Rep. George Santos, RN.Y., speaks to reporters after a vote to send a resolution to the Ethics panel in an attempt to oust him from the House, on Capitol Hill Wednesday, May 17, 2023, in Washington, DC .
Jabin Botsford | The Washington Post | fake images
The identities of the three people who secured Rep. George Santos’ $500,000 bail in his criminal fraud case must be released, a federal judge ordered Tuesday.
But Santos, the embattled freshman Republican lawmaker who was charged last month with a series of financial crimes, has until noon Friday to appeal the decision, Magistrate Judge Anne Shields ordered.
Santos, 34, has pleaded not guilty to charges of defrauding his campaign supporters, lying to get unemployment money and making false statements on his congressional disclosure forms.
He has vowed not to resign, even as a growing chorus of his own fellow Republicans has urged him to resign. Those calls began even before Santos took office in January, after The New York Times published an explosive report questioning key details of the biography Santos had submitted on the campaign trail.
Santos admitted to lying about his professional experience and education, but has denied any other crimes and has rejected subsequent damning reports about his business activities.
Santos’ lawyer, Joseph Murray, had asked the court on Monday to deny requests by various media outlets to reveal the names of the guarantors of the bonds, arguing there were fears about their “health, safety and welfare.”
“My client would rather be remanded than subject these bondsmen to what will inevitably come,” Murray wrote in a court filing.
Murray did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on the latest court order.
The judge’s decision was filed under seal to allow Santos to present his appeal.
The New York Times argued last month in the US District Court on Long Island that the public should be able to access the bond proceedings in the Santos case. Lawyers for the Times noted that three as-yet-unidentified people pledged large sums of money to ensure Santos remains free, a situation that “presents an obvious opportunity for political influence” over an elected official.
“That risk is further increased by the fact that the very crimes that Rep. Santos has been charged with involve abusing the political process for personal gain,” the newspaper’s lawyers noted.
A consortium of other news outlets, including NBC News, joined the Times’ call two days later, arguing that the First Amendment and common law gave the public a right to know the identities of the bondsmen.