Santos campaign committee raised nothing in March

A new campaign committee for former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) raised nothing last month for the ousted lawmaker-turned-independent candidate, according to a new filing.

Despite his surprise announcement last month that he would run again, a filing with the Federal Election Commission on Monday showed that the new campaign committee for Santos reported no spending or fundraising during March.

Santos announced during the State of the Union address that he would be running for Congress again — just months after he was expelled from the House in a historic vote. He is challenging Rep. Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.) for the seat in an independent bid.

LaLota was one of the New York Republicans who pushed for Santos’s expulsion last year.

Santos faced widespread scrutiny for months after he admitted to fabricating parts of his resume and his background last year.

He was indicted in May on 13 charges in connection to accusations he misled donors, fraudulently received unemployment benefits and lied on his House financial disclosures. He was indicted again in September on 10 additional charges on allegations that he fraudulently inflated his campaign finance reports and charged his donors’ credit cards without authorization. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

The House voted to expel Santos from the lower chamber in December after a House Ethics Committee report said it found evidence that Santos had committed serious crimes in connection to his campaign finances.

He was replaced by Rep. Thomas Suozzi (D-N.Y.) after a special election earlier this year.

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