George Santos’ Mysterious Campaign Loans Somehow Get Even More Mysterious

Rep. George Santos (R-NY) announced Monday that he would, counter to previously reported promises, run for another term in Congress. But it’s his latest campaign finance report—filed just a few days earlier—that’s truly mystifying watchdogs, as Santos made yet another seemingly inexplicable change to a central question about his finances: How, and now when, did he loan his campaign hundreds of thousands of dollars?

In the report, which was filed with the Federal Election Commission on Saturday, the campaign claimed that over the first three months of the year it refunded more donations than it received—likely a side effect of the general public’s aversion to the scandal-swamped congressional freshman, a feeling his donors share. (The Santos campaign was also legally barred from raising money for some of the reporting period.)

The campaign also reported spending a grand total of zero dollars ($0.00) in that same time period, which, while unusual for any active campaign, represents an extraordinary departure from Santos’ previous profligacy. The flat expenses also raise questions of whether the campaign failed to properly account for services it used over the period, such as legal counsel or FEC compliance.

Read more at The Daily Beast.