George Santos Goes Off: Trump Loyalty, Prison, PTSD & What’s Next

Summary

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The Tara Palmeri Show

Episode: George Santos Goes Off – Trump Loyalty, Prison, PTSD & What’s Next

Date: November 26, 2025
Host: Tara Palmeri
Guest: George Santos

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Episode Overview

In this candid and often confrontational interview, Tara Palmeri sits down with former Congressman George Santos days after his early release from prison—commuted by Donald Trump—to discuss his controversial political career, life in and after Congress, allegations and admissions of fraud, loyalty to Trump and Marjorie Taylor Greene, his experience in prison, mental health struggles, and what comes next for him. Santos offers defiant justifications, personal reflections, and characteristically unfiltered responses, giving listeners a rare, inside look at one of America’s most notorious political figures.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

George Santos: An Aberration, Outlier, or Symptom?

• Santos' Self-Image:
  • Sees himself as a "one time limited edition" in politics, not representative of a broader political trend.
    • “I consider myself more of an outlier in politics or when I was in politics. I kind of like to say that I’ve removed myself from politics at this point.” (01:01)
• On Future ‘Santos’ in Congress:
  • Hopes the Republican Party grows to accept more diversity—“so long as your ideology is conservative.” (01:42)

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Legal Fallout, Donor Money, and Ethics

• On His Guilty Plea:
  • Claims DOJ forced his hand, insists most allegations are overblown. Acknowledges straw donations were a mistake but repeatedly distances himself from other specific charges.
    • “My crime and I’m very, very comfortable in admitting that it was a poor choice, was straw donation. That’s where the whole thing starts, people. I am sick and tired of hearing online people say, oh, he stole from a dying veterans dog. That’s not true.” (02:44)
• On Donor Money Usage:
  • Downplays accusations about campaign expenditures (e.g. Sephora, OnlyFans), argues that campaign image is fair game.
    • “Sephora is an expenditure on a lot of campaigns. Where do you think politicians buy their makeup?” (04:41)
  • Pushes back against notion that he owes donors directly, as DOJ determines restitution, not individuals.
    • “By law, I owe nobody, nothing.” (04:02)
• On Ethics:
  • Insists campaign finance errors warrant learning, not condemnation; “stay the fuck away from money.” (20:46)

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Congress, Corruption, and American Politics

• On Colleagues and Corruption:
  • Refuses to compare himself to other members or call out names:
    • “They are. I mean, look at where we are. We’re $38 trillion in debt. But I’m not going to go like head to head and calling people out. That’s just not something I want to do.” (07:09)
• On His Own Exit:
  • “I feel like politics was the most toxic thing that happened in my life ... I’m so humbled and glad that I’m not there anymore.” (10:45)
  • No interest in returning: “I want a simpler life. That’s for sure. That’s 100% for sure.” (20:46)

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Loyalty: Trump and Marjorie Taylor Greene

• Relationships and Political Factions:
  • Professes deep friendship with Marjorie Taylor Greene and strong support for Trump, but denies “devotion” or “adoration.”
    • “My devotion is to God. And it’s so fucking infuriating that I have to keep listening to people say that I have devotion and adoration for Donald Trump.” (12:21)
  • On tension within the movement: “I will go to bat for Marjorie the same way she went to bat for me.” (08:54)
• On Trump’s Clemency:
  • Grateful for commutation, but rejects link to special treatment due to fandom or loyalty.
    • “I owe the man a lot of gratitude. That's for— for goddamn sure.” (15:27)
• Unwilling to Choose:
  • On the hypothetical of having to choose between Trump and Greene: “There isn’t a world where I have to make that choice.” (09:28)
• Naming His Children:
  • Jokes he may name his children Donald and Marjorie. “Yeah. That is actually fact. Yep, that is true.” (09:38)

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Prison, Repentance, and PTSD

