George Santos Just Hired the Only Man He Can Trust

J. Scott Applewhite/AP

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.The role of “treasurer” on George Santos’ congressional campaign committee is not a job that just anyone can do. Nor is it a job that most people would necessarily want. So it makes some sense that sometimes, it is not even a job that people know they have. 
When Santos’ longtime business partner and treasurer, Nancy Marks, resigned from that post in late January, Santos’ campaign filed new paperwork with the Federal Elections Commission stating that a man named Thomas Datwyler would be taking over as treasurer. But Datwyler’s attorney said that Datwyler had in fact turned down the role. Santos’ campaign continued listing Datwyler as the treasurer anyway, at least for a little bit. Then, Santos’ campaign released a filing that identified its treasurer as someone named Andrew Olson. As CNBC noted at the time, Olson had not actually filed the paperwork to become treasurer. Also, it is not clear that Andrew Olson is a real person.
In the ensuing months, Santos has filed paperwork to seek re-election; refunded more money than he’s raised; and been indicted by a federal grand jury for wire fraud, making false statements to Congress, and theft of public funds. But on Friday, the Santos campaign announced a new hire who could perhaps help bring some stability and professionalism to the organization. George Santos has a new treasurer: His name is George Santos.
There is nothing stopping Santos from serving as his own treasurer, it turns out. Indeed, many of the reasons why a candidate would have a third-party serve as treasurer—among them, to make sure the campaign does not break any laws—do not seem to be major concerns for the first-term Republican, who no longer serves on any committees but can still vote on matters of crucial national importance, such as the debt ceiling. So why not just keep the job in house? Refusing to hire a treasurer just means there’s one less person who can someday testify against you.