Former Santos aide: ‘He can’t afford to resign’

(NewsNation) — A former aide for GOP Rep. George Santos told NewsNation that he did not expect the embattled congressman to step down after criminal charges were filed against him, saying he would likely have to be pushed out.

“The reality is that he’s not going to resign because he can’t afford to resign,” Derek Myers said in part on NewsNation’s CUOMO. “The man has no money elsewhere. This is his sole source of income. He had no income prior, the loan he allegedly gave to his campaign was not a legal loan. The man is not going to resign from Congress, he can’t afford it. He’s going to have to wait until he is pushed out.”

You can watch part of the interview with NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo in the player above.

Myers’ comments came hours after federal prosecutors filed criminal charges against Santos. The specific charges have not been revealed as they remain under seal, though Santos could appear in federal court as soon as Wednesday morning. Spokespersons for the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York have declined to comment.

Myers told NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo the FBI approached him asking for information about the congressman in what he called an attempt “to infiltrate” Santos’ inner circle after he joined Congress.

Unverifiable claims ranging from his work history, charitable contributions, education and family background came to light shortly after Santos, R-N.Y., won his House seat in November 2022. Santos admitted in December to many of the lies, saying his “sins” were “embellishing” his resume. The freshman congressman-elect refused to step down from his elected seat at the time.

Myers also doubled down on claims the congressman made advances toward him in the workplace and inappropriately touched him. Myers said when he talked to the FBI, it was mostly pertaining to the sexual allegations, which are under investigation.

“The Ethics Committee is still looking into that,” Myers said. “The speaker is not going to have a choice now but to address these allegations and these criminal charges when they are handed down.”

Santos denied the allegation.

“It’s comical,” Santos said to CBS News in February. “Let me make it clear, if there was remotely any part of that that were true, he should’ve led with that and not begged for a job that we decided to pull from him for being accused of doing exactly what he did to us.”

Santos has removed himself from committee assignments amid backlash, but has refused calls to step down. He launched a reelection campaign for the office he currently holds, stating that he had a “clean conscience,” and that he would not have run again if he thought he had committed a crime.

An expert attorney said it was important to separate the Ethics investigation and the criminal charges.

“As far as the witness who just called in, he is talking about sexual harassment, other stuff that may not be criminal, it could be a violation of internal rules, we will wait and see about that,” David Aronberg said. “The key problem facing Santos is the money trail and I think that’s where they will get him as soon as tomorrow.”

Besides questions about his life story, Santos’ campaign spending stoked scrutiny because of unusual payments for travel, lodging and other items. In his filings with the FEC, Santos initially said he loaned his campaign and related political action committees more than $750,000 — money he claimed came from a family company.

However, in a financial disclosure statement filed with the clerk of the U.S. House in 2020, Santos said he had no assets and an annual income of $55,000.

NewsNation’s Tulsi Kamath and Andrew Dorn contributed to this report. The Associated Press also contributed to this report.