdrawn its support of the Congressman.
"Two weeks ago, spokeswoman Naysa Woomer told Insider that 'updates will be available at a later time,' declining to provide further details," the report explained. Nothing has been available.
"Is there a requirement for an annual report that I should submit to you?" Santos snapped when asked about it by Insider Thursday. "The answer is no... I owe you no explanation to [sic] what I do with my salary."
"Do you think I'm going to burden the nonprofits that I'm going to write checks to, so people of the likes of you can go harass them?" asked Santos. "They have busy work to do. Come on!"
The implication is that if Santos donated to the charity, news outlets would call to confirm whether that was true or not. It could then uncover more of Santos' lies.
Investigations into Santos have led to questions about his campaign finances as well. A number of people that were said to have donated to his campaign didn't donate anything In fact, some of the people don't even exist. It raised questions about where such funds came from. That has sparked an investigation. There are also questions about Santos' personal finances and how he went from near eviction to being able to donate $700,000 to his campaign while claiming to make a salary of $55,000. That is now also being investigated.
It's unclear if there will ever be any information about whether Santos donated his salary or not. It should appear on his financial disclosed documents in the future, however.
