The Tucker Carlson Show - George Santos Airs All of Congress’ Dirty Laundry in Final Interview Before Prison

Episode Date: July 11, 2025

In a few days, former congressman George Santos will report to prison for seven years. He’s decided to tell the truth about Washington before he goes. (00:00) Why Is Santos Going to Prison? (10:...18) Why Did All of Santos’ Colleagues Abandon Him? (16:42) Was the Ethics Report Against Santos Totally Fabricated? (25:08) Expelling Santos Set a Dangerous Precedent (44:42) Why Santos Loves Tim Burchett (48:23) The Moment Santos Realized How Unserious Congress Is Paid partnerships with: PureTalk: Go to https://PureTalk.com/Tucker to make the switch Dutch: Get $50 a year for vet care with Tucker50 at https://dutch.com/tucker Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 No Frills delivers. Get groceries delivered to your door from No Frills with PC Express. Shop online and get $15 in PC Optimum Points on your first five orders. Shop now at nofrills.ca. Every interview you do, the reporter ends up lecturing you, giving you a moral lecture, and I just lived in DC for too long, and I just, I have you in perspective with everyone else you serve with. The other 435, you are not the sleaziest person I've ever seen. Sorry, sorry. You may have the longest prison term,
Starting point is 00:00:32 but you are not the most deserving. You are, in my opinion, the funniest member of Congress I've ever seen, and to me that counts for something. So I'm not exactly sure how you got seven, I mean, you're going to prison in how long from now 24 days from today How in the world did you get seven years in prison? I asked myself. I bet you do. I'm looking at this and I'm treating this as like a mental exercise.
Starting point is 00:01:19 It's gymnastics. Tucker, just put it this way. No one is going to prison for what I'm going to prison for. Because if they were, we wouldn't have half a Congress right now. And that's on both sides. I mean, AOC still has a million dollars AWOL from her 2022 campaign that still hasn't been resolved. Nobody knows where it went. Unaccounted receipts or whatever the case excuses. McCormick down in Florida, the Democrat, she accidentally took $5 million from COVID relief. It was an accident. It was meant to be 5,000, but somebody added extra zeros.
Starting point is 00:01:57 She's not going to prison. Even David Schweiker, who had a four-year-long ethics investigation against him for misusing campaign funds, got a $200,000 fine. No one got indicted in 87 days. I am the fastest member of Congress to get indicted in the history of Congress. And one of the charges against you, I just read, is identity theft? Yes, identity theft.
Starting point is 00:02:19 So we have what the estimate is 50 million people living here illegally, most of them working. Every non-citizen without a visa with a job in the United States is committing identity have what the estimate is 50 million people living here illegally, most of them working, every non-citizen without a visa with a job in the United States is committing identity theft. Pretty much. Yeah, that's a fake social security numbers, fake driver's license. That's it. Yeah, they all have fake documents.
Starting point is 00:02:35 I don't think anyone's ever been indicted of those tens of millions of people committing identity theft, but you were indicted and convicted of identity theft? Well, it's not even just that. There's the Dubin decision in the Supreme Court that came down last year, actually, late last year, or mid last year, pardon me, too soon. Wrong person, actually. So, it essentially says that if identity theft isn't the crux of the crime, and if it's a consequence, right? And I'm not making excuses here. I'm just saying you cannot be charged for aggravated identity theft.
Starting point is 00:03:09 And this is a case. The case they make against me is that I stole people's credit cards and I went on shopping sprees. That is categorically false. The evidence doesn't even corroborate or substantiate that, right? But they went on with the media narrative because it was easier.
Starting point is 00:03:23 For the prosecution, they knew eventually they would squeeze me out of the ability to defend myself, right? But they went on with the media narrative because it was easier. For the prosecution, they knew eventually they would squeeze me out of the ability to defend myself, right? And pay for defense. I went through every last penny I had and bank accounts closing on me, bank relationships, well, Spargel, I had an account with them for over 15 years. I had a great line of credit with them, boom, closed on me after being harassed with subpoenas by the FBI. Same thing for Citibank, which I kept my business accounts at Citibank. Boom. And I mean, I was... In 2022, at least, I did transactions, legitimate business transactions that were not contested to the tune of almost a million dollars at Citibank.
Starting point is 00:03:59 They closed on me. Like banks that I had great relationships with wouldn't extend me line of credit, American Express closed. I'm banned life from an American Express. Why? Because it's it the crux of the crimes charged again levied against me or fraud or financial fraud. It's white-collar Why would they want to do business with the with a high-risk client like myself? That's their excuse, right? So as the circle starts narrowing on me, I ran out of options. And that's how I end up in a bad plea. Identity theft. I mean, you committed identity theft in the same sense that
Starting point is 00:04:31 Sacha Baron Cohen commits identity theft, like in the service of hilarity. I'll give you better. I committed identity theft in the same sense that Act Blue committed identity theft. Having clients on reoccurring donations. It's not my donors, pardon me. Having donors on reoccurring donations, it's not my donors, pardon me, having donors on reoccurring donations does not constitute identity theft per se. Right? And can you explain what that means? So in other words, if I give my credit card to a charity or a bundler like ActBlue, they keep charging it if there's a month checkbox, right? You're supposed to select that when you're doing the donation. If you don't deselect that, and this is a big issue, I agree, in hindsight,
Starting point is 00:05:10 political bundlers like WinRed and ActBlue should not even have that option on there. I think that's entrapment. I genuinely believe that, you know, looking in retrospect. It's an onus so large on the donor and on the candidate, it becomes a nightmare. Because if you go there and you donate the max donation to me and forget to uncheck that box, now you're on a reoccurring max, you're going to completely be maxed out by per the FEC. Now, if I had a good operation and a good treasurer, what would that treasurer do? Start returning donations, going there manually removing.
Starting point is 00:05:42 She wasn't doing any of that. She was moving money around. It got so convoluted. And I trusted her and it is what it is. Here I am. Seven years, if you look at the crux of the crime, it is $55,000 of misuse of campaign funds. I admit to that. I admit that I thought they were all within the purview of spending. I was told it was all, and I had no reservations of making those. I didn't do them in secrecy. They were blatantly done because they were reported to the FEC. So I bought a new suit here or there, or I got Botox. Apparently they said it was okay for 800 bucks, although despite the fact that I've spent thousands of dollars on Botox of
Starting point is 00:06:22 my own money, but I spent 800 of the campaign funds on Botox. Then comes all these other like- Are you worried that Botox like affects your brain after a while? Probably. I don't know much about Botox. It's like the- It's a neurotoxin, right? Sorry, I've always wanted to ask a user that.
Starting point is 00:06:42 Yeah, no. I mean, sure, there's a side effect to everything, right? We drink booze, it's bad for your liver. No, no, for sure. Right? So it's, I look at it the same way, but I guess I can, you know, no matter what I die, I'm always going to have great skin. And you're all going to see that, but you're never going to know that my liver's falling
Starting point is 00:07:00 apart. But that's kind of like the entire existence of this identity theft. And there's an entire Supreme Court decision that the judge in my case completely ignored. We made that motion, by the way. This is a judge, Joanna Cyberg, who was appointed by Clinton, but has a stellar reputation of being fair, very fair, until she tries George Santos. And then she completely broke from precedent. Every attorney in New York was telling my legal team, like, you guys drew the judge
Starting point is 00:07:31 lottery. So much so that at one point the DOJ was trying to judge shop. They kept creating relatable indictments within the same case, but presenting them in Brooklyn. And then would say, you know, in the interest of justice and of preserving public funds, these cases are related. We want to adjoin them. Lucky, or I guess not lucky for me, she was very tenacious and says, no, they're all coming to me.
Starting point is 00:07:58 She's the senior judge on the bench in the Eastern District of New York. So you would think, you know, she's seasoned. She's gone through all the nonsense, right? But no, at the end of the day, she just slammed the book at me, 87 months, she read the indictment inside the courtroom. She went in there with her decision completely pre-written. It didn't matter what we can argue during sentencing. She didn't care. It was pre-written. She read it. She read, she read my attorney. She read us. She sided with every single aspect of the, of the prosecution. But what strikes me incredible is Nancy Marks, my treasurer, just got sentenced to six, to three years, pardon me, probation. Schnock knew a day in prison.
Starting point is 00:08:46 This is a person who has had run-ins with the FBI in the past, so I've learned afterwards. This is a person who in 2022 to the own admission and contradiction, by the way, of the DOJ did worse acts of criminality and manipulation on another candidate's, another Republican candidate's, FEC reports, a big candidate, by the way, somebody, person didn't win, but millions of dollars worth of a campaign and she was a treasurer. And then to top it off, they never indicted that person
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Starting point is 00:13:36 and then the justice system moves against him, and there's just no mercy at all. And I've seen it with all kinds of people, some who deserved it, others who didn't. But I saw it happening to you and I didn't really understand the details. And the whole time I was thinking, I know what's going to happen. That man is going to jail, okay, because like, everyone's against him. No one will defend him. But I couldn't understand why it was happening. I'm ideological. So I was trying to think, I looked into your positions
Starting point is 00:14:01 on everything and you know, you're conservative for New York, but your positions are not radical at all. They're totally within what we call the mainstream of the Republican Party. So I don't think, this is just my theory. Do you think you said anything on the issues that deeply offended people? Not on the conservative issues. That's what I'm saying. I totally offended Libs.
Starting point is 00:14:21 Definitely offended the Libs. I do that for sport. Here's my biggest crime. I'm a gay man who's a Republican and I won a seat in the middle of New York City. That can't stick. No, no, no. They hate you for that. But then the Republicans abandoned you too. Look, I'll say this.
Starting point is 00:14:37 It was a small group of Republicans who abandoned me at first. And those were the people who wanted to settle putty scores. Nick Lelota, Anthony D'Esposito. These are all local guys, right Nick La Lota, Anthony D'Esposito, these are all local guys, right? So the former congressman D'Esposito, because he said that expelling me would secure his reelection. Well, that didn't work out that way. Neither for him, Brandon Williams or Mark Molinaro, all three of them lost their elections, in which they weren't supposed to, but they did. Nick La Lota, who replaced Lee Zeldin, which is an absolute travesty because Lee was an actual conservative.
Starting point is 00:15:05 This dude's just, I can't even detail to you like where on the barometer would he even measure as a conservative because the dude caves and votes for every CR that's ever been presented and is contributing to the destruction of our economy, contributing to the destruction of our country in general by putting us in perpetual death. These guys didn't like me back home because I was quote, the rising star in New York. Nobody likes that. You know, it's all about self aggrandizement for these guys. And when there's one sucking more energy than the other, they're not going to like him.
Starting point is 00:15:37 And that's how it boiled down. So when I was vulnerable for the first time in four years that they've interacted with me, I belly up and they're like, ah, this is an opportunity we're not going to miss. And they just went in for the jugular, you know. But what about in the Congress? In Congress, these two guys managed to move people's minds. You know, there's one's a former cop, the other one's a service, a former serviceman. So they built those relationship with that kind of caucus and, you know, the former cops are former servicemen. So they built those relationships with that kind of caucus
Starting point is 00:16:05 in the former cops, a former serviceman. So they kind of have that brotherly bond. So those guys all disbanded towards them and against me. Look, if it wasn't for people like Tim Burchett to extend a friendly hand and pull me in, I probably would have sat in a corner by myself. Like from Tennessee. From Tennessee, yes.