• Prison Experience:
  • Describes dire conditions (slop food, solitary), invisibility, and feeling “destroyed from within.”
    • “I was in a prison in solitary confinement for 41 days being tortured. Like, that's not. That's un-American at best.” (12:46)
  • Learned hard lessons, claims renewed focus on integrity and compliance.
    • “Make sure that you cross your T’s, dot your I’s, don’t play fast and loose with anything that is regulatory regulation, and especially, stay the fuck away from money.” (20:46)
• Repentance:
  • Admits he’s “repentant” for hurting friends and family:
    • “Of course I’m repentant. I hurt friends, I hurt family members, disappointed people. But I can say that until I’m blue in the face.” (22:36)
• Mental Health and PTSD:
  • Open about receiving therapy and being diagnosed with PTSD, especially from solitary confinement:
    • “I have a therapist. I have a psychiatrist, and I did get diagnosed with PTSD. And it's not from prison. It's from the isolation from the 41 days ... Tight Spaces has become somewhat of difficult. And I have the same reoccurring nightmare every single night ...” (39:41)
  • Advocates for mental health awareness: “We lean on one another as human beings in order for us to get by difficult situations.” (40:52)

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Media, Public Perception, and Honesty

• On Media Narrative:
  • Blames journalists for spreading misinformation and sensationalism, claims some were disreputable (“escorts posing as journalists”). (24:38)
• On Being Honest:
  • Asserts he’s “honest, forthcoming, transparent,” regardless of public opinion.
    • “I think I’m honest. I think I’m forthcoming, and I think I’ve been abundantly generous with allowing people to have a look inside of my life.” (36:55)
• On Internet’s Toxicity:
  • Describes receiving abuse online, denounces social division:
    • “The toxicity of the internet right now for me is my biggest turnoff.” (22:36)
• Personal Justification:
  • Frames himself as a generous friend, recounts acts of charity:
    • “I dropped off 50 fucking turkeys because people can’t eat and have a turkey this Thanksgiving ... I don’t do it for show.” (26:48)
• On Desire to Repair/Restitute:
  • Wants to repay donors or give to charity if possible, but claims procedural barriers:
    • “If I can’t give it to restitution to the people intended that the DOJ wanted it to. I’ll just give it to a charity. So a victim’s charity ... That’s something I want to do because it’s for me.” (28:38)

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Scandals, Double Standards, and Anna Delvey

• On Meeting Anna Delvey:
  • Dismisses the “fraudster” label, sees her as ambitious and honest in her own way.
• On Grift in Congress and Media Bias:
  • Points to other scandals (e.g., Sheila McCormick, Bob Menendez), claiming media ignores Democrats’ wrongdoings while obsessing over his.
    • “Where’s the obsession with Sheila McCormick? ... She stole $5 million from FEMA.” (34:25)
• On American Politics:
  • “Congress is a joke, bipartisan joke. You want to talk about - Oh, Joe Santos was a joke. There's sex scandals ...” (33:29)

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Reflections and What’s Next

• Post-Prison Plans:
  • Alludes to business and media projects; suggests 2026 will be busy for him.
    • “There’s so much on the plate right now ... 2026 is going to be a really busy year for Jordan.” (31:10)
• On Return to Politics:
  • Firm: “No.”
• On Life Philosophy:
  • Aspires to simplicity, learning from past, and never repeating mistakes.
• Presidential Favorites:
  • Top 5: Abraham Lincoln, Ronald Reagan, Donald Trump, George Washington, John F. Kennedy (“Honest Abe is the best president this country’s ever had.”) (38:20)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Ethics and Political Culture:
  • “If a person is donating to a campaign, and it is to fund all the operations of the campaign and candidate image, candid image goes with that.” (05:13)
• On Political Expulsion:
  • “I feel like I dodged a bullet. I feel like politics was the most toxic thing that happened in my life and being in Congress was the most self destructive thing that happened in my life.” (10:45)
• On President Trump:
  • “I'm okay with saying I support President Trump, that I think he’s a great leader for our country, that he’s for the Republican Party, but I don’t think it’s something where we should be conflating the two things.” (12:21)
• On Regret:
  • “I did some dumb things. I accept that. I admit that. And ... It is a part of my life that will help reshape ... the way I conduct myself moving forward.” (19:28)
• On Mental Health:
  • “I like to talk about mental health awareness and talk about that. It’s okay. We all have it. Because ... we lean on one another as human beings in order for us to get by difficult situations.” (40:52)

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Important Timestamps

• Santos' Take on His Place in Politics – 01:01–01:39
• Admission of Straw Donations – 02:44
• Sephora, OnlyFans & Campaign Funds – 04:41–05:27
• Corruption in Congress & Burnout – 07:09–10:45
• Santos on Trump, Greene, and Loyalty – 08:54–09:38, 12:21, 13:54
• Prison Life, Isolation, & Lesson Learned – 15:35, 16:58, 18:12, 19:28
• Repentance & Public Perception – 22:36–24:23
• Media Critique & Personal Justification – 24:38–26:48
• Restitution Plans – 28:10, 28:38
• PTSD & Mental Health – 39:41–40:52
• Favorite Presidents – 38:20

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Tone

The tone throughout is combative, unfiltered, and sometimes darkly humorous. Santos oscillates between self-justification, sarcasm, regret, and bouts of blunt self-reflection, all while taking aim at political adversaries, the press, and the court of public opinion. Palmeri maintains a persistent, probing style—drawing out admissions, challenges, and flashes of candor.

