Episode 3: The Plea

Summary

Deep Cover: George Santos - Episode 3: The Plea

Released August 21, 2024 | Host/Author: Pushkin Industries

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Introduction

In Episode 3 of the miniseries Deep Cover: George Santos, producer Amy Gaines McQuaid delves deep into the dramatic turn of events surrounding former Republican Congressman George Santos from New York. As Santos prepares to face his criminal trial, this episode uncovers the latest developments, offering listeners an inside look into his plea deal and its broader implications.

The Guilty Plea

The episode begins with breaking news: George Santos has officially pled guilty to two federal charges—wire fraud and aggravated identity theft—marking a significant shift in his legal battle. Amy Gaines McQuaid recounts her immediate response upon hearing the news.

Amy Brown [08:48]: "Santos is going to make best efforts... He has to pay it 30 days before sentencing."

Santos’s plea effectively ends his trial scheduled for September 9th, replacing a potentially lengthy court battle with a negotiated settlement.

Inside the Courthouse

Amy provides a vivid, on-the-ground account of the courtroom atmosphere during Santos’s plea hearing in Central Islip.

Arrival and Environment: Amy arrived early at the courthouse, describing it as a “zoo” with media tents set up extensively.

Amy Brown [04:09]: "He is dressed in this, like, men in black, black suit with these, like, gold frame sunglasses. But he's got, like, a Star of David on his lapel."

Courtroom Dynamics: The courtroom itself was compact, filled primarily with legal teams and a hushed audience awaiting Santos’s entrance. The tension was palpable as Santos walked in, maintaining his composure despite the gravity of the situation.

Amy Brown [07:26]: "You could feel... all the anxiety and feeling and anticipation that was, like, locked into his body."

Plea Proceedings: The judge methodically went through the consequences of the guilty plea, ensuring Santos understood the waiver of his trial rights.

Amy Brown [07:45]: "You understand that you are going to be waiving your right to a trial if you do enter into this guilty plea."

Santos made a somber statement, admitting his wrongdoing and expressing regret.

George Santos [14:34]: "I deeply regret this. I accept full responsibility. I'm committed to making amends."

Implications of the Plea Deal

Amy discusses the strategic reasons behind Santos’s decision to plead guilty to only two of the 23 charges against him, highlighting the potential advantages and drawbacks of this move.

Prosecution's Approach: The prosecution, led by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Harris, had prepared an extensive case with 40 witnesses and 500 exhibits, indicating the severity and breadth of the allegations.

Amy Brown [10:19]: "The prosecution has built, we will never hear."

Impact on Justice and Transparency: By avoiding a trial, many intricate details and additional charges remain unexplored publicly, leaving a sense of unfinished business and limited accountability.

Amy Brown [12:12]: "It was going to take probably over a month to get through all of that, and we're losing that detail."

Restitution Debate: A significant portion of the hearing focused on the issue of restitution, questioning Santos's ability to repay the alleged misappropriated funds. His attorney, Joseph Murray, emphasized Santos’s commitment to making “best efforts” to fulfill these obligations within 30 days before sentencing.

Amy Brown [15:05]: "Is a, can the judge keep a straight face? I mean, did he make a statement?"

Future of George Santos

Despite the plea deal, Amy and co-host Jake Halpern speculate on Santos’s future post-sentencing. The conversation touches on his ability to recover financially and his potential return to the public eye, possibly through media engagements or cameo appearances.

Jake Halpern [16:35]: "He is someone who knows how to command the spotlight."

Notable Quotes

• Santos on Pleading Guilty:
  “I deeply regret this. I accept full responsibility. I'm committed to making amends.”
  [14:34]

• Prosecutor on the Case:
  “We were prepared to bring 40 witnesses, which includes victims... 500 exhibits...”
  [10:26]

• Judge’s Instruction:
  “You understand that you are going to be waiving your right to a trial if you do enter into this guilty plea.”
  [07:45]

Conclusion

Episode 3 of Deep Cover: George Santos provides a comprehensive examination of the plea deal's immediate effects and the broader implications for political accountability and legal proceedings. While the guilty plea resolves some aspects of Santos’s case, it simultaneously leaves many questions unanswered, setting the stage for further exploration in subsequent episodes.

Jake Halpern [17:27]: "There's something about seeing that image of him walking in... He will be back, it seems clear to me, in some capacity."