Starting point is 00:16:23 Such a good man. He was my mentor and I've learned one thing from him. We don't need to agree to be friends. That's totally right. I mean, he's like, you know, he's, he gets along with Maxine Waters. Totally. And he has my politics, I think. And, but he's just a really decent, like Massey, she's a decent person. I love Massey. Disagree with him on stuff. Of course I get it. But I'm just saying like, but I love the guy. As a person. Yeah on stuff. Of course. I get it. But I'm just saying like, as a person. But I love the guy. Yeah. So who were your friends in the Congress? Tim Burchett. Yeah. I loved Trent Kelly in Mississippi. I mean, who would think a gay man from New York
Starting point is 00:16:53 getting along with a guy from Mississippi, but I loved Trent Kelly, Lauren Boebert. Marjorie was always very, very good to me. Matt Gaetz, you know, I've known Gaetz longer than I knew all of them. I mean, I've just known Gaetz for years at this point. I think since I kind of entered the political scene, he's a very welcoming, he's a great recruiter, I would say, for the party because he's young and he doesn't have all these preconceived notions about people or how people need to be. So it's very easy to get along with him. Also, no barriers with Gaetz.
Starting point is 00:17:21 He'll give you his tax like you can call him. And I fight with Gaetz plenty. Don't get me him. Listen, no barriers with Gates. He'll give you his tax like you can call him. And I fight with Gates plenty. Don't get me wrong. Yeah, I get it. I argue with him plenty, but I would always go to his office when I needed some guidance on stuff he was always willing to. Thomas Massey guided me through some tough votes that I didn't understand. Freshman congressman, I don't understand everything.
Starting point is 00:17:38 No matter how much of a bookworm you might be, when you get there, you're voting on things that you really don't understand and you need to seek guidance. I sought that guidance from Massey so many times and so many times he was willingly available. I would turn around and say, Massey, I understand what you're saying, but I kind of disagree with you. I would take the information and still vote contrary to him sometimes. You can't hurt his feelings though. You can't though. I mean, look, the one thing Massey and I always will agree on, I'll never vote for a CR.
Starting point is 00:18:04 I never voted for a CR, never will vote for a CR. It's just- Why? You cannot perpetually live borrowing money. You will bankrupt this nation into oblivion. And if you do not balance the budget, it is, it's the biggest existential threat we have today is not Iran. Despite we don't agree on Iran, we hate Iran.
Starting point is 00:18:25 Iran's not great. I'm not saying Iran's great. Iran's terrible. But you're not our biggest problem. Today, our biggest problem is domestic. It's debt, right? And the fact that we, one big, beautiful bill, love the bill, love the intentions, but I think the framework of the intentions are flawed because they started off by cutting back spending based on 2024 levels. They're supposed to cut back spending based on 2019 levels because anything from 2019 forward has Pelosi's COVID pork. And we're still spending at COVID level today. Don't take it from me, call any other member of Congress. We still spend at COVID-19 levels today. We might have rolled back some provisions, but the spending is the same levels
Starting point is 00:19:05 of 2020 onward. If you really want to be serious about cutting back spending, you go back to 2019 and you cut on top of that because we were already about 40% over budget. That's my standing financially, fiscally. I think that seems totally reasonable. And it's the only reasonable way forward, but you can't even get the framework of the one big, beautiful bill to be perfect. Again, I'm not going to let perfect be the enemy of good. There's good things in the bill, but this version coming back from the Senate, not for me.
Starting point is 00:19:35 I don't know about others. It's definitely not for me. So you don't have to deal with it because you were literally expelled. Pretty much. Yeah. So, okay, this is a philosophical question, but I'm sure you've pondered it. You were elected by the voters of your district in New York, in Nassau County. Yep.
Starting point is 00:19:52 Nassau and Queens. And Queens. Don't forget about Queens. Sorry, sorry, sorry. I'm a Queens boy. And one of the boroughs. So, but that's where your authority comes from. And in a representative democracy, you're representing the democracy.
Starting point is 00:20:04 Like you're an instrument of our system. So how can you be fired by other elected representatives? Like how can, I don't understand how that works. Well, Thomas Massey said it best. I will not overturn the election results of the third district of New York. Okay, so that's what I'm saying, right. And that is just a crisper way to say
Starting point is 00:20:22 what I was trying to express. That's what he said, right? Exactly. And he says, this is preposterous. Let you go and be fired by the people who sent you here. At the time, no convictions. No, I still had a trial was a long way. So no due process offered. They call a political hit piece in ethics report. And I'll give you a little tidbit of the ethics report. And I have to do the air quotes because it, it irritates me to know that this will forever be in my record.
Starting point is 00:20:48 I had a hit type plant person try to work in my office called Derek Meyer from Ohio, completely insane Looney Tune guy. He wanted to work in my office. One of my staffers said, he's a good guy, whatever. We did vetting on him. Turns out he was nuts. He was under investigation for wiretapping a federal courtroom. So we
Starting point is 00:21:08 said, we don't need the drama right now. I have enough drama. I don't need a sideshow. So we said no. This man, after being told no, went to the ethics committee, complained that we made him work for free. Made a bunch of stuff. None of it stuck. Accuse you of slavery. Pretty much, right? None of it stuck. Then after a whole week goes by, he decided to pull out what card can you possibly think he pulled out of the pocket?
Starting point is 00:21:39 Sexual assault. So upset. I was going to go with racism, but okay. Sexual assault, right? And I said, wow, that's a first even for me. I was shocked. I was flabbergasted, like, wow, I've never been accused of being pervy. So I sit at home, I go back to my partner, I'm like, I'm being accused of being pervy. He's like, they definitely don't know you. Like, I'm such a square.
Starting point is 00:22:03 And we were just like shocked. This plays out. He made bombastic allegations about sexual assault that I groped his groin, I invited him to karaoke, none of which was true. Then when he gave his testimony, he gave detailed dates and times. Lucky congresspeople who have good staff like I did have a very detailed calendar of my whereabouts with plenty of pictures. They're following with pictures and video to post on social media.
Starting point is 00:22:30 Look, he's working, you know, the whole dog and pony show. He's not at karaoke. Yeah, there you go. So it became so hysterical. The ethics committee called him, for the lack of all the words, didn't say straight out liar, but he lacked credibility and evidence to prove and that the evidence to counter it was so overwhelming, they dismissed it. This was an office of congressional ethics.
Starting point is 00:22:56 So the chairman of the ethics committee, Michael Guess, in his infinite wisdom in his expulsion resolution, contradicted his own ethics report, which exonerates me from sexual assault, but he puts it in the expulsion resolution that whereas I engage in sexual harassment and sexual misconduct in my office, in my capacity as a member of Congress to enhance the because he accused me of the ethics report also accused me of having a number of high interest credit cards to rely to keep my lifestyle up. Oh, I'm sorry. That was Joe Biden's economy.
Starting point is 00:23:32 Interest rates were up all across the board. I'm sorry for being American and over leveraging myself. So I have bad spending habits. They use this as evidence against me, you know, and built this entire report. Like a trailer park economic going on and they were mad about it. They were pretty mad. Like, I'm like, I'm sorry, but I do it well. That was kind of the issue.
Starting point is 00:23:57 So when you look at this and you have Troy Nels and all these very serious former law enforcement officers who look at this and says, this reads straight up like a political hit piece. No good cop would ever turn this over to a DA and say, here, here's the charging documents. But this is what the ethics committee did. And it was enough, I guess, to convince 105 Republicans to join the Democrats in expelling a Republican. If you use Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, then you're overpaying for your phone.
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Starting point is 00:25:48 You think of all the Republicans who hate their party, worked against their party, you think of all the Republicans. Those are the 105. You're probably right. Fair. But you think it's like the crazy behavior that goes on in Congress,
Starting point is 00:26:01 and I do want to ask you about that at some point, but like, that is a wild precedent to set. We're just going to expel someone from a body to which he was elected? Well, I mean, they are pretty self-important up there. But you would think that they would also be interested in self-preservation to the point where they would say, let's not set that precedent.
Starting point is 00:26:22 Let's not start doing that. Well, here's the funny thing. I was expelled, no due process, right? And you had not been convicted? No, no adjudication whatsoever, just allegations at the point. And had I not been expelled, I'd still probably have a juice to put up a fight.
Starting point is 00:26:37 But when you're expelled, you lose juice. I don't know how to put it to you. No, that's well put. I lost juice. I had no gas in my tank to keep going forward. So yeah, I totally. Where was, okay, so the leadership of the Republican conference, the Republicans in the House
Starting point is 00:26:55 would be able, I think, to tell Republicans how to vote on this. So, Mike Johnson's the speaker. I'm gonna say this. Kevin McCarthy was 10 times a better leader for the conference than Mike Johnson is. Well, that's for sure. I mean, no question. Oh, I've noticed.
Starting point is 00:27:11 I can't believe I'm saying that. You don't need to agree with Kevin's politics per se. No, I agree. But he was a great leader. He knew how to keep... he whipped that into shape. He was kind of agnostic on the ideas part. He just wanted to win, right? He just wanted to win. He's a winner. He wants to win. And that's fine for me. I kind of agnostic on the ideas part. He just wanted to win, right? He just wanted to win.
Starting point is 00:27:25 He's a winner, he wants to win. And that's fine for me. I kind of disagreed with him a lot. Like I've let him down a few times, but you know what? He had my back. So I always go back and I tell Matt Gaetz, do you still really think it was a good idea vacating McCarthy?
Starting point is 00:27:37 Cost me my seat, cost the conference a seat, you know? But at the- I was so mean to Kevin, who I should just say is a nice man. And I saw him at dinner last summer, you see the table next to he couldn't even look at me. And I thought, you know, I was so mean to that guy. He's easy to be mean to. It's easy because he was the face of something you're angry at. That's true. I'm annoyed by Republican leadership always. But then you look at Mike Johnson, who's a disappointment, authorizing all this killing in the name of Jesus, it's like I can barely stand it.
Starting point is 00:28:08 So yes, I think those of us who thought kicking Kevin McCarthy out of leader had nothing to do with it, but just cheerleading from the sidelines, we were completely wrong. And I think it's important to admit that. I agree. And so Mike Johnson takes a posture of, vote your conscience. At least Stefanik is freaking out. Like what do you mean vote your conscience? At least Stefanik is freaking out. Like, what do you mean vote your conscience? Like, this is the Congress. You don't have a conscience? She firmly votes to keep me, Mike Johnson, Scalise, most of leadership who matters. And
Starting point is 00:28:37 then you have the useful idiots like Richard Hudson, which I don't expect you to know who he is, but believe it or not, he's the chairman of the NRCC, which is in charge of recruitment. Now you wonder why we can't expand the majority. Who is he? A former staffer became congressman, which is the worst way to become a congressman. From a state? From the state of North Carolina.