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Conclusion

The episode offers a revealing and often provocative look at George Santos' mindset—his refusals, regrets, rationalizations, and defiant humor—while exploring the darker sides of American political culture, media frenzy, and the human consequences of public disgrace. Listeners get an unusually intimate perspective on life after scandal, including rare openness about mental health and the enduring costs of political spectacle.

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Transcript

[George Santos]

AI had the time of my life. A I never failed this way before.

[Tara Palmeri]

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[George Santos]

And I owe it all to you.

[Tara Palmeri]

Try Monday Sidekick AI you'll love to use on Monday.com. oh, just one minute to go. Some people suggested that you might pull out in the comments, but it looks like you're here.

[George Santos]

I never pull out of interviews. I don't, I can't recall a single time where anybody would even have the ability to compare that to. But yeah, I'm here.

[Tara Palmeri]

Okay. George, I've got to ask you. Do you think of yourself as an aberration in politics? Are you mainstream or symptom of the times?

[George Santos]

I am Jorge Santos. I don't, I don't, I don't know. Honestly, I don't know. I think symptom of the times that would be kind of rich because I mean we have members of Congress going on, on social media and saying, flaunting as one of the richest members of Congress or like, I mean, no, I don't know. I consider myself more of an outlier in politics or when I was in politics. I kind of like to say that I've removed myself from politics at this point.

[Tara Palmeri]

So you're a one time limited edition?

[George Santos]

Pretty much, yeah. Oh, that's a great way to put it. I love that.

[Tara Palmeri]

Do you think there'll be more? George Santos is, I mean I'm not.

[George Santos]

The first person to go to Congress and get caught up, I mean, in scandal. Right. But I am very upset that I didn't get a FEMA sponsored Tiffany and co yellow diamond ring out of it. But I'm just going to leave it at that. I don't know. Maybe, maybe not. I don't, I don't even know what that means. Will there be more George Santos? What? Will there be another gay open Republican? Hopefully, I think, you know, hopefully the party keeps growing and you know, we show that it doesn't matter who you are, where you come from, your background, your ethnicity, your gender, your, you know, so long as your ideology is conservative. That's, that's my opinion.

[Tara Palmeri]

And so I more mean like do you think that other people in Congress are doing what you were doing in terms of taking donor funds and, and do you think that they just didn't unders that you didn't understand the game? And they do.

[George Santos]

I think it's interesting. So when you say taking Donor funds. Can you, can you expand? Because I do want to answer this question appropriately.

[Tara Palmeri]

What do you, what do you plead guilty to? Tell me what you did.

[George Santos]

I pled guilty to what the DOJ forced me to plead guilty to because that's how the DOJ operates, right? They, they write your allocation for you and your plea for you and you can't even it. So if, if we're going there. But you know, my crime and I'm very, very comfortable in admitting that it was a poor choice, was straw donation. That's where the whole thing starts, people. I am sick and tired of hearing online people say, oh, he stole from a dying veterans dog. That's not true. That's not, I was never charged for that. That is false. That is a figment of the imagination of a man who, you know, ignored his dog for so long and by the time he sought help, it was, the dog was passed.

[Tara Palmeri]

Speaking of dogs, my dog, he's saving you right now.

[George Santos]

You're so fine. No, you're fine. So like there's this wild concept out there that people like to say, like, oh, George stole donor money. There was issues in my campaign with expenditures, but people fail to realize that I was the largest contributor to my campaign. I contributed $700,000. So it's, it's, it's quite annoying. But it is what it is. You know.

[Tara Palmeri]

Who do you owe $374,000 to according to the DOJ?

[George Santos]

I don't owe anybody, by the way. By law, I owe nobody, nothing. So let's correct the record there. According to the doj, they wanted me to pay back money that was invested in my campaign by the nrcc. That was a big swat of that chunk of money that was put out there in the restitution. And then there were some, I guess all the, you know, misspent funds in the campaign and they came up with their formula of how they would.

