Tucker Carlson Asks George Santos Why He Doesn’t Just ‘Split’ and Flee the Country to Avoid Prison
George Santos said he’s too “proud” not to serve out his prison sentence after Tucker Carlson asked the former Republican congressman why he doesn’t just flee the country ahead of his surrender date.
Santos joined Carlson in an interview released on Friday for the Tucker Carlson Show where he discussed his prison sentence and claimed he fears for his life. The former New York congressman was sentenced to 87 months in prison earlier this year after being convicted of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. Courts set July 25 as the deadline for Santos to surrender to authorities.
After a discussion on their favorite snacks — both have a weakness for dried fruit — Carlson asked Santos why he doesn’t just “split” and not serve his sentence.
“I know a million people are going to prison. I know more people going to prison than most people, and I always ask everybody the same, like, you don’t think you deserve the sentence. You think you got screwed. In your case, I agree with you… if the system’s not going to be fair, then why do you have to play along the system? Why don’t you just split?” Carlson asked Santos.
“I’m proud. I’m extremely proud. I’d rather go down with the ship. Like the same way that I said put up or shut up and didn’t leave and then quit. I don’t run, I don’t split. And I could, right? And that’s why they called me a flight risk and they sequestered my passports because I’m a dual citizen by birth, but I was born here, but my parents are legal immigrants to this country,” Santos said.
Carlson pressed further, asking if he thought of “stowing away” and getting out of dodge. Santos replied by claiming he lit into a reporter who contacted him while he was still in office and said they had information that he planned to flee the country. The House voted to expel Santos in December 2023.
“He says, I have on good authority that you’re planning to flee in a week or two in a private jet that you arranged. I’m gonna keep it PG here, but I said, and who told you this marvelous story? Mary Poppins, you effing inbred? Like, and then it went from there. And I said, I dare you to publish it. I will sue you, I will own your fucking rag,” Santos said.
He added that his staff was not pleased with the call.
“My attorney’s on my ear. He’s like, congressman, that’s not, no, no, you’re provoking him. And then I’m like, and furthermore, I will hunt down your entire goddamn sorry lineage. Fucking do it. I dared him. It never happened. I hung up,” he said.
In an X post this week, Santos declared he is not “suicidal” ahead of his prison sentence, suggesting that if anything were to happen to him in prison, it would not be from self-harm.
“I’m heading to prison, folks and I need you to hear this loud and clear: I’m not suicidal. I’m not depressed. I have no intentions of harming myself, and I will not willingly engage in any sexual activity while I’m in there,” he wrote. “If anything comes out suggesting otherwise, consider it a lie…full stop. The statistics around what happens to gay men in BOP custody are horrifying, and that’s exactly why I’m putting this out there now. So if something does happen, there’s no confusion. I did NOT kill myself.”
Watch above via Tucker Carlson Network.