Starting point is 00:28:55 Okay. So he was a staffer to a congressman, then became the congressman, and now somebody thought in their infinite wisdom, we're just gonna let him be the NRCC chair. A total dud votes against me. Then you have the Mormon out of Utah. I have such contempt for some of these people that I forgot their names. He's the deputy conference chair. Can't remember his name.
Starting point is 00:29:19 I know he's super tall. He votes for, he votes expel me. She lose the tall guy. Yeah, I lose the tall guy. Then Lisa McClain who up until the moment of the vote, she's like, this is so unfair, honey, what they're doing to you, votes to expel me. I'm like, wait, what the hell just happened? Never looked at her in the face again. So this is, this is, this is leadership. Leadership fractured. And it gave people a window to say, well, some of leadership went sideways. We're just going to go with that band of leadership.
Starting point is 00:29:47 But why would, but in the end, as you know, you served in the body. If the speaker said, no, we're not going to let Democrats kick out this guy for stuff that we all know is pretty common. And by the way, if it's a crime, the courts will make that judgment. That was the only thing I argued with them. So if Mike Johnson had said that the courts will make that judgment. That was the only thing I argued with them. Right. So if Mike Johnson had said that, you would have been fine. Why didn't he say that?
Starting point is 00:30:11 Michael guest recently at an event in Mississippi told a person and for the sakes of that person's privacy because he entrusted in me that he flat out said it was political because they had polled the neighboring districts and they were getting slaughtered because of me. I find that very hard to believe because I was still being able to go back home, do my district work. In the middle of all of that, Tucker, I did constituent work.
Starting point is 00:30:35 I was doing town halls. I was doing mobile office hours. I worked through it. These guys were all scared of doing anything because my name was gonna come up. Well, just say I'm not George Santos. If you have issues with George Santos, go visit George Santos' office. That's it. But they took it personal and they made it personal and it's fine. And here we are, but that's why I got expelled. So did you know Mike Johnson? I knew Mike Johnson from the fact that me and Lauren Boeber harassed him to run for speaker
Starting point is 00:31:06 while we were going through that entire debacle. Yeah, that was unbelievable. I was coming out of the... So McCarthy's... Can you just walk us through it for those of us who've forgotten the details? McCarthy gets vacated. Right. And, you know, the one thing I hold till this day in my year from that day was Nancy Mace. Nobody knew what she was doing. And all of a sudden, that echo was
Starting point is 00:31:26 Nancy Mace. Nancy Mace. Just kidding. I love that name. All I remember is her very, it felt visceral. She screams an I that I've, I'm never going to forget the strength she used to say I for vacating him. It echoed and permeated through the halls and through the chamber and you could hear a pin drop because nobody saw that coming. That was a final nail in his coffin.
Starting point is 00:31:55 Wow. And I sat there- Nancy Mace growled an eye. With every fiber in her being, I looked, I remember looking at Corey Mills' face and going like, what the just happened? He's like, this changes everything. We were just so caught off guard. Cause now from M onwards to Z, right?
Starting point is 00:32:18 Mace, and yeah, anything can happen. Anything can happen. And I sat there just like pondering like, what is happening, right? So that happens. We instantly get pulled into conference. We've now, you know, you look at Steve Womack's face, hitting the gavel and saying the office of the speaker
Starting point is 00:32:42 is now vacant, one eye squinting, the other eye almost bogging out of his skull. I remember looking at Womack's face and looking around like, did this just really happen? And I'm like, when history couldn't be made even more, but it just just really happened. And I'm from my perfume. I'm like, oh my God, I'm not the drama anymore. This is so, for six weeks, I felt so relieved. I'm sorry, Kevin, but I just felt so relieved. It was not on me anymore. This is about Gates and Kevin. And I don't know if you remember the baby story, me carrying a baby and screaming at
Starting point is 00:33:20 a Hamas protester. So that all happened in that. I was just hanging out with babies at that point because nobody cared about me. But we all now get transferred to doing our conference meetings in the Ways and Means Committee room, which is in the Longworth office building right off of Constitution Avenue. My office was just down the hall. So I was like a two minute walk. I joke my office became the the hideaway bar for some of my colleagues. So we were going there and we're doing these these votes in behind closed doors. And all I kept thinking was how much I hated it when I would be on
Starting point is 00:34:01 the outside and read about it. They're all now gathered behind closed doors voting on this. I said, the hell with the closed doors narrative. I went to X and I started going and telling people play by play. They were sequestering our phones. I said, I'm a fucking congressman. Sorry. No, you're not taking my phone. You were a fucking congressman.
Starting point is 00:34:17 I literally said, you're not taking my phone. Enough of this shit. No more babysitting. And I was just texting, live texting from in there. Then I started going out there and joining spaces. And there's some space hosts out there, Diligent Denizen and James and Shellshock. These guys were hosting these spaces and Lou and I'm just giving it to them in real time. And the numbers started piling up with the audiences, tens of thousands of people listening. This is the first time a member of Congress is deflecting from the entire conference and
Starting point is 00:34:49 telling them what's happening behind closed doors, play by play. Who's voting for what? What fights are getting to? What propositions are being offered? Even McCarthy's navigation trying to go back into the speaker's office. There was a lot of those deals being cut. Did you know that at one point there was an offer of a co-speakership between McCarthy and Jim Jordan? That was an actual thing. That was on the table. Like, Jim will be the speaker and I will be co-speaker
Starting point is 00:35:14 with him and we'll share the office. This was offered, you know? So I'm telling people this and people couldn't believe it. So then we go through round one, it's Jim Jordan and it's Steve Scalise. And I personally, I was very clear about this at the time, Scalise, who I look up to him tremendously, was going through cancer treatment. And I said, come hell or high water, I'm not voting for a man going through cancer treatment. This job will kill him faster. Yeah, it's not good for him or the country. It's not good for him or the country. It's not good for him or the country.
Starting point is 00:35:45 I said, it's not smart. I don't think he ever quite understood that. I did it from a place of love and I think he took it personal and that's okay. That's totally fine. So we wanna brag, but this has got to be the most pro dog podcast on the entire internet. They're almost always dogs actually just off camera.
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Starting point is 00:37:35 And then Jim Jordan, there was a Jim Jordan aspect of it. We went to the floor three times for Jim Jordan and I voted for Jim Jordan. I liked Jim. Jim's a great guy. I had personal meeting with him, but it wasn't moving. So when I saw that it started to fall apart, I started lobbying Mike Johnson. Quiet in the cornice, like, no, no, no, George, I could never. These guys are like two big brothers to me. And I said, Mike, you're the only person
Starting point is 00:37:59 in here that nobody dislikes. Like you're the nicest member of Congress. Nobody has an issue with you. You're the only one that can get a consensus. It's like, I could never do this to them. Then Tom Emmer tried, poor Tom. I mean, the marriage equality vote completely ruined him with the conference, especially with the more Christian base, right? You're Bob Goods of the world, but never vote for him, right?
Starting point is 00:38:22 So that went down in a ball of flame. And then the jungle primary started, the jungle rounds. There was like six of them up there from Dan Muser to Byron. And I love Byron. Byron's like a great friend. I was very conflicted at that point because here's the guy I lobbied and harassed to jump in the race in the race. And here's a friend of mine. But I also said at the time, I said to him point blank, you're my friend, but I don't think you've been here long enough to be speaker. I think it will eat you up and you have so much more to offer.
Starting point is 00:38:55 And I didn't want him to compromise on his values because you do have to compromise somewhat as speaker. But I didn't expect Mike to completely just throw his values away. Mike Johnson, the morning he decided to jump in the race, sends me a text message and says to the tune of, George, I just wanted to say thank you for the encouragement. I've decided to jump in the race. I hope I still have your support. My answer to him is, let's go. You know, like muscle emoji. Let's kick ass. I call Laurenebert, dead ass o'clock in the morning. She's like, somebody die.
Starting point is 00:39:26 I'm like, no, Mike Johnson's jumping in the race. She's like, whoa, we're like celebrating. And from that point forward, we were his apostles for the MAGA base. Cause we, the two of us were on spaces and then Matt Gaetz joined promoting him. People had no clue who Mike Johnson was and we educated them.
Starting point is 00:39:44 So that was my little role there throughout that experiment, I guess I call it. Because that was an experiment. When was that? September, September of 2023. It was, it went from September throughout October, early November. It was, it was a nightmare. And then he got it. And then he got it. And about a week or two later was Thanksgiving break. Now here's the guy. Week or two after he becomes speaker. He becomes speaker.
Starting point is 00:40:12 Now here's the guy who I lobby like hell, put a lot of credibility into by propping him up on social media, become speaker. And I'm sitting in my bathtub, having a glass of wine. It's Thanksgiving weekend and I got a call from the speaker and naturally you wouldn't answer. I said, I was just Tucker, have you ever been over something so much that you were just like, I don't care anymore about decorum? I'm going to answer the speaker.
Starting point is 00:40:39 Yes, I have. I just answered the speaker's phone call, butt naked in a tub. Did you tell him you're butt naked in a tub? I did tell him I was in the tub. Like, you know, Mr. Speaker, right now, it's put up or shut up because I'm enjoying a bubble bath with wine. He said, I'll pray for you. But he was trying to convince me to resign.
Starting point is 00:41:01 What do you mean resign? He said, why don't you resign? So this doesn't stay on your record forever and you leave in your own terms. And I said, Mr. Speaker. But you had just helped get him elected speaker and then a week later he calls and says, why don't you resign your seat? Yeah, pretty much.
Starting point is 00:41:16 Cause he's trying to sell it to me as if it's good for me. But sounds great. It sounds great. Quick, quick. Lose your job. Yeah, it's awesome. Lose the job you blew your entire life to get and not even fulfill the entire term. Sounds like a great deal, Mr. Speaker.
Starting point is 00:41:31 No, thank you. I told him, put up or shut up. You can tell the guys I said that because I'm not leaving. They're going to have to kick me out and they proceeded to do so. How long after that did they kick you out? December 1st. So I want to say two weeks after Mike Johnson became speaker, this was Thanksgiving weekend.
Starting point is 00:41:48 So six days later. So he obviously knew, I mean, let's be honest, he knew they were going to kick you out. I remember calling Guy Rosenthaler, who I love, Pennsylvania congressman, young guy, completely overrated. He would be a great speaker, you know, super young, dynamic. He's a deputy whip to Emmer.
Starting point is 00:42:08 And I remember calling him and I said, guy, can I just ask you a question? He's like, what? He's like, do you guys have the number? They're like, do they have them? He's like, I don't think so, George. I don't think there's an appetite for this. I said, all right, I think they do. He's like, what makes you say that?
Starting point is 00:42:21 I'm like, gut feeling. Yeah. Right. It's like three times the charm. I had gone through this exercise two times prior. So I sat there and I just said, I think they have he's like, I'm gonna run some traps and see the numbers. The day of I'm on the house floor. And the numbers are counting the numbers are counting. And there was a stall. And it didn't seem to budge.