[Tara Palmeri]

But those people donated money to you thinking that that was going to go to campaign activity. Not to like Sephora La Mer or like Sephora.

[George Santos]

Sephora is an expenditure on a lot of campaigns. Where do you think politicians buy their makeup?

[Tara Palmeri]

I, I, you know, I work in.

[George Santos]

The, and it's not illegal.

[Tara Palmeri]

I work in the broadcast business. But you're not allowed to expend it. That's not a business expense.

[George Santos]

It is in campaigns.

[Tara Palmeri]

Okay. I mean, do you think that people, when they were donating to you thought that was how you were, they were going to use the money?

[George Santos]

We're talking about $183 you do, you know that, right?

[Tara Palmeri]

I do understand that. Okay. It's a matter of like, ethics. You know how it is not unethical.

[George Santos]

If a person is donating to a campaign and it is to fund all the operations of the campaign and candidate image, candid image goes with that. By the way, I wasn't the one who even went to Sephora, but what.

[Tara Palmeri]

About like the only fan subscription?

[George Santos]

That was my coding again. That wasn't me, but great. Hey, you want to call me the guy who spent money on OnlyFans and the allegations out there were $400,000. We're still looking for $400,000 for OnlyFans. But by the way.

[Tara Palmeri]

Yeah, the, the. Here, here's what I want to ask you about though, because you did mention that you think that the, the other people in Congress here, your former colleagues, that they're actually doing a lot of the same things are just not.

[George Santos]

No, I didn't say that. I'm just pointing out to the facts that are in the media.

[Tara Palmeri]

Okay. And I'm just wondering like, do you ever see anyone in Congress and think like, wow, they're running the same playbook that I am?

[George Santos]

No, I don't. I didn't run a playbook. I, My, my shit was unintentional. Right. Like, let's, let's make this very clear. You're talking about somebody who literally ran for Congress twice. I was not a politician whatsoever. I had an entire team around me. They were running the Gambit, whatever. And you know, the whole, the whole thing comes into.

[Tara Palmeri]

What about the using like donors personal information and their credit cards?

[George Santos]

Again, I didn't do that. I didn't have access to donors credit cards. I've made that very clear for years now that I didn't have access to that. I wasn't in the finance team. I was a candidate.

[Tara Palmeri]

Okay, let's do a lightning round about who's more trustworthy in Congress, George Santos or Mike Johnson.

[George Santos]

I'm not. I think that's. What's the point of that? Like, what are you trying to get at it from comparing me to other people?

[Tara Palmeri]

I'm just wondering because when you came into Congress, you said, I want to drain the swamp. You said these people are all corrupt and you want.

[George Santos]

They are, they are. I mean, look at where we are. We're $38 trillion in debt. But I'm not going to go like head to head and calling people out. That's just not something I want to do. I don't have to do that. You can ask a Question. I don't know.

[Tara Palmeri]

When you left Congress, like, you were ready to take, like, burn the place down. You were.

[George Santos]

Sure I was. And then I went to prison, and prison is so sobering. And why would I spend any ounce of my energy attacking people? It's just not good energy. I don't want to spend my energy that way. Like, you can choose to make those questions and make this entire interview about things that I don't want to answer and, you know, or you can make it productive. So it's up to you, Tara.

[Tara Palmeri]

I do, really. I would love to talk to you about Marjorie Taylor Greene, because you. It. Sometimes I feel like you're speaking for her, and I don't know if you are or you're channeling.

[George Santos]

I'm not. I'm speaking for myself. I love Marjorie. Marjorie's my friend. I think the amount of pressure she's under, the amount of, like, hate that's out there for her because people operate in hive mentality in today's day and age is just unfair. She's been such a good supporter of the causes that we all, in my guest, my tent, believe in. To see people turning on her because of a disagreement is just wild to me, you know? Now, obviously, the president. I'm a big fan of the president, and the president's entitled to his opinion and everything. We don't all have to agree. And a lot of people, like, oh, George will never disagree with the President. No, I disagree. I think he could have done this in a different fashion. I also think Marjorie took steps that she could have done differently. So I think everybody here is just, like, at odds with one another for no reason. But Marjorie's my friend. I'm not gonna change that. President Trump's my president, the guy who really motivated an entire movement to actually get out of the dark and go out there and fight for something they believe in. I'm never gonna change that support for him either. Um, but in this situation, I find it very unfortunate that everybody's just, like, kind of at odds with each other. But again, I will go to bat for Marjorie the same way she went to bat for me.

