George Santos treasurer jumps ship amid probes into campaign finances

The New York Republican faces intense scrutiny for campaign finance irregularities

Embattled freshman Representative George Santos’ campaign treasurer has resigned as the New York Republican faces probes from the Department of Justice about campaign finance irregularities.

Mr Santos’ treasurer Nancy Marks submitted a letter to the Federal Election Commission signifying that she resigned her position as Mr Santos’ campaign treasurer. The Daily Beast first reported the letter.

The letter comes as Mr Santos submitted his end-of-the-year campaign finance report, which includes expenses from after The New York Times broke a story showing that he had fabricated almost every part of his personal biography.

The year-end report shows some exorbitant expenses, including paying the Italian resturant Il Bacco in New York $8,000 in outstanding debt. He also paid $8,000 to law firm Dickinson Wright PLC for “legal services” and $1,678.56 to Bice Ristorante in Palm Beach, Florida.

Last week, The Washington Post reported that the Department of Justice had asked the Federal Election Commission to hold off on any action against Mr Santos since the department is conducting a separate probe into Mr Santos’ campaign finances.

The FEC often complies when the Department of Justice asks them to hold off. The House Ethics Committee is also conducting a separate probe of Mr Santos for campaign finance irregularities.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has stood by Mr Santos but also intimated that if the House Ethics Committee found any wrongdoing, Mr Santos would have to be removed from Congress.

Mr Santos flipped a district that had previously voted for President Joe Biden in 2020.

On Tuesday, Mr Santos announced he would recuse himself from sitting on committees temporarily. This comes as House Republicans hope to remove Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota from the Foreign Affairs Committee.

House Republicans accuse Ms Omar of making antisemitic remarks when speaking about Israel’s influence in American politics.