Starting point is 00:42:45 And I'll get back to why it budged. There's a big reason why it budged. There's a stall and I looked at guy and I said, this isn't looking good. Look at how many people haven't voted that are in here just talking to one another. And he's like, no, no, no, this is, they're just reasoning. Trust me, this isn't going to happen. And it happened. And it happened in a glorious way for those who cheered, you know, this is, they're just reasoning, trust me, this isn't gonna happen. And it happened. And it happened in a glorious way
Starting point is 00:43:05 for those who cheered for me to be expelled. People were clapping as, you know. And you're standing there? Oh, I stood there. The moment I saw- While your colleagues clapped for your expulsion? Pretty much. The moment I started walking down the aisle,
Starting point is 00:43:21 as Kenneth Cole put it, I wore an expulsion chic outfit. Kenneth Cole said, well, he understood the assignment. He wore expulsion chic. I had a coat over my shoulder because it was a heavy coat and I didn't want to have to hustle with it to get in the car. So I had a kind of like a quick way out, right? My car was waiting at the Capitol steps for me and it was just,
Starting point is 00:43:46 that was it. Very anticlimactic, but- Did you get to clean out your office? Do you know what I did? I stayed in DC for Thanksgiving break because I had a gut feeling. I emptied my office out on the weekend of Thanksgiving when nobody was here to see it. So the one thing I never gave the media, I never gave him the George Santos carrying boxes out of his office. I never, because I looked at my partner and I said, I think they're going to win this time. And to preserve some dignity, I'm not going to give them the defeated vision of me carrying boxes. But it seems clear to me, I don't know, but from what you've said, that when Mike Johnson
Starting point is 00:44:22 called you a week after you helped get him elected speaker to say you should resign, he knew that you were on your way out and that he was gonna play, he clearly played a role in that. That was literally the reason I decided to empty my office. So was that call? It was that call, yes. So why wouldn't he just be straightforward with you?
Starting point is 00:44:41 It sounds like he's lying. Cause it's politics. I know, but you can't tell someone you're going to pray for them and then lie. You can't- Not very Christian of him. It's not. It's not. It's just not. You can't invoke God and then lie. Like that's not, you don't do that. That's not a good
Starting point is 00:44:57 idea. It's, it, but I've learned one thing about these people in Congress. It wasn't very Christian of him then, just like it wasn't very Mormon of Mitt Romney calling me a sick puppy. So it wasn't very Mormon of him to be so demeaning towards me. So, or tell me- Mitt Romney called you a sick puppy? Oh, he told me to sit in the back of the room that I, if I were to say that I should serve in shame in the back of the room, I said, nobody puts baby in the back of the room. That's not very Mormon of you.
Starting point is 00:45:21 And he called me an ass and I called him. It's a very famous exchange between us at the State of the Union. Because it's my first State of the Union. Yes, I was center aisle seat. I saved that seat. And Tim Burchett says, well, you fought for this seat, you keep this seat. I'm not moving.
Starting point is 00:45:37 Burchett said that? Oh, I'm so glad you're telling me this. Again, I'm not endorsing anything. I'm not, all I'm endorsing is decency toward other people. And I got a lot of that from him. And I'm attacking self-righteousness, which I hate and is always a sign of rottenness. I'm not a choir boy. I don't make representations to be one. I am flawed. I have made stupid decisions that I regret profoundly. Why do you think Burchett was so kind to you? You know, because I don't think it's not like
Starting point is 00:46:04 his constituents are the same as your constituents. Absolutely not. Tim Birchett is a special man in more ways than one can explain. I would equate it to him just being a good human being, a good following Christian that actually follows Christianity. Because he reached out to me through Marjorie Taylor Greene on December 22nd, 2022, after I had taken two antidepressants after I walked out of the Fox News van and got my ass handed to me by Tulsi Cabert on your show.
Starting point is 00:46:38 I wasn't there that day. I love Tulsi as you know, but that was not my position. She was sitting in for me that day. No, that's totally fine. And I hold no animosity. Clearly I'm not you know, but that was not my position. She was sitting in for me that day. No, that's totally fine. I hold no animosity. Clearly I'm not her friend, but. No, that became clear in the course of the interview. So sometimes when people sell products on TV,
Starting point is 00:46:55 you know, I love this product, I use this product. There's the question in the mind of the viewer, does this guy really use the product? Does he really love the product? Would he keep the product at home? Ask my dogs. Yes! Now we are in a garage.
Starting point is 00:47:09 I'm not gonna tell you where it is, because again, this is prepping, but this is my garage. There's a gun safe. And this is a part of my stockpile of Ready Hour. Oh, completely real! The second I put it here, the second Ready Hour sent it to me,
Starting point is 00:47:24 I felt peace of mind. Because no matter what happens, we're not going hungry in my house. I moved a lot of fishing gear out of the way to keep it in my garage. Ever since it's been here, I have felt the peace of mind that comes from knowing my family's not going hungry no matter what. Lastcountrysupply.com, Lastcountrysupply.com, it can be in your garage along with the peace of mind that comes with having it.
Starting point is 00:47:47 But it was Marjorie. She's like, that was rough. I said, I didn't watch it. I experienced it. I don't need to watch it to know it was rough. So she's like, Tim Burchett from Tennessee really wants to talk to you. Can I give him your number?
Starting point is 00:48:00 I said, sure. I didn't even know who or what Tim Birchett was. And this man comes on the phone and is so kind. And so he extended not just the hand, he extended like a actual body for you to know you can rely. And believe it or not, we end up being diagonally positioned from one another in our offices. It's like maybe 40 feet away from his door. And I took advantage of that because that's where I would run for refuge many times and seek counseling guidance from him and he was always there, arms wide open. It's amazing.
Starting point is 00:48:36 I don't think most people watch this know who Tim Burchett is. I happen to know for another reason and I really don't like most members, but I do like him. One of the kindest human beings you'll probably interact with. I'm thrilled to hear that. So you get elected to Congress. What are your first impressions of it? What did you expect and what did you find?
Starting point is 00:48:54 I've learned one thing for the sake of the American people. It's not a serious place. It's essentially an overpaid and a very expensive high school. That's the energy. I mean, people are pulling fire alarms, people are yelling at each other on the Capitol step. There's the stoners, the preppies. It's just so bad.
Starting point is 00:49:13 And then there's the fashionistas, which was, I was alone in that category. I felt so alone. I couldn't even get one of the lady congresswomen to like join me on that. Like they're all so dull. I mean, I'll give Ana Paulina, she's kind of spicy. She'll put her dad's ties on him. Like, okay, that's a look, you know, but we had fun, you know, but it was just so... It's not serious. Tucker, I'm fun.
Starting point is 00:49:38 Okay. I am a, I have a self-deprecating sense of humor. I am larger than life, but I know how to be serious. When serious is required, I will sit there. I will freaking give you spreadsheet charts of all the analysis as I did of a lot of the spending pork and the spending porn that was going on. And I would present this to the entire conference. I'd say like, just read this over. I'm being serious. Are we serious about our jobs or we're just doing messaging? Because at that point I learned 95% of Congress, at least in my time there, was messaging. Nothing was serious. Nothing was serious. The only time they were serious was when the Uniparty joined and passed their pork, scrupulous CRs. And I remember asking Mike Johnson this on the floor once, Mike, why are we going on recess?
Starting point is 00:50:26 It's July of 2023. And we don't have the 12 individual spending bills out of the appropriations committee. What's Kay Granger doing? He's like, oh, it's not Kay Granger's fault. Ask your speaker. And I said, wait, what? And I proceed to go to one of Kevin's staffers.
Starting point is 00:50:46 I'm like, why am I hearing that the speaker told Kay Granger not to progress with this 12 individual spending bills? Oh, George, don't worry. It's so complicated, but we're almost there. Well, first of all, now in hindsight, we know we had a senile chairwoman in Kay Granger who, before she ended her term, she went into a mental health care facility for seniors. She was like wandering around Texas lost.
Starting point is 00:51:14 That's the chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee. The actual, you know, when they talk about the power of the purse, she holds the goddamn purse. She was senile. And she was in a memory care facility. She was in a memory care facility. And I empathize with that and I feel bad. Of course, no one's mocking her.
Starting point is 00:51:30 But that's a cover up. But so why would the speaker allow her to be chairman of the Appropriations Committee? That's the cover up. Mike Johnson knew of this after he became speaker and so did Steve Scalise, which I like, and so did Elise Stefanik. Leadership knew she was absent for six months.
Starting point is 00:51:49 Her staff was still receiving pay without doing any work. This is government corruption 101. I'm going to call it out on both sides. I don't care. And you should. I don't care. Nobody's throwing themselves for me to save me. I'm going to prison for seven years.
Starting point is 00:52:05 The only person that can help me is Donald Trump if he chooses to. And at that, there's a bunch of people telling him not to. So why am I going to be kind to these people and not say the truth? Why you shouldn't be? The truth will set me free, Tucker. That's how I look at it. I totally agree with that. You know, so when you go back to that, and I'm having this conversation with Mike Johnson, that's where I also picked up a lot of respect for him because he didn't mince his words.
Starting point is 00:52:28 But we find ourselves in this place that is not serious. They're not serious about passing a balanced budget. I've noticed. They're not serious about cutting. I mean, Elon Musk blew half of his fortune by joining the government and going and being the chair of DOGE. For what? None of those cuts have been codified by Congress. We're re-appropriating some of
Starting point is 00:52:53 these cuts that were identified. We never get rid of NPR funding. No. I mean, sure, the only good thing that comes out of public broadcasting funded by the, it's Big Bird and Elmo. Yeah. See, the only good- Who are a little creepy if you think about it, but- Who cares?
Starting point is 00:53:08 Aren't we all creepy? To someone. To someone we're creepy. Who is it that has nightmares about you? I forgot, the actress? Oh, that's right. Probably more than one. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:53:20 But you get what I'm saying. I tell you, I know I'm creepy to people because they tell me on X. So we're all a little creepy. Did you find creepy people in Congress? Oh, tons. Oh, really? Purvey. I mean, actually, purvey. I mean, seriously, if I look, I don't, I'm not in the business of throwing friends under the bus, but in confidence, I've had actually reporters come to me and tell me of how members invite them to their offices. Oh, I have a scoop for you and then make moves on them. In the office. In the office. In their office. There's some weird sex stuff going on in Congress now. I keep hearing about this. Is that, was that your experience? My experience was that it's a dirty place. I bought up to, I can't believe I'm giving all of this.
Starting point is 00:54:04 No, no, no, no, but I keep hearing this from like members that I know and it's like, really? I bought up to Brian Stile, the chairman of the admin committee. One of my staffers, there's something called the cages in Congress, which is a storage unit for us, right? Those are the congressional cages. Underneath. Underneath in the basement of every congressional house office building. So I was in Longworth and we're like, there's some stuff in the cages we might want to go check before we order supplies. And I'm like, the cages, that sounds pretty racy. What's that? They're like, oh no, boss, it's the storage room. I'm like, oh, okay, let me go there with you guys. He's like, no, boss, you shouldn't go there.