[Tara Palmeri]

How do you think she feels about being kicked around by Trump? Someone who, like, she.

[George Santos]

I don't know. I mean, it has to her, it has to be upsetting, but I don't know. I haven't talked to her about that. Honestly, my conversations with her are totally unrelated to these things. I. I try to talk to her, and, you know, like, I just put a smile on her face. That's that's my job as a friend.

[Tara Palmeri]

Okay. If you had to choose one Trump or Marjorie, who would you choose?

[George Santos]

That's just not. There isn't a world where I have to make that choice, so I don't have to make that choice, thankfully.

[Tara Palmeri]

You want to name your first two children Donald and Marjorie though, right?

[George Santos]

Yeah. That is actually fact. Yep, that is true.

[Tara Palmeri]

The rest of it's not true. The stuff that you had to go to prison for, but that's. That's true. So a lot of your colleagues are talking about quitting. What do you think about that? The fact that.

[George Santos]

Let them quit, let them eat cake. I don't care. Honestly, don't call them my colleagues because I'm not a member of Congress anymore. I'm a civilian. So they're not my colleagues.

[Tara Palmeri]

You don't want to go back into politics?

[George Santos]

No. The people that I associate with from politics, I call them friends and those are very few. And everyone else there is just members of Congress that could give two flying. You know what's about what they do with their lives. If they want to resign, resign. If they want to stay safe, they want to keep screwing the American people, stay screwing the American people, but please do not put me in the same pot as they are. I find that highly offensive.

[Tara Palmeri]

You think you're definitely above them.

[George Santos]

It's not about being above them. It's just I'm not them. I'm not there. I'm not an elected official. So I'm not part of. They're not my colleagues. You're a colleague to someone when you're part of something with them. I'm part of nothing with them. I'm an American. That's a best.

[Tara Palmeri]

So you feel like you escaped when they sort of expelled you?

[George Santos]

No, they didn't sort of expel me. They expelled me without. Let's make that very clear. I feel like I dodged a bullet. I feel like politics was the most toxic thing that happened in my life and being in Congress was the most self destructive thing that happened in my life. So I'm so humbled and glad that I'm not there anymore. Honestly.

[Tara Palmeri]

Okay, let's talk about the commutation.

[Mayra Amit]

How did you get a Mochi moment? From Sadie who writes, I'm not crying, you're crying. This is what I said during my first appointment with my physician at Mochi because I didn't have to convince him I needed a GLP one. He understood and I felt supported, not judged. I came for the weight loss and stayed for the empathy. Thanks Sadie, I'm Mayra Amit, founder of Mochi Health. To find your mochi moment, visit joinmochi.com.

[Tara Palmeri]

Sadie, is a mochi member compensated for her story?

[George Santos]

I don't know. I was in prison. I saw it on tv.

[Tara Palmeri]

Okay, first of all, people are spending millions of dollars.

[George Santos]

I did not spend a penny to get a commutation.

[Tara Palmeri]

Let me know when working the scenes for you behind.

[George Santos]

No, no, we, we did the process. My attorney, Joe Murray, did the process within the confines of the law, and I got a. Commutation is the secret.

[Tara Palmeri]

To getting a pardon simply loving Donald Trump.

[George Santos]

I would disagree with that. But, you know, you can say that. It's your platform. You can say whatever you want. Tara, do you think having, like, devotion endorse it?

[Tara Palmeri]

Do you think having he got special treatment because of your devotion to him?

[George Santos]

I don't. There's no devotion. I don't adore. I don't. I want to make this clear. My devotion is to God. And it's so fucking infuriating that I have to keep listening to people say that I have devotion and adoration for Donald Trump. No, I support Donald Trump United States as a politician, and it's infuriating when people have this. They essentially elevate him to God status, which is fine. If some members of the media want to do that, like yourself, that's cool. I'm okay with saying I support President Trump, that I think he's a great leader for our country, that he's for the Republican Party, but I don't think it's something where we should be conflating the two things. I think it has nothing to do with it. President Trump has given clemency to so many people. So many people. I don't recall that the Chrisleys having adoration for Donald Trump and they got a pardon. I mean, let's. Let's just call a spade a spade. The man looks at case by case. He didn't think, first of all. And Tara, a lot of Democrats in office didn't think that I should have gotten the sentence I got. That was number one. It was overly charged, overly political. You look in history. It was like the most insane political charge in history. On top of that, you. You have me in a prison in solitary confinement for 41 days being tortured. Like, that's not. That's un American at best. So you can say whatever you want. You can ask it and frame it in a catch. You a get the viral clip circulating on the Internet. I love that. Like, I'm here for I mean, you're the.

