Santos’ Plea Deal Hasn't Taken Solid Enough Shape To Have Been Made Public Yet

Movie Rights Are A Major Sticking Point!

Santos is whining that this picture makes him look fat and he blames the feds

The Republican establishment and the Democratic establishment, both in Nassau County and in DC are unified in how they want George Santos dealt with: they want him to resign. If he resigns it will trigger a special election, a way for each party to avoid a messy primary. There are a dozen Republicans and almost as many Democrats running or making noises about running for the Long Island seat that Santos is certainly never going to be reelected to. The Republican establishment wants state Senator Jack Martins to be their candidate and the Democratic establishment wants former Congressman Tom Suozzi as their candidate. If Santos resigns, the two parties pick their candidates without primaries; convenient. The two of them first faced off in 2016 when Steve Israel decided to retire and Suozzi beat Martins 171,775 (53%) to 152,304 (57%).

Here's the brand new DCCC ad that came out a few minutes ago. You should keep it in mind while you read the rest of this Santos post:

So what’s holding it up? Santos doesn’t want any prison time and the feds insist on some, although they’re willing to cut him a very sweet deal in this regard. Santos wants to retain book and movie rights to his story and the feds are absolutely opposed to that although they seem amenable to Brazilian rights in 10 years.

McCarthy and his team are also desperate to get Santos out of their hair before the 2024 election before the Democrats can tie his corruption to the House Republicans. Someone, presumably from the Eastern District of New York, leaked a 100-page opposition research report-- originally commissioned by Santos’ campaign in 2021-- to put pressure on him while the plea negotiations are moving forward into October. His trial was scheduled for yesterday and the judge postponed it at the request of the feds and Santos.

As for the opposition research report (or vulnerability report), CBS News only published a very small portion. They reported that “The report's conclusions ultimately circulated among campaign strategists for top House Republicans and led the Congressional Leadership Fund, the primary super PAC dedicated to electing House Republicans, to withhold its support of Santos, according to three sources familiar with the matter. A top House Republican, Elise Stefanik, campaigned with Santos well after the report was compiled.”

It may have not but a problem for Stefanik but, the secret internal report “detailing aspects of the candidate's checkered background, several of his aides found it too much to stomach. They urged Santos to drop out, and when he refused, they quit.” Until this week, that original report was never made public. McCarthy and Stefanik kept it hidden.

Stefanik’s opponent in this cycle’s election, Steven Holden, noted that she “wants to turn all of New York red. From her $9 million war chest, she wants to buoy the GOP in all competitive races across New York. She gets involved in vetting candidates across the state. Her claims that she had no idea about Santos' background is simply unbelievable. Ever since Santos' issues came to light, she has said these same things, but she also refuses to ask for his resignation, unlike other “moderate” New York GOP incumbents. One of the reasons we are running to defeat her is so she cannot get involved in other races. At the North Country Labor Day picnic in Massena, NY, this was the sentiment I got from attendees. They believe she cares more about bolstering her national image, and will do anything to do so, including supporting someone as reprobate as Santos. We have been calling her out on her support for corrupt politicians such as Trump and Santos, and it has been resonating with people in the district, regardless of party affiliation."

Take a look at the way CBS News broke the story yesterday. Kind of mediocre rookie reporting from two pros. But don't worry, there'll be plenty more on George Santos as this fabulous story continues to unfold. I don't think there's ever been a congressional scandal like this in history, although the Abramoff scandal was pretty serious. Earlier-- much earlier (1797)-- Tennessee Senator William Blount was kicked out of the Senate for trying to help the British take over West Florida. Motive: to increase the value of his own property there. And this is cute: in the 1840's, NY-03 (Santos' district) was all of Long Island, including Brooklyn and Queens, plus State Island and the congressman was Charles Mitchell, like Santos a Republican fraudster. He was convicted of forgery, fined and sentenced to a year in prison.