Listeners are left contemplating the intricate web of deception Santos wove and the enduring impact of his actions on his career and personal life.

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Credits:
Reported and Produced by Amy Gaines McQuaid
Edited by Karen Shakurji
Mastered by Sarah Brugiere
Executive Producer: Jacob Smith
Additional Audio: CBS, ABC, Newsday
Special Thanks to Jake Flanagan, Sarah Nix, Greta Cohn

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Transcript

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[Amy Brown]

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[Unknown Speaker 1]

New legal.

[Unknown Speaker 2]

Developments involving ousted Republican congressman George Santos.

[Unknown Speaker 4]

Sources say there's a possible plea deal.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

In the corruption case that drove him from office.

[Amy Brown]

His trial was set to begin September 9th. Why plead guilty now?

[Unknown Speaker 2]

So the rumors are true. On Monday, August 19, George Santos pled guilty in federal court. When I heard the news, I made my way to New York, and I was there in the courtroom just a few rows behind George Santos for all of it. I called Jake right after the hearing as I was driving away from the courthouse.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Amy? Hello? Hey. Hey, can you hear me?

[Unknown Speaker 4]

I can hear you. I'm.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

I'm walking the dog in the park.

[Unknown Speaker 4]

But I have so many questions for you. And so does my dog. Milo, Are you home now?

[Unknown Speaker 1]

No, I'm dropping back.

[Unknown Speaker 4]

Oh, my gosh. Wow. Okay.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

What a day.

[Unknown Speaker 4]

Yeah, talk me through it.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

So, as expected, Santos pled guilty specifically to two counts. Count two and count six. I think one of those is wire fraud and one of those is aggravated identity theft. But if I understood correctly, he basically admitted that he did Everything in the indictment. So, like, he pled to these two charges, but he did own up to all of the allegations against him by the federal government as part of this plea agreement.

[Unknown Speaker 4]

Huh. How many counts were there total?

[Unknown Speaker 1]

23.

[Unknown Speaker 4]

Wow. Does that mean that he. That he, like, fared well on this?

[Unknown Speaker 1]

I mean, well, what didn't happen today was sentencing, so that was tentatively scheduled for February, so we won't know. But the range that he's looking at is minimum of two years in prison and a maximum of 22 years.

[Unknown Speaker 4]

Talk me through, like, showing up at the courthouse and what the scene was like.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Yeah. So I got to the courthouse in Central Islip on the island, and it was a zoo. Tent after tent after tent of media set up. People had been camped out there probably all day, just trying to get shots of Santos walking in and out of the court. It's pretty crazy.

[Unknown Speaker 4]

But there's an image that I'm looking at now on my computer screen of George Santos. I was trying to, like, see what you might have seen. He's dressed in this, like, men in black, black suit with these, like, gold frame sunglasses. But he's got, like, a Star of David on his lapel. It's a little hard to see, but it's clearly a Star of David. And I'm like, this is unbelievable. Like, dude is walking into the courthouse at his moment of reckoning, and he's still got. He's still rocking the Star of David. Like, he is holding on to that claim of Jewish heritage.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Yeah. Wow. I couldn't see that from where I was. So I was sitting in the courthouse three rows behind him. It's a huge building. Like, it's a. It's a massive federal facility. But the courtroom itself was actually quite small. It was just four rows of pews on each side. And two of those rows were basically filled up by lawyers for the prosecution. Of course, there's no jury. Right. Because this is, you know, and now this ultimately means that this isn't going to go to trial.

[Unknown Speaker 4]

Okay. But so when you're. So when you're in the courtroom, are you there before he shows up, or was he already there when you walked in?

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Yeah, so when I'm in the courtroom, he is not there yet. And then he's just kind of sitting there. And it's very much like a library, church kind of, like, atmosphere. Like, everyone's, like, whispering and looking around. And then the prosecutors entered, and actually some family members of the lead prosecutor were seated behind me. So I talked to them a little bit. I Mean, just like you don't. No one has cell phones, no one has computers. I don't think that you would even let you bring an Apple watch in. And so everyone is kind of forced to talk to each other. So for a while, people just kind of sat there milling about.