[Tara Palmeri]

You're the meme king. There you advice.

[George Santos]

Yeah. I mean, no, I showed up. I did you the favor of showing up.

[Tara Palmeri]

Okay, you didn't do me the favor. But I have a question. Do you think that Trump gave you the pardon because he sees you as a kindred. I mean, a commutation. Because he sees you as a kindred spirit?

[George Santos]

I don't know. You know, that's a question for President Trump. I mean, I'm humbled. I'm thankful for it. Thank you. You know, and I don't try to be. I'm not trying to be catty or anything. I'm just trying to be myself, you know, and I'll go back here first. I can say I'm not saying, as in a favor to you, I agree to come on your show. Right. I'm not trying to knock you there. So for your audience there, I'm not trying to knock. Tara, I have nothing against you. We never met, but I just wanted to correct that because as I'm re. Listening to myself like that, that sounded a little effed up. So. Yeah, look, no, I don't know on. I, I can't tell you how President Trump thinks.

[Tara Palmeri]

Yeah. Do you feel like you owe him something?

[George Santos]

Look, gratitude, for sure. I mean, it's Thanksgiving tomorrow, and I have the awesome privilege and ability to spend it with my family. That's priceless. You can't, like, you can't put a price on stuff like that. I, I cherish my family so much and my friends and I have a full house and I'm, you know, I've been super emotional about it. It's been really rocking my world and my emotions the last few days that I, like, pinch me. Is this real? But, yeah, I owe, I owe the man a lot of gratitude. That's for. For goddamn sure.

[Tara Palmeri]

Yeah. Let's talk about prison. You look really thin. Did you use it as a reset or.

[George Santos]

I wish I looked really thin. I did lose weight. I need to lose a lot more. I mean, I'm still like 40 pounds heavier than when I first got elected to Congress, but that's just not going to even get into the issues of it. But no, I did lose weight. I did lose weight. Not because I use it as a reset. It's. The environment itself is. Is. Food's tough there. It's just really tough. I mean, they're feeding us pretty much slop. Expired food, bread with mold on it. It's like, you can't make what happens in prison camp you can't make it up for the best script writers to actually translated. So, yeah, naturally everybody does lose some weight when they go to prison. It's not supposed to be camp, it's not supposed to be fun, it's not supposed to be comfortable, but it shouldn't be torturous. That's, you know, so I did lose weight, which, hey, I'll look on the bright side of every awful situation. So on the bright side, it's a great diet plan, not one that I would say for anybody to subscribe to.

[Tara Palmeri]

Yeah, I know some people would probably go to prison to lose £30.

[George Santos]

I don't suggest it, but sure, go ahead.

[Tara Palmeri]

So I read one of your op EDS in one of the local Long island papers and you said the hardest part about being in prison was being invisible, not being seen. What did you mean by that?

[George Santos]

Invisible, by the system not being seen. My health issues and, and concerns were number one. They took me off my medication that I've been on for about 30, 22 years, since I'm 15. They denied me my, my asthma medication for an entire four hours. It's just, the whole thing was just wild and I felt unheard, not listened to, and I felt like I was just being destroyed from within and I felt lost in the system at that point.

[Tara Palmeri]

Do you think it would have been different if there were like cameras on you or you were being documented at the time?

[George Santos]

No, I don't know. I, I, There are cameras all over the facility and that didn't stop the warden from doing what she did. So I don't know that it would make a difference.

[Tara Palmeri]

What? Take me into that moment when you heard the doors close and you knew that you were in prison and you thought you were going to be there for. I'm guessing you thought you'd be there for seven years, not three months.

[George Santos]

Well, not seven years, but, you know, whatever within the programs, I knew I was going to be there a while. It sucked. It really sucked. It really brings perspective, makes you real reevaluate your poor choices that led you to being in prison. And you feel accountable and you feel like the responsibility of your shit actions. And I was there and I sat there, I wept, I cried to sleep pretty much every night and, you know, just gotta deal with it. And, and like I said, the commutation came to such a surprise. Found out through the tv, like, yeah, it was MSNBC actually, of all TV channels that had it on.

