Freshman Rep. George Santos, whose finances and fabrications are under investigation, is facing new questions about the accuracy of the campaign reports filed during his unsuccessful 2020 bid for Congress.
Someone named Stephen Berger, for instance, is described in the New York Republican’s campaign filings as having contributed $2,500 on July 31, 2020.
But the address attributed to Berger – on Brandt Road in Brawley, California – belongs to William Brandt, a prominent California cattle rancher.
“It’s my address but not my check,” Brandt told CNN late Monday afternoon.
He said no one with the name listed on Santos’ filing has ever lived at that address. “I built the house, been there 40-something years,” he said.
Of Santos, Brandt said: “I wouldn’t give him a dime.”
Mother Jones magazine first reported the Berger donation as part of a story Monday, detailing its unsuccessful efforts to locate donors listed as contributing large amounts to Santos’ first congressional campaign.
CNN reached out to Santos’ congressional office, his personal lawyer and to Nancy Marks, who served as his treasurer during the 2020 campaign and his successful 2022 bid for US House.
Federal prosecutors are investigating Santos’ finances, and he continues to face a myriad of questions about his personal finances, campaign money and repeated lies about his resume and biography. As those questions have mounted, he has sought to distance himself from his campaign’s reports with federal election regulators, telling CNN last week that he does not “touch” those records.
He also has resisted calls to resign from some of his fellow New York Republicans.
Last year, Santos flipped a Democratic-held seat in Long Island to help Republicans secure a narrow majority in the chamber. House Republican…
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