George Santos Says He’s Done With the Republican Party (The Feeling Is Mutual.)

George Santos, the disgraced former congressman who was expelled from the House of Representatives last year, said he was abandoning his relationship with the Republican Party.

Santos made the announcement Friday, after Republicans in the House of Representatives struck a deal with Democrats to avoid a government shutdown, angering far-right party members.

“The Republican Party continues to lie and defraud its voter base,” Mr. Santos, who has been accused of stealing campaign donors, said in a post on nothing and falls for everything.”

His statement could theoretically have an effect on the House race in the First Congressional District on eastern Long Island, where Mr. Santos planned to mount a primary challenge against Representative Nick LaLota, a Republican and one of the fiercest critics of Mr. Santos. in the House.

There is little evidence that Mr. Santos did much campaign work or fundraising for the contest. Nevertheless, he said he would stay in the race and bring his “Ultra MAGA/Trump-supporting values ​​as an independent to the ballot in November.”

If he does, he could potentially pull some votes away from Mr. LaLota, which would benefit the undetermined Democratic nominee in a district that Donald J. Trump won by just under 2 points in 2020.

Neither Mr. LaLota nor Suffolk County Republican Party Chairman Jesse Garcia immediately returned a request for comment. But earlier this month, after Mr. Santos first declared his candidacy, Mr. Garcia said in an interview that there was “little to no desire to continue this comedy show.”

Mr. Santos was removed from office in December by a rare two-thirds majority of his colleagues after a report by the House of Representatives Ethics Committee found that he had brazenly stolen from his campaign and used the money to buy Botox and luxury goods to buy.

In the immediate aftermath of that expulsion, Mr. Santos declared he was done with Washington, but his resolve proved weak: He returned to the Capitol to attend President Biden’s State of the Union address, and that evening via his candidacy from the House of Representatives is known on social media. room.

Mr. Santos faces 23 federal crimes, including wire fraud, money laundering and aggravated identity theft, and could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted. His trial is scheduled for September.