George Santos Says Plea Deal ‘Not On The Table’ As New Criminal Charges Mount

Rep. George Santos (R-NY) told CNN’s Manu Raju that accepting a plea deal for his mounting criminal charges is “not on the table.”

During an interview on the network’s Inside Politics Sunday, Raju questioned the freshman lawmaker over the possibility of him admitting guilt to any of the charges in return for a lighter sentence.

Amid his multiple criminal charges, Santos faced expulsion from the halls of Congress, but was able to avoid punishment as most Republicans voted against it. He reaffirmed to Raju that a plea deal was simply “not on the table” for the foreseeable future.

“Well, I’m not exploring any of that right now.” Santos said. “Those conversations are yet to be had.”

Raju followed-up that a plea deal “may happen” to which Santos replied, “I don’t know. Right now, I’m pretty focused on my defense and putting together my defense with my attorneys.”

He then followed by noting: “I’m not saying I’m not — I’m not saying I’m not ruling it out. As of right now, it’s not on the table.”

One of the many criminal charges against Santos accuses him of fraudulently inflating his campaign finances to make himself more appealing to GOP donors. His former campaign treasurer Nancy Marks pleaded guilty last month to help him inflate his finance reports and may testify against him in court.

Watch above via CNN.