Starting point is 00:54:43 I'm like, why? And he's like, well, you know, there's some rumors. People are going out down there and having sex. I'm like, wait, is this serious? So I know a few other staffers from other members. So I went to some chief of staffs that I've known from the campaign time, you know, when you're campaigning, you're talking a lot more to chiefs than you are to staff to the actual member. Of course. So you built those relationships as a freshman. So I knew a couple of chiefs and they're like, yeah, it's, you know, it happens. Like I, what am I going to do? Be the cock blocker, the sex police? I don't have time for that. I'm like, is there's no remedy to this? They're like, no, I'm like, why don't we put cameras down there to create deterrents? So I approached this novel idea, which is like, we're talking about installing like maybe six cameras in each one of these sections to Brian's style. And he says,
Starting point is 00:55:29 oh, we don't have time to focus on this. This is all based on baseless rumors. Then I learned that former members were caught having sex with stuffers down in the cages. And that's why cameras will never go up. No way. Yeah. So this is, this is what we're dealing with. I mean, the last place on earth I ever thought I'd have to deal with sex scandals was in the government building. But why in the government building? Like everyone has a house, right? Can I tell you something?
Starting point is 00:55:55 I think part of it is this dominance fetish problem that they have in DC. Interesting. What is that? It's the power. Like we're in Congress. I'm a staffer of the Hill and you're coming here to service me. That's the mentality.
Starting point is 00:56:10 Whether you're a member or a staffer, whatever. It's a dirty mentality. And I'm from New York. I have a high threshold for dirty and sleazy, but even for me, that kind of went like a notch above and I'm like I Don't comprehend this. This is a government building. We're supposed to be boring Sex was never in the job description especially like sadomasochistic tinged Sex like it's about we all saw the Senate twink, right? Oh, yeah
Starting point is 00:56:42 The guy having sex in the committee room. In the confirmation room of all, with Amy Klobuchar's chair. How tragic. What was the response to that? I was already out at that point, but- Were you shocked? Terrible. I was not just shocked, I'm gay.
Starting point is 00:57:00 Right. I don't wanna be associated to that. I've fought too hard to disassociate from the gay ink and LGBT mafia. This whole nonsense yesterday in New York City with the gay parade, none of that represents me and my partner. We don't walk around in thongs, in dog masks on all fours. None of that represents us. We don't walk around naked.
Starting point is 00:57:26 Well, what are you achieving with that? And then this kid goes in there and does this. What are you trying to achieve? Marginalize people who have fought like hell? Cause if you go back to Stonewall, Stonewall was about rights, not about promiscuity, right? So what are these people trying to achieve? Creating hatred towards us. that has to be it.
Starting point is 00:57:47 They're marginalizing us with these acts. So a person like that twink, that kid from the Senate, confirmation room, I loathe a human being like that because I instantly get bundled into a basket, to quote Hillary Clinton, of deplorable. And I'm not that. What do you think that is? I mean, it does seem like a way to establish dominance
Starting point is 00:58:10 or something like I get to have sex in the confirmation room. Like there's nothing you can do about it. I don't know, there's a hostility. Nothing happened. He was fired, but no charges, nothing happened. Are members of Congress sleeping with each other? There's a few, but consensual. Yeah, why, I assume consensual.
Starting point is 00:58:29 Consensual adults who are out of their relationships at this point. Can you tell who the freaks are? The freaks in Congress? Yeah. I can't, you know what? I'll say this to you. The freakiest member in Congress
Starting point is 00:58:41 is a very good friend of mine. Oh, she is. He is. He is. But I would not, I don't want to go down this path. Let's just- No, no, I won't. I'm not going to ask you about Nancy Mace.
Starting point is 00:58:53 What is Nancy Mace like? I don't get along. So Nancy and I- Like what is that? What is the Nancy Mace thing? I don't know Nancy Mace. We used to get along in 2020. And then she was the first one to...
Starting point is 00:59:07 The moment anything goes sideways, that's when you see people who were really your friends, she decided to go totally sideways on me and use me as a punching line and all that. But didn't vote to expel me. Didn't vote to expel me. And I respect her for that. But you know, Nancy is just, I mean, I can't explain it. According... She seems very unhappy.
Starting point is 00:59:30 There is a kind of exhibitionism, but it's not just exhibitionism. There's something really sad. She doesn't need to show herself naked. Her tits do it for her. They're massive. Is that true? Like, her tits show up before she does. If she's turning a door, you'll see her boobs first.
Starting point is 00:59:45 And you're like, oh, that's me. Are they famous in Congress? They're pretty well known all around the country at this point. Have you not seen the videos? And again, not shaming, not body shaming. I think if she's happy with that, that's for her. But I'm just trying to say you don't need to show yourself naked to get the attention. Just put a nice little cleavage like you usually do and it works well.
Starting point is 01:00:07 You know, like if it's attention her currency, that's the fact. Her staff will tell you that if you speak to former staff of hers, your mind will blow. What do they say? That she's an attention whore, a self-aggrandizement maniac. That's all they say. Every last one of her former staffers will say that. Every last one. Even by the standards of Congress. That's the scary part. They say that it goes beyond and these are people who've worked
Starting point is 01:00:34 for other people. Remember, we're all megalomaniacs. But for her to stand out, it's a very special situation. You know, we're all megalomaniacs. That's not up for question. And if anyone tells you they're not, then they shouldn't be putting their name on a ballot because it takes a special kind of megalomania to say, pick me, I'm the best for you. No, I totally agree. I could never do that.
Starting point is 01:00:59 Although I think you'll be president one day. I don't think I'm the best. But nobody is the best. I'm not. But I think you'll be president one day. I don't think I'm the best. But I think, nobody is the best. I'm not. But I think you will be. And I'm, I feel sad. I just want to be super clear because I know Nancy Mace will see this
Starting point is 01:01:13 and I have nothing against Nancy Mace and I'm not attacking her at all. I just feel a sad, like that seems like a super unhappy person who should pause, address whatever is making her show naked pictures of herself or talk about sexual assault or alleged sexual assault or all that kind of behavior. I'm like, you should not be in a leadership position.
Starting point is 01:01:34 Okay, number one, you are not settled inside. She needs to take care of herself. You shouldn't be in charge of other people. Like, are you joking? How can you have a system that elevates unhappy, like obviously crazy unhappy people to positions of authority? That's not a working system. It explains her turnover. Oh, is it high?
Starting point is 01:01:51 It's the worst. By metrics, it's the worst turnover. Amongst staff. In Congress. Of all Congress people, she has the worst turnover. Yeah, that poor woman. Well, I hope whatever she needs, she gets. Again, I don't have, I don't hold an ounce of animosity to it. Right? No, it doesn't feel like you. I say this jokingly because it's funny.
Starting point is 01:02:12 I mean. Yeah, know it. And I will not miss a joke if I could make it. So it's not to degrade or demean or shame her, but she's definitely traumatized. And maybe there's a lot of truth to what this alleged criminal ex-boyfriend did to her. And it really hurt this woman because she's not the same woman I met in 2020. But you don't get to lead my country. I mean, I feel like we should be led by sober, responsible people who think longitudinally,
Starting point is 01:02:38 who have squared away personal lives and people who love them, people to whom they're accountable, grandchildren like normal people, property owners, people who are vested in the country, not people who are acting out their self actualization or whatever on stage. Keyword sober. Oh, is there a lot of partying up there? Oh yeah. I mean, the amount of alcohol, the sheer volume of alcohol in Congress is staggering. I know. And some of them are alcoholics. Some of them have been caught by alcoholics. A volume of alcohol in Congress is staggering.
Starting point is 01:03:05 I know, and some of them have been caught by alcoholics. A lot of them, and some of them are great people. And alcoholism is a disease that I... It's very sad. In there! So I get it. No, I get it. Look, I will say this.
Starting point is 01:03:21 I drink, I'm not an alcoholic per se. Per se. You know, or by the standards of Congress, I could never be an alcoholic because I can't drink half a bottle of scotch in one sitting or three bottles of wine like I've seen some of these guys. Crush it. I'm like two glasses in and I'm just like. Guys in leadership too.
Starting point is 01:03:42 Dude. It's. No, I know them. I heard from one the other night who I like so much. Nice man. He's texting me late night about something totally bizarre. Not bad and not creep or anything, but just was clear he was drunk.
Starting point is 01:03:55 But you know it's the bottle texting you. Loaded, loaded, sentimental, stuff like that. And I'm like, oh. So you noticed that a lot. Well, I smelled it a lot. Actually? Yeah, it was so bad. that a lot. Well, I smelled it a lot. Actually, so bad. Everything is a party, right? So think of all those late nights voting, right?
Starting point is 01:04:15 Some members, Tucker would show up so wasted, they would have to sit in the cloakroom and hand their voting cards to sober members to go do their job. Actually? Yeah. And that's actually against house rules. I've seen that in my cloakroom. I know it happens in the Democrat cloakroom because I've exchanged notes with a fellow
Starting point is 01:04:37 freshman. He's like, it happens here too. It's a shit show. So yeah, I've watched groups of some of my colleagues, some guys who I genuinely like a lot, sit in the corner of the cloakroom completely inebriated, incapable of walking outside, standing still, sticking their card and pressing yay or nay and back, especially when we had long amendment battles with like, you know, 70 amendments. They just hand their cards and say,
Starting point is 01:05:05 just vote whichever way you're gonna vote. I mean, it's the only thing I, just don't make me look crazy. I've seen it, you know, I've personally seen it. So, and nobody's ever probably gonna have the cojones to come here and tell you this. I mean, clearly no one has respect for the institution, obviously.
Starting point is 01:05:22 Zero, zero. I mean, members leave DC has respect for the institution. Obviously. Zero. Zero. I mean, members leave DC to go back home sometimes under like the hush hush, but they're still voting because someone else is voting for them. That's criminal. That actually happens? Yeah, that happens. I've seen it.
Starting point is 01:05:40 Well, that's illegal. Well, that's what I said. It's criminal. Wow. Wow. You know, it's not hard to pull up flight logs and do like a tabulation of like, wait, how could you be in two places at the same time?
Starting point is 01:05:52 The FAA keeps strict flight logs. It's not very hard to prove that what I'm saying is fact. It's just do an investigation and you'll see. Why don't congressional reporters ever write any of this stuff? It's hard to know to their defense. It's hard to know if a member is there or not.
Starting point is 01:06:12 It's a, imagine 435 people from a bird's eye view when you're in the gallery. They look like ants, right? They're like scrambling. Wait, I didn't stay still. I would go from one end to the other. It's impossible to keep track. The way that they keep track is, oh, they must be here to be voted. Do you know how many times I would go in through under the...
Starting point is 01:06:34 So the dais is here and you have the reporters on top of it in the gallery. Sometimes I would come right underneath there. There's a little slip there to vote. They wouldn't see me because I didn't go to a flight. Vote because I was giving an interview out or I was on a phone call and you can't talk in the chamber. So I'd put it in my pocket, go in there, look up, oh, this is a vote, vote, go back out there, continue my phone call. They would never see me, but they're seeing my vote go up. So they're like, oh, he's here somewhere. That's, that's why they get away. It was like, you know,
Starting point is 01:07:01 what about all the other stuff? I mean, just the general vibe of it, I don't live there, I don't know, a hundredth of what you know, but just from dealing with members of Congress a lot by text or on the phone, it seems kind of out of control. It is. Yeah, it feels that way. It's a frat house gone rogue. It feels that way, and not in a fun way either.
