Only four people in his district donated to disgraced Rep. George Santos this year

New Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings on Friday revealed that out Rep. George Santos (R-NY) raised a surprising amount of money from several donors with connections to indicted far-right Chinese Communist dissident Guo Wengui, and that Santos promptly used the bulk of the donations to pay himself. Only four people who live in his district have contributed to his campaign so far this year.

The new filings show Santos raised approximately $162,000 in campaign contributions in the second quarter of 2023, with about $130,000 coming just days apart from individuals giving the maximum amount allowable, or $3,300. Several contributors listed their occupation as “student.”

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$85,000 went right back to Santos as a loan repayment.

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The Friday filing also revealed that Santos picked up just four donations among residents of New York’s Third Congressional District, New York’s wealthiest.

Those four collectively gave $6,691 to Santos’ campaign, with 99% of that money – $6,615 – coming from just a single source. It was unclear if the size of that contribution was allowable by law, the same circumstance that brought Santos’ federal indictment over campaign finance irregularities in May.

On Monday, investigative group Hark Herald Press, which reports on China’s overseas political activity, revealed nearly all of those maximum donations came from donors closely associated with a group founded by Guo and MAGA agitator Steve Bannon, called the New Federal State of China (NFSC). Most of those donors had never given to a political campaign before.

Chinese nationals on student visas aren’t eligible to make political contributions in the U.S., raising more questions about the source of Santos’ campaign funds.

Mother Jones reported more connections between Santos, those donors, and Guo, as well.

Santos has been a vocal supporter of Guo, who was indicted in March on charges related to an alleged $1 billion fraud conspiracy, just two months before Santos himself came under federal indictment for campaign-related offenses. The disgraced congressman has sponsored almost a dozen bills targeting the Chinese Communist Party, an unlikely area of concern among his wealthy Long Island constituency.

Santos has also promoted the popular conspiracy theory — and a stated NFSC position — that China intentionally released the COVID-19 virus into the world to wreak havoc on the global economy and bring down Western nations.

Now Santos may be benefiting from his anti-China political largesse.

The serial grifter’s checkered FEC filing was followed on Monday by the introduction of a resolution by fellow gay New Yorker Congressman Ritchie Torres (D) to censure Santos for lying about his personal and professional life in order to get elected to Congress.

“For too long, House Republicans, under the leadership of Speaker McCarthy, have been shielding and protecting Rep. Santos from any shred of accountability,” Torres said at a news conference.

After promises to rein in the Republican laughingstock for his jaw-dropping duplicity, Torres added, “Santos continues to defraud the people of his district and disgrace our institution.”

Last week, Santos added one more cringe-inducing outburst to his litany of embarrassments, with online hack host Mike Crispi.

Referring to his State of the Union run-in with Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), Santos made an unfortunate and altogether on-brand comparison.

“I mean Mitt Romney, the man goes to the State of the Union of the United States wearing a Ukraine lapel pin, tells me, a Latino gay man, that I shouldn’t sit in the front, that I should be in the back,” Santos said. “Well, guess what? Rosa Parks didn’t sit in the back and neither am I gonna sit in the back. That’s just the reality of how it works.”

“Mitt Romney lives in a very different world, and he needs to buckle up because it’s gonna be a bumpy ride for him,” Santos added without a shred of irony.

This guy is a special kind of crazy, and I mean the kind that belongs in a straight jacket.

“Rosa Parks didn’t sit in the back and neither I am going to sit in the back” – Rep. George Santos pic.twitter.com/LtAvTe7CL6

— Shermichael Singleton (@Shermichael_) July 10, 2023