[Unknown Speaker 4]

I want you to turn out the moment that he walks into the courtroom.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Yeah. So everyone is, like I said, kind of. So everyone is kind of seated quietly, anxiously wondering what's going to happen when things are going to actually get going, if this is actually going to happen today as we were expecting. And then I heard from one of the reporters sitting next to me, he had actually gone out to try and go to the bathroom before things would start. And he came back and told me, he's here. Like, he came face to face with Santos on his way to the bathroom. And I was just like, whoa, this is really happening. You know, half of the morning I thought maybe he wouldn't show up. But then it was. It was real. He was there. And so, you know, unceremoniously, the doors open and Santos comes through with his legal team in his black and gray suit. He didn't look like overly distressed or anything, but there was, like a tenseness to his body. The moment that he walked in, I was sort of just speechless because there's so much anticipation and so much build up to this moment. And then there he was when he.

[Unknown Speaker 4]

And when he walked down the aisle, could you get a glimpse at his face? Did he look like solemn or did he look like breezy?

[Unknown Speaker 1]

You could feel. At least what I sensed was you could feel kind of all the anxiety and feeling and anticipation that was, like, locked into his body as he waited for this to start.

[Unknown Speaker 4]

Is it one of these things where the judge was reading out the charges and asking him, how do you plea?

[Unknown Speaker 1]

It started very matter of factly with the judge saying, you understand that you are going to be waiving your right to a trial if you do enter into this guilty plea. And then she started kind of recapping what that guilty plea would be for. But then it was kind of astounding just to hear the judge. You kind of gave like, this long list of like, okay, you can't have a trial. You're giving up that right. You are giving up the right to subpoena witnesses. You're giving up your right to testify in your own defense. And he had to, you know, he was like, you understand that? And Santos said, yes. There was a somber quality to his voice in those interactions, back and forth with the Judge. But he was keeping it together in the courtroom.

[Unknown Speaker 4]

Yeah.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

There was a moment where in the beginning of the proceedings where the judge swore him in and asked him to raise his right hand and, you know, swear to tell the truth. And that just felt like a moment to have George Santos sworn to tell the truth.

[Unknown Speaker 4]

Yeah, that is. That's crazy. Yeah. It's almost like, can the judge keep a straight face? I mean, did he make a statement?

[Unknown Speaker 1]

He did make a statement. He made a statement in court, and then he made a statement outside the courthouse. I mean, I just was writing so ferociously. But basically, he says he started off by saying, I participated in this scheme with Nancy Mark. Everything that we talked about, everything that, you know, we. We talked through with Giraffe is basically what he copped to. And then he said, you know, I deeply regret this. I accept full responsibility. I'm committed to making amends. And then he pleaded guilty on both counts.

[Unknown Speaker 4]

When he says that, like, is he saying that just very kind of, like, wooden and composed, or is there emotion there when he's kind of making this apology?

[Unknown Speaker 1]

It's interesting. So when he started to make his statement, he asked the judge if he should stand up. And I had to think in that moment, he was expecting more dramatic, like, more theater out of it. And the judge told him he could stay seated. Like, you're not getting some big, you know, swan song moment out of this.

[Unknown Speaker 4]

No, I totally buy that. I think that's, like, such an astute observation.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

You know, it did feel real. As real as anyone can be reading a prepared statement in a federal courtroom, you know?

[Unknown Speaker 4]

Yeah, I'd love to know. You know, we talked to a prosecutor on the line, what it means that he only pled guilty to two of the counts.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Yeah, I get the sense that that was the proffer that the government offered to avoid what I have to assume would have been a lengthy and expensive trial. If you're thinking about the dozens of lawyers that filled the courtroom Today, an assistant U.S. attorney, Ryan Harris, who was the main spokesperson for the prosecution today, he listed out, we were prepared to bring 40 witnesses, which includes victims. So donors, campaign staffers, family, co conspirators. I'm imagining that would have been Nancy Marks. And 500 exhibits, including text, photos, emails, audio, video, financial records. You know, this would have been an exhaustive and thorough trial. And this was something I've been thinking about a lot, because as the prosecution, how do you tell the story of all of these different schemes? Because they're. They're each their own story, right? It was going to be a real challenge for them and I think also a challenge for a jury to keep track of all of these things. And so I think people were projecting it was going to take probably over a month to get through all of that, and we're losing that detail. So I think that the case that the prosecution has built, we will never hear. And there's something really unsatisfying about that, if you've been following. You know, I had been gearing up for this trial, and the reporter in me wanted to see this through, wanted this to go to trial, wanted every one of my questions about what happened with this $500,000 loan.