Starting point is 01:07:21 At her expense. Yeah. At our expense. Exactly. That's the problem. When was the last time Politico wrote that piece? Like the reporters don't really seem to write about this. I don't think there's an appetite because there's a currency of access in DC that reporters are a pigeonhole to. And ethics has gone out the window for reporters and large, because if they actually do the
Starting point is 01:07:45 hard bangers, the ones that are in DC do the hard bangers, they lose access. The outlets don't want that. So what there's an outsourcing that happens, right? So they'll get a whiff of something, give it to their editors and say, I can't write this, but find someone. But then when you're outsourcing it and the person isn't there and doesn't have access, the story doesn't get written Without confirmation you can't get a second and a third to confirm, you know, it's tough for them to write it
Starting point is 01:08:11 It is tough. So it's there's there's an ethics issue that's going on in Congress and reporting for a while now. I Believe that the answer to the question I asked at the outset which is Why did they decide to destroy you? Not that you did nothing wrong, but your sins compared to the sins of your colleagues didn't really stand out in my opinion at all. I was a great volleyball player. So that's it.
Starting point is 01:08:39 So I just want to ask you about that. So the reason I want to interview those before I got fired from Fox and I never got to the interview, but I just wanted to tell you, I thought that was the funniest thing I'd ever heard that was like Dada That was like performance art. That was just incredible Volleyball team at Baruch that's like I wish I thought of that. I'm sorry I know I will be attacked for being nihilistic or making fun of serious things, but I did think that was funny I don't care, but I think you may have infuriated people by mocking the system itself.
Starting point is 01:09:10 This is my kind of pet theory. I know it's kind of- Oh no, it's my theory. Oh, is it? Okay, so tell me. So the volleyball story, a lot of people don't understand. So what is the volleyball story?
Starting point is 01:09:20 Tell us the volleyball. I had a GOP chairman in the district, Joe Cairo, who's a sports fanatic, Notre Dame grad, still live, he's like 80, and he still lives in the dawn of Notre Dame. He's used to, what do you whistle, like referee, I guess, games until he got injured so he couldn't, but he still goes to the games. Very big football fit. Every second word out of his mouth is a sports analogy.
Starting point is 01:09:44 I don't like football. I go to watch baseball, but I don't understand the plays too much, but I enjoy the sport. It's all American, right? I know everything about volleyball, but I've never really played because I never really went to college. So I said, I'm just going to make up I went to college, played volleyball, and I can have some sports analogies and he'll like me. And it worked. I'm sorry. It was supposed to be a little white lie just to create proximity with one guy. But then he started talking about how I was a volleyball star. I'm like, fuck. This went completely. And then I literally started googling like, oh, Baruch played Harvard. They beat them.
Starting point is 01:10:28 That's all I can think of. Sadly, it's the truth. I fucked up. I fell into the, there's no such thing as a white lie, Tucker. I think that's true. There's no such thing. There's no white little lie just so you don't hurt, no, no, no. The truth is imperative because I am,
Starting point is 01:10:46 I went from being known by my friends as being a blunt asshole, to becoming liar, liar, pants on fire. And it's so shocking. Some of my friends tell me that. They're like, George, how do you go from being the guy who would eviscerate people to their face to now being called a liar?
Starting point is 01:11:02 I'm like, I don't know. You think the brute is a brute volleyball? My favorite was you had said, or you were perceived to have said, I don't know, no idea what you actually said, but people would say he pretended to work at Goldman Sachs and he didn't as if working at Goldman Sachs was something to be proud of. So that was another thing that- That's hilarious to me. Like they're mad that you didn't that is hilarious to me. They're mad that you didn't work at Goldman Sachs.
Starting point is 01:11:27 I guess that's where Tulsi actually really got me. She did. And I tried to explain and then I said, it's just going to go everybody's head. I worked for a company and we contracted work with them for the sake of embellishing and everybody embellishes a resume. That's an actual fact. I'm not saying you should, but everybody likes to make them feel
Starting point is 01:11:46 a little bit more important, so I put it on there. Oh my God, that was so bad. Oh, big mistake, never embellish. For me, never embellish. Well, I'm so grateful you didn't work at Goldman Sachs. In fact, you should get a tattoo that says, I did not work at Goldman Sachs, just to brag about it. Or Citigroup.
Starting point is 01:12:01 Citigroup, can you imagine? Can you imagine anything more shameful? It's today actually I'm embarrassed to ever had said that. Like thinking to myself today, I'm like of all things to lie or to embellish, why would I embellish this? No, because if you were like an OnlyFans performer, just like a straight walker, you could at least say like I ran out of money, whatever. If you work at Citibank or Goldman, like it's hard to explain. Like I wouldn't want one of my children to come home
Starting point is 01:12:29 and say I took a job at Goldman. I would be really upset. No, I don't blame you. Sorry. No, no, I don't blame you. It's like working for BlackRock and Blackstone. It's these mega corporations are part of the problems we have today.
Starting point is 01:12:42 I completely agree. So, but you think that making a mockery of what the rest of them pretend to hold sacred is what made them hate you. I exposed the theater. And you know it's funny, and I say this because, do you know when you look up to someone really well, like, and like, this is a standup guy. This is somebody I admire. And for me, that was Ryan Zinke.
Starting point is 01:13:12 Yeah. Always thought he was such a stellar statesman. It's the hat thing going on. I think it's cool. Former SEAL. Former SEAL, secretary of the interior, Congressman, just a good man. Yes. Do you know what's the first things he said to me?
Starting point is 01:13:28 On the house floor once, he said, George, I'm going to talk to you. I know you're going through some stuff, but just remember this. This is all theater. All that matters is you have one of the best seats in the house. I completely lost respect for him. Wow. Like, talk about never meet your heroes. Yeah, I know, I know.
Starting point is 01:13:45 Like I sat there like, oh, okay. I left so defeated that day. I remember going back to the office. I looked at my chief, I'm like, I don't understand this place. He's like, what happened? I said, this, this, this happened. He's like, oh, but he's just trying to be funny.
Starting point is 01:14:02 I'm like, I didn't think it was funny. I mean, and I'm not laughing at jokes. And that's when I started to realize it's all theater. And I expose the theater. But I mean, how long can this continue? Does anyone there think like, okay, Congress doesn't actually make meaningful decisions. They passed all their power to the president, the executive, the agencies, all the power of regulation, all the real power exists outside of Congress. They have only budgetary power, which they don't really exercise. They don't leverage. They're a joke and they're having sex in the basement.
Starting point is 01:14:35 How long does this go on? I don't think, if Congress, I hate using this as an example because it can be viewed as a terrible way, but did you ever watch a show, Designated Survivor with Keith or Sutherland? No. Essentially, a terrorist attack happens and a conspiracy happens in the country and the whole during the state of the union, the Capitol's blown up. All governments wiped out. The only person left is a designated survivor, which is the secretary of, I think, HUD.
Starting point is 01:15:10 And he becomes president of the United States, right? And it's Keith Sutherland. So we all get crappy housing. We all move into Section 8. Well, what that show shows, I'm not advocating for that, but what that show kind of shows you is Congress was so broken that when they have the clean slate, they bring this whole, I got goosebumps talking about this, but I think what we generally need is a shakeup. We need to clean house, Republican, Democrat, everyone. I mean, it's bad enough we have senators like Chuck Grassley, who are like four generations removed from the actual bulk of the working for workforce in America today, who's what under 40, under 45, Chuck Grassley is almost 90 and he's talking about potentially
Starting point is 01:15:51 running for reelection. I don't know that he'll do that, but understand that and I love Chuck Grassley. Tons of sacrifices, but we need to learn how to let go. We can't all Dianne Feinstein it, you know, and to me, may she rest in peace. She was a trailblazer in her own right. I disagree with her, but she was a strong woman, went to Congress, became a senator, whatever. I disagree with her policies, but she served her country in the best way she thought she did. But why are we letting these people die in office? But why are we letting these people die in office in such? It's like watching Joe Biden
Starting point is 01:16:32 It was elder abuse the whole presidency was elder abuse. Why are we doing this to our country at? What cost is this coming? So I think we need a reset a great American reset and that means everybody needs to just not run for reelection I don't care if you're a freshman today. We just need a real reset. I try to convince them to pass a bill that would say, every Congress, if that Congress fails, and it's not my bill, but if that Congress fails to balance the budget, which is its sole duty and obligation,
Starting point is 01:16:59 every member therefore would be ineligible for reelection. I was laughed at by every single person I proposed this to. I bet reelection. I was laughed at by every single person I proposed this to. I bet you were. I was laughed at. I mean, we were promised term limits, which I support. I have some issues with it because the moment you pass term limits, you're handicapping the choice of the people and deferring the power to staff, which is dangerous. Exactly. It's a very dangerous move. So there needs to be provisions in term limits
Starting point is 01:17:27 that also move on to staff and what capacity they can serve for how long, because we already have an issue with staff in DC, which is what? Lobbyists, wine and dine committee directors more often than they do members. Do you know why? Of course.
Starting point is 01:17:42 They slip in the pork. Because they make the decisions. And nobody knows. Members aren't reading bills. Unless you're Thomas Massey and Chip Roy, nobody's reading bills. I did. They don't read them. No, I did. Do you know why? I had no committees. I was bored. Why did you have no committees? I stepped down from committee assignments because I genuinely believed it would really hurt the work of the committee. Tucker, I had a tale of 60 reporters at that days harassing. So you, I'm,
Starting point is 01:18:14 pardon my aging memory, you were under, so you get elected in 22? Yep. You come in January 23 and you're out by December 23. So that means- 11 months. 11 months. And you got there and you were already in the middle of the swarm. Yeah. I had been already 10 days since the New York Times story broke. Wow.
