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Recently expelled Representative George Santos is offering personalized videos for $200 on Cameo after losing his $174,000 congressional salary.
Santos has set up a new page on Cameo, a website that allows fans to buy personalized video messages from celebrities. The page, which is found under the "political commentators" list on the site, describes Santos as a "former congressional 'Icon'! (painted nails emoji)" and "the Expelled member of Congress from New York City."
Earlier on Monday morning, Santos was offering videos for $75. As of 11:30 a.m. ET, there were only 69 video slots remaining. There were 138 videos available around two hours earlier. Santos later increased the price to $200 and made more videos available.
On Friday, Santos became the first Republican ever expelled from the House of Representatives and the first member to be ousted without being first convicted of a felony since the Civil War. The move came after a tumultuous month for the embattled congressman from Long Island, who survived earlier attempts to remove him.
Santos has been embroiled in controversy since taking office in January. Days after being sworn in, four of his fellow freshman Republican colleagues from New York called for him to resign after it was reported he had fabricated and embellished parts of his biography and resume, including claims he made about his ancestry, education and employment history.
Santos was indicted on 23 fraud-related charges that accused him of submitting false financial reports to the Federal Election Commission, of using personal credit card information to make unauthorized charges to his political campaign and of soliciting campaign donations for expenses like luxury designer clothes, among other things.
Santos pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The congressman rejected mounting calls to resign. Although he initially shared plans to run for re-election in 2024, he announced he would not do so after the House Ethics Committee released a scathing report last month that implicated him in fraud.
On Friday, a resolution to expel him passed 311 to 114, with 105 Republicans voting in favor of the measure. Notably, all four House GOP leaders voted to keep Santos in Congress. Asked if he would try to stay in the House following the vote, Santos told reporters on the Hill, "Why would I want to stay here? To hell with this place."
On Monday, he wrote on X, formerly Twitter, "The truth will set me free! [heart emoji, prayer hands emoji]."
Santos had previously made several remarks signaling his plans to donate the entirety of his congressional salary, making quarterly donations to an organization "such as a soup kitchen or animal shelter," his office said.
However, he has also said that there's no "requirement" for him to publicly disclose where the money would go, telling Business Insider in April that he owes the public "no explanation...what I do with my salary."
It is unclear if he still plans to forego the $174,000 at this time.
Since leaving office, Santos has also teased a potential interview with comedian Ziwe, replying to her tweet asking if he'd be interested in a "pay-per-view interview."
"Let's do it @ziwe," Santos answered.
Update: 2:06 p.m. ET—This article and headline has been updated with additional information about the price change of Santos' Cameo videos.
About the writer
Katherine Fung is a Newsweek senior reporter based in New York City. She has covered U.S. politics and culture extensively. ... Read more