[Unknown Speaker 4]

Right.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Like, I had those questions, and I wanted to see that aired out in court. I really did.

[Unknown Speaker 4]

Yeah.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

But then hearing today, the amount of evidence that the prosecution had and the lack of defense that Santos seemed to have, you know, it just kind of made this feel like a foregone conclusion that whether we sat through a lengthy trial or not, the result was basically going to still be the same, is that Santos is going to be found guilty on at least some of this, always. But I would say the most dramatic part of the entire thing was around the issue of restitution. Basically, everything was coming to an end. It had been. It had run about an hour. Very calm. In fact, the judge was thanking everyone for being so calm. And then there was this back and forth between Santos's lawyers and the judge and the prosecutors over this issue of restitution and forfeiture. I guess, like, is bankrupt going to be able to pay this money? And so Joe Murray, who's the attorney that we've been reaching out to, at one point, like, stood up even as the proceedings were ending and was just saying, you know, Santos is going to make best efforts. He kept saying, best efforts. He's going to do his best to try and pay this. He has to pay it 30 days before sentencing. So a sentencing is actually going to be in February. That means he has to come up with hundreds of thousands of dollars between now and February. And Joseph Murray, his attorney, was making this point of like, well, we don't know how these proceedings will impact his employability, which I thought was so interesting and comical. Most previous job that I'm aware of was elected official. And I don't think he has great credibility on that. I mean, he was. He did earlier this year mount a campaign to run for a different congressional district in New York, also on Long island, but further east. And then he suspended that in light of this criminal trial I assume so, yeah. It is a question of A, where he's going to get the money to pay back the government and the victims, and B, what his next job is going to be.

[Unknown Speaker 4]

My friend is like a reality TV producer who got. He got Michael Cohen on his show. I could see Santos doing something like that.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Yeah. Or a lot of cameos.

[Unknown Speaker 4]

A lot of cameos.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

A lot of cameos. Like. Like $200,000 worth of cameos. Yeah. After the hearing concluded, Santos gave a very tearful statement outside with his gold framed sunglasses, just kind of like choking back tears and admitting that he'd lied. And there was a huge media scrum around him.

[Unknown Speaker 4]

Pleading guilty is a step I never imagined I take, but it is a.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Necessary one because it is the right thing to do. It's not only a recognition of my misrepresentation to others, but more profoundly, it is my own recognition of the lies I told myself over these past years. And then Breon Piest, who's the United States Attorney for the Eastern District, spoke. You know, they had someone from the Justice Department's criminal division, right? They get, like, all the suits, all the big wigs up to give their statement about how this can't happen here. And we proved that to. And you know, it's all political speak and it's all about rooting out corruption and accountability. And I guess that's what happened today because, you know, Santos seemingly was afraid of the prosecution and decided to take this plea. But it does seem a little hollow that we won't see all the bits and pieces aired out at a. At a trial that maybe would have felt like more honest accountability for this.

[Unknown Speaker 4]

There's something about seeing that image of him walking in, like, the men in Black suit, the gold from glasses, and again, like the Star of David on his lapel. Just like the whole. The whole bit. We're just like, we have not seen the last of this guy. He is someone who knows how to command the spotlight.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

And.

[Unknown Speaker 4]

He will be back, it seems clear to me, in some capacity.

[Jake Halpern]

In light of this plea deal, there's so much that we'll never know. We won't hear from the witnesses, people who saw Santos operate and were drawn into his web. But here's the thing. You actually can hear from one of them, someone who George Santos befriended and then betrayed. She was a gatekeeper to Gatsby country, an ambassador of the very rich, someone who believed in Santos and empowered him. And she has a lot to say. Next time on deep cover.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

So I expended a lot of my own personal political capital, meaning my friends and connections who participate in conservative politics. And they supported George for the same reason that I did.

[Jake Halpern]

This episode was reported and produced by Amy Gaines McQuaid. It was edited by Karen Shakurji. It was mastered by Sarah Brugiere. Our executive producer is Jacob Smith. Additional audio in this episode is from cbs, abc, and Newsday. Special thanks to Jake Flanagan, Sarah Nix, and Greta Cohn. I'm Jake Halpern.

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