Starting point is 01:18:39 So when I showed up, you don't understand, there's a video of me. I look like Dora the Explorer. I had a book bag. I like wearing book bags, but this particular one was from my 2020 election that I almost got elected in and the absentee ballots reversed the result. Long story. So it was the House GOP conference one. And I said, on my first day this time around, I'm going to wear that dumb bag. So I had the book bag on my back. Like literally like first day at school kind of like vibe. Had my staff with me and we're walking to my office when we turn the corner at least
Starting point is 01:19:14 50 reporters, cameras. I forgot what they're called, those bigger cameras that do live feeds. I mean, you wouldn't believe it. We couldn't open our door without tripping over reporters. And this was from the very first day? January 3rd. Damn. And then if you go back to the speaker's vote, as we're going through all those rounds, you would think that I was the main subject of the vote because C-SPan cameras were all, if I moved all the cameras, I remember joking, Matt Gaetz is like, George Santos moved. You know where he's sitting because the cameras
Starting point is 01:19:53 are pointing in that direction. I don't know if it was matter for his large, somebody said that. Actually, I don't think it was matter. I think it was someone else who said it, but it was like the cameras kept moving in whichever, which direction I went. Like if you go back to the coverage of the speaker's vote, it's like me plastered everywhere in in a very uncomfortable way. Like I was scratching my nose and people said I was picking my nose. I'm like I'm scratching my nose. Do you think there's anything a Democratic member of Congress could do to get expelled? Would do you think 100 Republicans would vote for the expulsion of a Democrat
Starting point is 01:20:27 for anything? I mean, you would assault somebody and they're still there. Look, I reject the notion of expulsion. Why Greek? I wrote a piece recently and I ran it on the South Shore Press on the case of LaMonica McIverson. I reject any notion of expelling her. I think she needs to be afforded due process. Just because you set bad precedent with me
Starting point is 01:20:48 doesn't mean one size fits all. And that gets people a little like off guard when I say that, because they would think I want to see everybody expelled. No, I believe in the Constitution. I believe in due process. She needs to have due process. The people rule.
Starting point is 01:21:01 They'll decide who serves them. She acted like a thug. Don't get me wrong. Outside that ICE facility. I couldn't agree more. But she has due process them. She acted like a thug. Don't get me wrong. Outside that ICE facility. I couldn't agree more. But she has due process. That's exactly right. And Alina Haba's delivering it.
Starting point is 01:21:11 Exactly. So in the end, you were the DOJ was as tough on you, the Democrat controlled DOJ, as some of your Republican colleagues. I mean, Merrick Garland supervises case directly. Directly? Directly. I mean, my attorneys were talking to the DOJ attorneys and they say, okay, we got to go back to the AG and see if this works. Damn. And so that's a lot. It's a lot of pressure. Now, I understand probably why I'm a city member of Congress. So that kind of checks. But you would think that that would be more
Starting point is 01:21:48 hands off once I was expelled. It continued the same. Everything was run through the AG. They had zero agency. The one thing that brings cause for pause is the amount of discrepancies throughout this entire process I had. Exculpatory evidence being withheld for 14 months. Significant, not just nominal, significant exculpatory evidence being withheld for 14 months. Motions ignoring Supreme Court rulings. I mean, it's a laundry list. I'm being forced, Tucker, to pay back 200 and somewhat odd thousand dollars back to the NRCC. Money that I've never seen it was used towards my campaign and the NRCC and its own admission says they would have spent the money that's the bare minimum they spend anyway because my polling numbers were good.
Starting point is 01:22:39 The DOJ says they only spend it under false pretenses because I said I was something I was not. So NRCC is not National Republican Campaign Committee. Yeah, committee, yeah. Is not asking you this. But I'm being forced. But DOJ is requiring it. Is forcing me because they needed that number in order to get the points higher
Starting point is 01:22:57 to get to the 87 month sentence. Oh, it's all so grotesque. By the way, I forgot to ask you, what did your colleagues think of Trump? Like behind the scenes, what did they say about Donald Trump? Oh, I love also grotesque. By the way, I forgot to ask you, what did your colleagues think of Trump? Like behind the scenes, what did they say about Donald Trump? I love seeing the fakery. You know, if I got a dollar for every time I heard somebody say, he's not gonna get elected,
Starting point is 01:23:15 this is nonsense, we need to move on from him, I'd be a billionaire. You'd be able to pay your legal fees. Absolutely. I probably wouldn't be going to prison. You feel the fraudulence, you know. I mean, look, Mark Green is one, the chairman of the Homeland, who's now stepping down because he's doing some gold deal in Guyana, but is still serving while he's negotiated employment
Starting point is 01:23:39 terms. Don't even get me started on that one. He's negotiating a gold deal in Guyana while still in Congress? Yes, and he's notified the Ethics Committee according to his own public statements and everything is kosher. They're aware that I've already have employment terms secured. I'm like, you're lobbying for a new job while still holding a position of public trust? That's per se freaking criminal.
Starting point is 01:24:04 I would say. I mean mean what are we doing? So so you know you have him you have so many fraudsters there like on Trump president Trump has about a good three dozen real allies in the house. Yes. Like that's about a real three dozen real allies like Elise Stefanik, Marjorie, Lauren. Exactly are his allies. The rest, they're just as dumbfounded as probably the Democrats are that he got elected. And they don't like him. They don't like him. And they're fake.
Starting point is 01:24:33 They're very fake. And it's this posturing and it's painful because I know some of the guys who work for President Trump who vet this crap, and they know. Obviously they need to play nicer or else they're going to stall his agenda. So I'm not here to tell the president to go scorch earth on them, but I just want him to know, you know, there's a lot of fake people there, people who who were literally trashing him.
Starting point is 01:24:58 I mean, it just, What do you think Mike Johnson thinks of him? I mean, look, I'll say this about Mike. I know Mike is a supporter because he was in his... He was in the courtroom. Not just the courtroom, forget that. I can tell you a bunch of those who showed up there who really care for Trump. He was in his impeachment defense team, right?
Starting point is 01:25:20 So if you're putting yourself in the first term, if you're putting yourself in that position, you care for the guy like Lee Zeldin cares for him. You know, like I think President Trump's biggest allies are already around him with the exception of Elise, who I kind of feel got a raw deal with what happens or she should be the UN ambassador. I don't understand what that was about. It's backstabbing.
Starting point is 01:25:40 I mean, Elise is a knife holder. She's the new knife holder in Congress. Everybody backstabbed her on that. That wasn't by design. That was purposefully done to hurt her. And I think it's really wrong what they did to Elise. Who did it, do you think? Look, the speaker I know lobbied begging for him to stop pulling from the House and ask
Starting point is 01:25:59 him to reconsider Elise. And I have that on good authority. I mean, nobody gave me receipts, but I spoke to enough people. Once you hear something from more than three people and it's the same exact words, you start believing that it's credible. And I think that's a standard for reporting, right? Yeah, it was a standard in life. You don't need to give me a receipt or a text message or a recorded phone call because if three different people within a specific spectrum, right, in DC, all were able to, and I didn't just hear it from three, I heard it from about four or five.
Starting point is 01:26:31 And they all said the same thing, that the speaker was asking him to reconsider because he was concerned about what was going to happen in her primary up there, in her special election up there. I believe he's culpable. And that's why I believe he bought back the position of the chair of the conference, the chair of leadership, you know, because it's guilt. Again, I'm not accusing him of anything nefarious. I'm just explaining that math is hard. And this math was simple. If she left and that special election went to hell, that meant we wouldn't have one more seat. And that would have made things even more tight. So I don't think that's crazy. I mean, that meant we wouldn't have one more seat. And that would have made things even more tight. I don't think that's crazy. I mean, that seems like a totally legitimate explanation. Rumors are she's very unhappy as she should be.
Starting point is 01:27:14 I would be a bull with tits. I would see red everywhere I go. I don't know how she's still smiling on camera. I'd just be sour puss galore. Do people enjoy serving in the house? Some do. I did. Despite everything, it was an honor of a lifetime. I don't think I'd ever do it again. Because I don't think there's anything happening there that I think I can
Starting point is 01:27:40 be more effective out here than in there. you know, educating people on how it works and how dirty it is. Because I still have, I will, I will be well sourced in the house for at least another decade and a half, right? With time it dwindles down, but I will be well sourced at least with for a decade and a half. A lot of people who came in this Congress, I already knew them too, from trying previously or just from knowing them from the MAGA world.
Starting point is 01:28:05 So again, there's always that. So there's some people who enjoy it. I enjoyed it very much. It was an honor of a lifetime. I'm a people person. I love helping people. It's something I enjoy. And that job gave me the official authority to help people.
Starting point is 01:28:20 And I found it very fun. I mean, I had Wednesdays, I would answer calls in my office. Again, remember Tucker, I had no committee assignments, so I was pretty free. So I started answering phone calls every Wednesday. Just like pick up the phone. Pick up the phone. I just be like, the office of Congressman George Santos, how can I help you? Who's this? I'm like, this is a congressman. No way. You pick up your own phone while everybody abandoned? I'm like, no, everybody's busy.
Starting point is 01:28:46 The phone was ringing and I'm available. How can I help you? People would be so shocked because a lot of these times it was just agitators calling to nag. And I'm like, how can I help you? Well, you know, Congressman, listen, I take great issue with you, but I'm actually shocked you answered your own phone. I'm like, I mean, what's wrong with answering your own phone?
Starting point is 01:29:04 I'm not a lord with a pointy hat sitting in a throne. I'm like, I answer my own phone. So I would have very interesting conversations. I regularly, when I was not in DC, I kept the schedule of nine to five in my district office. I showed up to work every day. And my staff, my chief of staff would find that so strange, being a veteran on the Hill and my even my district director who worked for Lee Seldin previously for four, four terms, eight years, found that very odd. Like, sir, you don't have to be here. Do you have any events, any public agenda? I'm like, no, but I'm on paper. I'm on, I'm on the clock. I'm getting paid. So what can I do to help? And they'd sit there very uncomfortable. I mean, I'm, I'm the principal and I what can I do to help? And they'd sit there very uncomfortable.
Starting point is 01:29:45 I mean, I'm the principal and I'm sitting there and it's a small space and it's just like, all stiff on the computer. I'm like, guys, you can act normal. Please don't pretend you're busy. Cause if you're not busy, then that means you're ahead on the work. But if you're backed up, let me help.
Starting point is 01:30:00 And I did constituent work. I don't care. I totally loved it. People would walk by and be like, you actually show up? I'm like, yeah, come on in. You want some water? I got Diet Coke in the bag. I got snacks.
Starting point is 01:30:11 I kept the hefty stockpile of snacks on the taxpayer dime because it was for the taxpayer. What kind of snacks? Pirate booties was a big favorite. It's like an organic puff of, I think it's an organic popcorn. I'm very conscious about labels. So seed oils, those things are no, no, no extreme dyes.
Starting point is 01:30:34 So I'm like very in line with the Maha movement, right? In Congress, I compared a Dan and Nutrition Facts label from America, yogurt, and one from Europe. Europe has five ingredients, the American one, and America, yogurt, and one from Europe. Europe has five ingredients, the American one, and for strawberry yogurt, the American one had everything but strawberries and like 19 ingredients. So, at least. So, I would keep a lot of pirate booties and some Hershey Kisses. Try to keep it really fun for people. I saw over here you keep dry fruit. I'm a big dry fruit guy. I like dry fruit. I love dry fruit. I don't know if it's good for you, but I like it.
Starting point is 01:31:05 Mango dry fruit, the best. Did you ever see the brand Peeled? Yeah, we've got some over there. Oh, it's so good. I buy that by the bags. I love it. I don't know that it's really good for you, but it's really high fructose for sure, but so good.
Starting point is 01:31:19 Yeah, I like it too much, so I know it's not good. Yeah. Anything I like is not good. That's kind of me. So you're going away in 24 days. I asked you too much, so I know it's not good. Anything I like is not good. That's kind of me. So you're going away in 24 days. I asked you off camera, I know a million people going to prison. I know more people going to prison than most people.
