Even when he was lying, there was a certain charm to his unshakable confidence, his self-effacing humor, his transgressive glee.
But George Santos is facing his sentencing on Friday with little of his former flair.
“Right now, my expectation is I’m going to prison for 87 months,” he said flatly when reached by phone on Wednesday. “I’m totally resigned.”
Gone was the pugnacious rhetoric and quick wit that became part of his mystique as he lied his way to Congress, his deceits leading to criminal fraud and a guilty plea. Instead, Mr. Santos was disconsolate and bitter.
“I came to this world alone. I will deal with it alone, and I will go out alone,” he said.
Mr. Santos pleaded guilty last year to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft and admitted to an array of other frauds and deceits. He acknowledged that he lied to Congress, fraudulently collected unemployment and swindled campaign donors out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Prosecutors for the Eastern District of New York have asked that Mr. Santos be sentenced to 87 months to reflect the “seriousness of his unparalleled crimes.” Lawyers for Mr. Santos asked for a two-year sentence, the minimum allowed for aggravated identity theft, followed by probation.
As part of his plea, Mr. Santos admitted responsibility in court and vowed to make restitution in the amount of $373,749.97. He appeared outside the courtroom afterward, telling reporters that he took full responsibility for his actions, which were “unethical and guilty.”
But in the intervening months, Mr. Santos has struggled to maintain that penitent posture. Under pressure to repay victims and fund his defense, he has sought to monetize his infamy, beginning with personalized videos on the website Cameo. (Earlier this week, those were on sale for 67 percent off, under a banner that read “Last week on Cameo.”)
In December, he debuted his podcast, “Pants on Fire,” its title a winking allusion to Mr. Santos’s lies about his education, work history and volleyball career. He wore a pair of sparkly Ferragamo sneakers to a podcast launch party and jokingly compared the modest media scrum to the frenzied coverage of Princess Diana’s visits to New York.
His playful irreverence was a constant on the podcast, where he mused on everything from the comparative talent of the Kardashian sisters to his own infamy. He has hosted a range of guests, including the “Tiger King” Joe Exotic and his own criminal defense team.
“People say, ‘Oh, he doesn’t atone.’ What does that even mean? Should I, like, curl up in a ball and stay in that fetal position forever?” Mr. Santos said in one episode.
Even so, Mr. Santos had been careful to avoid commenting directly on the case and his decision to take a plea deal — up until prosecutors made clear they would push for a stiff 87-month sentence.
In a series of posts to X.com following the filing, he railed against the Department of Justice and “cabal of pedophiles” he said controlled the government. He also denied having misused campaign funds — a direct contradiction of his statement of responsibility.
The outburst triggered another letter from prosecutors, who said that his behavior was “antithetical” to the genuine remorse he claimed. Mr. Santos fired back, saying that prosecutors were trying to take away his First Amendment rights.
“The red, white and blue runs through my veins long before the ink of any plea agreement,” he wrote in a letter to the judge.
And while continued to push back on the notion that he had led schemes that helped in part to elect him to Congress, he said that he accepted that he was guilty.
So guilty, in fact, that he said he would not be seeking a pardon, or any special treatment from President Trump and his Justice Department.
“The president knows my predicament. It’s not like it’s a secret,” he said in an interview. “If the president thinks I’m worthy of any level of clemency that is bestowed upon him, he can go ahead and do it, but for me to seek a pardon is to deny accountability and responsibility.”
Mr. Santos has remained a steadfast supporter of Mr. Trump, defending his agenda and appointees at every chance he gets.
He has also been supportive of Elon Musk on X, the social media platform that Mr. Musk bought in 2022, as well as the U.S. attorney general, Pam Bondi, saying that he believed in “her ability to deliver for the people.”
But while Mr. Trump has embraced an expansive view of presidential pardon power, bestowing clemency on drug smugglers, white-collar criminals and nearly 1,600 Jan. 6 rioters, there has been no indication yet that he intends to give Mr. Santos the same consideration.
Nonetheless, Mr. Santos has been clear that he does not blame the president.
“Do you really think that that’s the message President Trump’s going to want to send to the country?” he said in an interview last fall. “‘Oh, let me go in and start pardoning my people who align with me’. It’s a horrible message.”
Still, in an episode of his podcast, when asked by the media personality Perez Hilton whether he would ask for a presidential pardon if he faced years in prison, Mr. Santos seemed far more receptive.
“You bet your sweet ass I would,” Mr. Santos said with a smile.
Grace Ashford covers New York government and politics for The Times.
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