Reporter Says Former GOP Congressman Threatened Him With ‘A Gun in Your Face’ During Wild Rant

Nathan Howard/Sipa USA via AP Images

An NPR reporter said on Thursday that former Rep. George Santos (R-NY) went on a bizarre tirade against him that included the words “a gun in your face.”

On Tuesday, NPR’s Bobby Allyn reported that the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating Santos for possible insider trading. The probe centers on wagers made on the betting website Kalshi, where in February, millions of dollars were being wagered on whether or not Santos would attend President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address.

In October, Trump commuted Santos’s seven-year prison sentence for wire fraud and identity theft after the ex-congressman served less than three months. A month after he was first elected to Congress in 2022, Santos was revealed to have lied extensively about his career, education, and other biographical details, such as his false claim that he was Jewish.

“I’m going to be there for the State of the Union in the gallery, guys,” Santos said in a video posted on social media the day before the State of the Union. But Santos was a no-show. Allyn reported that Santos had placed bets on himself not appearing.

“Kalshi detected Santos’ trades, froze his account and referred the case to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Department of Justice, which both opened investigations into Santos, according to a person familiar with Kalshi’s investigation who was not authorized to speak publicly,” Allyn reported.

On Thursday, Allyn reported that a furious Santos called him earlier in the day.

“I was winding down my work day here in Los Angeles when my phone rang at 5:37 p.m. from a blocked number,” the lede read. “It was former Congressman George Santos. He was boiling with rage.”

Santos alleged Allyn’s report was rife with inaccuracies. The California-based reporter asked if he could record the call, but Santos refused. (California law requires all parties to consent to being recorded.)

Allyn said at one point in their conversation, Santos said the story would “get you a gun in your face”:

I asked him who his lawyers are, and he refused to answer. I questioned whether he really does have attorneys. He replied: “I’m George f*cking Santos, of course I have a legal team.”

He then proceeded to name-call and attack the reputation of NPR, the kind of invective that’s common when reporting on people who try to discredit reporters and news organizations for stories they don’t like.

What Santos said next took me aback, even by his outlandish and brazen standards.

“This story is going to get you a gun in your face,” Santos said.

I asked him what he meant by that.

“You know what I mean.”

It did not exactly feel like an imminent threat to my life that a convicted fraudster expelled from Congress who lives thousands of miles away from me in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains was lodging violent words at me.

It felt more bizarre than threatening, but then it grew even stranger and more confusing.

Allyn said Santos later insisted he had said no such thing.

“I NEVER SAID ‘this story would get a gun in your face, I said ‘it’d blow up in your face,” he texted Allyn.

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