Starting point is 01:31:33 And I always ask everybody the same, like you don't think you deserve the sentence. You think you got screwed in your case. I agree with you. For my first time offender. No, it's nuts. I wasn't even given those credits. So why not?
Starting point is 01:31:46 I mean, if the system's not gonna be fair, then why do you have to play along the system? Why don't you just split? I'm proud. I'm extremely proud. I'd rather go down with the ship. Like the same way that I said put up or shut up and didn't leave and then quit, I don't run, I don't split.
Starting point is 01:32:02 And I could, right? And that's why they called me a flight risk and they sequestered my passports because I'm a dual citizen by birth but I was born here but my parents are, you know, legal immigrants to this country and I... From where? Brazil. Yeah. And through my grandparents, I also am legally a Belgium citizen. So they sequestered my
Starting point is 01:32:24 documents and all of that and here we are. But you never seriously considered stowing away to Antwerp? Inquire, reach out the rag, reached out, I was still in office and saying that he had gotten a tip that I was planning to flee. And this was like, I want to say June of 2023, that he had multiple sources confirming that I had plans to flee in a private jet and I was going to split the country. And I was, I had just been indicted probably a month earlier. And I, I called that my, my comms director told me this. I said, let's call this guy. I put all my lawyers on the line, me this, I said, let's call this guy. I put all my lawyers on the line, put the call on speaker, called him from my office phone. I had my chief of staff, my communications
Starting point is 01:33:14 director, my deputy chief of staff, my operations director, and my senior advisor all sitting in the room. And I said, Hi, how can I help you? Oh, Congressman, this is Enquirer. I'm the chief editor for got the loser's name, could care less. And he says, I have on good authority that you're planning to flee in a week or two in a private jet that you arranged. I'm going to keep it PG here. But I said, and who told you this marvelous story? Mary Poppins? You effing inbred. And then
Starting point is 01:33:48 it went from there. And I said, I dare you to publish it. I will sue you. I will own your fucking rag. And my attorney's on my ear. He's like, Congressman, that's not, no, no, no, you're provoking him. And then I'm like, and furthermore, I will hunt down your entire goddamn sorry lineage. Fucking do it. I dared him, it never happened. I hung up, the entire staff goes to me and is like, that's not how this call was supposed to go. I'm like, you know what, I'm tired of playing
Starting point is 01:34:19 by whatever recommendations you guys get. Well, I mean, a call like that from a journalist is almost always inspired by a call to him from somebody else. He's doing the bidding of somebody else. They're like DOJ is encouraging this, right? They want the story to be out there that you're considering fleeing the country so they can... Just like CNN was informed that I was indicted before I was. No way. Two hours before we were notified of the indictment, my attorney, Joseph Murray, got a call from CNN saying, hey, I heard George Chances is indicted.
Starting point is 01:34:53 What are you doing? And he's like, I'm sorry, this is news to me. The guy goes silent. Two hours later, he's like, hey, now I know you've been notified that he's been indicted. And my attorney is like, what is going on? CNN knew two hours prior to me getting indicted. So disgusting.
Starting point is 01:35:09 How do you feel about it? I mean, looking at this long stretch. Tucker, can I be honest with you? I hope you will. I don't know that I survive it. They're putting me in a violent prison. It's a medium facility. I'm not a street wise guy.
Starting point is 01:35:24 I don't know how to fight. I'm a medium facility. I'm not a streetwise guy. I don't know how to fight. I'm a gay man. We statistics tell you what happens to gay men in prison. I don't know that I survive this. I'm being honest. I mean, I can't change that. It's sad. I, you know, I have a family. I have, are you serious? I'm genuinely serious. People think I'm exaggerating when I say this. I've never had to fight a day in my life. I grew up in a very sheltered life, apartment kid in New York City. I don't have wilderness. My experience in wilderness, let's call it, I like skiing.
Starting point is 01:35:56 But it's just not me. I'm not that guy. I don't know that I survived this. This could be very much my last interview. And I'm not trying to be over dramatic here. I'm just being honest with you. I look at this as practically a death sentence to what could occur to me. And we've seen this. It's not like I'm saying something out of the ordinary. I'm not, I'm not built for this. And I'm not saying, oh, don't, don't want to do the time. Don't do the crime. This isn't about this. This is about the type of punishment.
Starting point is 01:36:28 The justice system is supposed to be reformative for people, not punitive. This is punitive. We're supposed to dispense justice. This is punitive. And justice is, of course, absolute. Some things are absolutely right, others absolutely wrong.
Starting point is 01:36:39 But it's also a relative measure. So if a rapist doesn't get seven years, then a guy who's accused of mishandling $50,000 in campaign contributions shouldn't get seven years, then a guy who's accused of mishandling $50,000 in campaign contributions shouldn't get seven years. Like that's just doesn't, I mean that's part of justice, right? That's the crux of it. Right, there's a scale of severity when we describe crimes. The guy who threatened and plotted to kill Anna Luna Paulina, he had three years. The guy who plotted to kill me got probation.
Starting point is 01:37:08 Seriously? Seriously. It's public record. Guy down in Florida. I think Brevard County. I chose not to ask for like some punitive thing because he didn't actually do it or try, but he did devise a plan and notify me of the plan and that's why Capitol Police took action.
Starting point is 01:37:29 And he didn't get any time. Rapists in New York State up in upstate New York, there was this guy who molested nine different children. That's six months. Six months. They're sending me for seven years and three months to prison in a medium facility prison with known, with people there who are known gang members and people who are rapists, sex offenders.
Starting point is 01:37:56 I should at bare minimum be in a camp. I'm not saying I'm special or I deserve special treatment. It's just about, I'm kind of violent person. I'm as, I am special treatment, it's just about, I'm kind of violent person. I'm a pacifist squared. I don't get into physical altercations. You can come in my face, spit, I don't have this urge to be violent. I'm not violent.
Starting point is 01:38:18 I'm a total nonviolent human being. Hence, I'm also a very non-interventionist type of person when it comes to war. Sue, this is like so bonkers. And there's nothing you can do. The only thing I can do as a human being today is pray that my pardon application or clemency application, commutation, whatever, reaches the DOJ on time and President Trump can act on it. That's literally the only thing I have on my mind.
Starting point is 01:38:43 Who do you think is advocating for you to do seven years? Who's whispering in the presidency or the union to serve seven years in prison? A few people. Can you name any? Of course, the county executive of Nassau County, Bruce Blakeman, the chairman of Nassau County, Joe Cairo, former Congressman Anthony Disposito,
Starting point is 01:38:59 Congressman Nick Lelota, these people hate me. It's vitriolic, it's personal. But seven years in prison for an unviolent crime? Some people said that it wasn't enough. There were people actually saying they didn't think it was enough. Congressman La Lota was cheering it on his social media. Man, I think we should be careful before we cheer other people's destruction. I completely agree.
Starting point is 01:39:21 That's a principle we should all remember. I didn't cheer when they shot Osama Bin Laden, and I didn't like Osama Bin Laden, but. I didn't cheer. I don't cheer anyone's death period. I disagreed with killing Saddam Hussein. I thought it was a mistake. Well, it turned out to be, you were right on that. And I, it was a very unpopular take at the time.
Starting point is 01:39:38 Yeah, no, Iran controls the country, so. Very, very, very, very. No, none of the geniuses have ever apologized to that. No, but just in general, wishing misfortune on other people, taking pleasure in the suffering of others, it's not a good thing to do. It's very unwise. It's just bad karma.
Starting point is 01:39:52 Big time. Big time, and the world goes around. I completely agree. And karma comes with it and slaps you in the face. It's almost like when you're on the merry-go-round and you have your hand out and you're slapping people. Yes. That's karma on the world. Yes, I totally agree.
Starting point is 01:40:06 It's pretty bad. When I was in prison, you visited me. That's what, you know, that's what we're commanded to do. So, do you expect to be visited and by whom? So I'm not allowed to, because I'm a high profiler, they call celebrity status, and they only allow family members. Yeah. I don't know what my technology situation is right now, if I'm going to have access
Starting point is 01:40:25 to technology, that's dicey. Two of my employers said that I can keep writing for them from prison. They don't mind. They know that I can figure it out and whatever access. And that also helps me be able to maintain myself gainfully employed to continue to support and provide for my family, which I'm a big provider for them. I don't know that that's all up in the air. They only start talking to you two weeks out.
Starting point is 01:40:54 So next week is when we start to have these conversations. Have you ever looked at prison TikTok? Huh? You ever looked at prison TikTok? I have not, no. I haven't either, but I was just hearing about it the other day. Apparently prisoners are all over TikTok recording their thoughts and music videos and stuff from prison. The last thing I want to do is get caught with a phone and add more time.
Starting point is 01:41:10 That's exactly right. Last question, what are you doing to prepare psychologically? I've tried everything. I went off. I went on a hiatus. I haven't done media until last week when Mandami, I was on a six week media hiatus and Chanel Rion from OAN had me to, I love Chanel. And I said, you know what, I'll give you one last, we'll do a last one. And then when one of your production folks called me, I said, I answered the phone and I said her name and she's like, you have my phone number saved. I'm like, of course I would. I don't want to say her name because I don't want to dox her. So she's like, you have my phone number saved. I'm like, of course I would.
Starting point is 01:41:45 I don't wanna say her name cause I don't want to dox her. So she's like, can you do it? I'm like, look, I can do it. Last time you agreed to do my show, it didn't go well. I told her that. Sorry, sorry, sorry. So I said no fill-ins, right? No surprises, but all kidding aside, she was wonderful.
Starting point is 01:42:01 And we found, this was Sturz-In and here we are today, Monday. It's because I was having this conversation with somebody who knows you the other right here on this barn like last week and George say I was talking to George Santos said how's George Santos doing and he's doing seven years I was like what yeah couldn't even but I'm so out of it and I'm just and I've been so focused on Iran and I'm embarrassed I didn't fully get it seven years federal yeah which means like seven years yeah and I said to this person that's the craziest thing I've ever I'm so focused on Iran, I'm embarrassed. I didn't fully get it. Seven years federal? Yeah. Which means like seven years. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:42:27 And I said to this person, that's the craziest thing I've ever heard. Yeah, it is. Has this gotten a lot of attention? Not really, no. I mean, the day I got sentenced, they wrote little, you know, oh, he sobbed in court.
Starting point is 01:42:40 You damn right I sobbed in court. Seven years of my life. I mean, a big thing, I'm 36. I'm going to be 37 on July 22nd and three days later I have to turn myself into federal prison for seven years. So once the pinata party's over, once they've finished destroying you, knock the stuffing out of you, no one cares what happens next. Your name is never spoken again. Well, we'll be here and I hope you are rescued before you have to serve the time and I hope
Starting point is 01:43:05 that if you're not, that it's redemptive and I hope either way you'll come back. I appreciate it. Thank you. George Santos. Good to see you. Dr. Carlson, thank you for having me. We want to thank you for watching us on Spotify, a company that we use every day. We know the people who run it, good people. While you're here, do us a favor,
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