The Justice Department argued in a new filing Thursday that disgraced former Rep. George Santos lacks “remorse” for his conduct and is approaching his April 25 sentencing with “belligerence” in his recent social media posts.
Santos started a social media blitz attacking the Justice Department on April 4 when he posted on X, “No matter how hard the DOJ comes for me, they are mad because they will NEVER break my spirit,” according to the filing.
In another post, Santos criticized the department for indicting him but not “the cabal of pedophiles running around in every power structure in the world including the US Government.”
In response, the Justice Department wrote, “It should go without saying that this message—which signals defiance and victimhood while characterizing the federal government as a ‘cabal of pedophiles’—is hardly an expression of ‘genuine remorse.'”
Santos, 36, faces years in federal prison after pleading guilty in August to charges of fraud and identity theft. Santos admitting he duped voters by fabricating his life story, deceived donors and stole the identities of nearly a dozen people. Prosecutors are seeking a seven-year prison term.
Santos had served barely a year in office as the representative for New York’s 3rd Congressional District before he was ousted by his House colleagues in 2023 — just the sixth congressperson ever expelled in the chamber’s history.
The Justice Department emphasized in Thursday’s filing that Santos “remains unrepentant for his crimes” and “approaches sentencing with belligerence and an insatiable appetite for ‘likes,’ blaming his situation on everyone except himself.”
The department also noted Santos was still denying behavior that he has not officially objected to and which formed the basis of the charges he pleaded guilty to. In particualr, the DOJ highligted a post in which Santos denied using campaign funds to by goods from the luxury brand Hermès.
“As the Court knows, Santos did use campaign contributions made to Redstone Strategies LLC to make luxury purchases at, among other stores, Hermès,” the Justice Department wrote. “Even at this late stage, he simply refuses to fully own up to his actions.”
Santos responded to the DOJ filing in a social media post Thursday, saying that “the weaponized DOJ has violated a court order today on my case and submitted a bunch of nonsense memos to the court. Lawless Merrick Garland holdovers are vicious and have 0 regards for the law or Court orders!”
