CNN Airs the Definitive Montage of George Santos’ Greatest Hits, Misses, Whoppers, and Tomfoolery 

George Santos was expelled from the House of Representatives on Friday, becoming just the sixth member to earn the (dis)honor. Notably, he was the first to be expelled for reasons that didn’t involve a criminal conviction or support for the Confederacy.

He, however, is under federal criminal indictment on various fraud charges to which he has pleaded not guilty. An Ethics Committee report concluded last month that the now-former congressman used campaign funds for personal expenses such as Botox treatment and OnlyFans.

Just weeks after being elected in November 2022, Santos was revealed to have fabricated his life story, lying about where he worked, went to school, and other key details. He also falsely claimed he’s Jewish and that his grandparents survived the Holocaust.

CNN captured all of that and a whole lot more in a five-minute montage the network called his “political obituary.” Here are some transcribed excerpts from the video above from CNN NewsNight:

Santos addressing a gathering of the Republican Jewish Coalition:

Good morning, Shabbat Shalom to everybody.

Speaking in a campaign ad:

I’ve seen how socialism destroys people’s lives because my grandparents survived the Holocaust.

On a podcast:

My mom was a 9/11 survivor.

On WABC radio:

I actually went to school on a volleyball scholarship… and when I was in Baruch [College], we were the number one volleyball team… I sacrificed both my knees and got very nice knee replacements from HSS playing volleyball.

On Brazilian radio, speaking Portuguese:

It was in summer of 2021, on Fifth Avenue and 55th. I was robbed by two men.

On WNYC Radio:

My company at the time, we lost four employees that were at Pulse nightclub.

On a podcast:

[My mother] was in the South Tower and she made it out. She got caught up in the ash cloud.

To CNN’s Manu Raju on how he was able to loan his campaign hundreds of thousands of dollars after reporting few assets two years before:

RAJU: What was the what was the source of your funds, Sir? What was the source of that money?

[no response]

RAJU: Mr. Santos, you listed the wrong name of a treasurer. Why did you list the wrong name of your treasurer on your campaign finance forms?

SANTOS: I’ll have a conversation with you when you become a better, honest reporter.

RAJU: I’m asking you directly.

SANTOS: You’re a dishonest reporter and you know that.

Santos to a gaggle of reporters outside the Capitol, including a cameraman who apparently dinged him:

Owww! Guys, you gotta relax. You’re assaulting me!

Santos, on some show no one’s ever heard of:

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. Well, guess what? Rosa Parks didn’t sit in the back and neither am I gonna sit in the back.

To reporters at an airport:

No, I was not a drag queen in Brazil, guys. I was young and I had fun at a festival. Sue me for having a life.

On some unidentifiable audio medium:

They all act like they are on ivory towers with white pointy hats and they’re untouchable. I mean, within the ranks of the United States Congress, there’s felonies galore. There’s people with all sorts of sheisty backgrounds. And all of a sudden, Jorge Santos is the Mary Magdalene of the United States Congress.

Santos, holding a baby for some reason, to an activist in the halls of Congress

ACTIVIST: Congressman Santos, what are you doing to stop the ongoing genocide of Palestinians?

SANTOS: Do not record this baby.

ACTIVIST: We won’t record the baby. What are you doing to stop the ongoing genocide of civilians in Palestine?

[…]

SANTOS [screaming to no one in particular]: And the next time he tries to accost me with a child in my hand, I want him outta here! He’s an animal! I am holding a child! He is a fucking terrorist sympathizer!

REPORTER: Who? Mr. Santos, who?

SANTOS: The gentleman back there! He’s a terrorist sympathizer that has no business in this building!

“That was a lot,” host Abby Phillip noted upon the conclusion of the montage.

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