[Tara Palmeri]

And then what happened next? Did they just come and get you?

[George Santos]

Well, I called, I ran to Call my husband. And he's like, I was. I was just on the phone with President Trump. I'm like, oh, my God. Go back to President Trump. I'll call you back in 15 minutes. Because you can only call every 15 minutes or 30 minutes. Pardon me. So I said, I'll pay back. I was like. I started crying. It was. It was all a blur. And then people started coming to fill paperwork out, and, you know, it was. It was insane. Insane.

[Tara Palmeri]

Do you think you should have actually been in prison, or was it just part of your arc?

[George Santos]

Look, whether I believe I should have or should have not, it happened. I did some dumb things. I accept that. I admit that. And, you know, it is a part of my life that will stick with me for a very long time, but also, it is a part of my life that will help reshape a lot of, like, the way I conduct myself moving forward. Because there's one thing I can tell you. Nobody wants to go back. And. And I find it wild to think that there is a 55% recidivism in the federal incarceration system. It's just wild to me, right? People violating probation and going back right, to that hellhole. I mean, if you. In 84 days, I learned enough of a lesson that I can tell you I will make sure that I can teach my kids those lessons that I can teach anyone I ever touch. Like, don't do anything stupid. Don't do anything wrong. Don't break the law. It's not working.

[Tara Palmeri]

What did you learn? Like, what. What did you do? Because you. Before, you were pretty much saying you were guilt free. DOJ made you say you were guilty even though you weren't. Like, what do.

[George Santos]

What are you.

[Tara Palmeri]

Are you sorry for it?

[George Santos]

It's. It's. It's not about guilt, Tara. It's about how the system works. It's not. It's not a fair system. Right? You go into this process, the decks are stacked against you as a person, and there is no way, no way whatsoever that you can go ahead and have a fair shake, right? But what I did learn is to avoid ever being put in that predicament. Make sure that you cross your T's, dot your I's, don't play fast and loose with anything that is regulatory regulation, and especially, stay the fuck away from money. That's literally kind of like. I mean, I work, I earn my money, but I want no dealings with any kind of regulatory stance. Like, I'm so done. Like, I. I want a simpler life. That's for sure. That's 100% for sure.

[Tara Palmeri]

So like submitting false financial disclosure reports. You say you learned your lesson from that. Taking $25,000 unemployment benefits during COVID using donor credit cards without authorization. Like those are things that you learn from.

[George Santos]

Like I said, you. I just literally said that I think all these things are things that no one should be doing.

[Tara Palmeri]

Yes, but are you like, repentant?

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[George Santos]

Well, I get asked that question a lot. I mean, you know, some of your people say, like, your followers are just delightful people, by the way, with the way they speak. It's just amazing. I really hope that they have mirrors at home and that they one day don't find themselves or a loved one in the crosshairs of the law. And then because I think everybody is so quick to judge and to be so bold on the Internet and say awful things to people, they. First of all, nobody really knows me personally. People who know me personally will tell you straight up that this is so toxic. Like, the toxicity of the Internet right now for me is my biggest turnoff. Second of all, to answer your question is quite simple. What am I repentant? Of course I'm repentant. I hurt friends, I hurt family members, disappointed people. But I can say that until I'm blue in the face. Your followers here say a con man never changes his behavior, Right? Somebody just said that. Well, you know what? I can sit here and speak to you, but clearly we're achieving nothing. We're changing. We're giving nobody the perspective because people are so decided in this country today to stick to what they believe and they don't want to hear it. You can show that to them in the face. This is not what it seems to be, or this is not exactly how it is, but they refuse to because we're in such a divided environment since 2015 that it's pointless. I mean, the amount.

[Tara Palmeri]

I just think it wasn't just the, the. The crimes too. I think it was like the, the. The person that you'd claim to be where you said, you said you worked At Citi Group and another bank. You said you, you know, played on the volleyball team. And these are little things. I mean, you said that you're a descendant of Holocaust survivors. I mean, why did you choose the Holocaust?

[George Santos]

Right. That. That's actually not a lie. That's the one thing that got caught up in all of it, that I thought that you're.

[Tara Palmeri]

Your mom's family in Brazil immigrated to Brazil before the Nazi takeover.

[George Santos]

Not true. That's not true. That's factually inaccurate.

[Tara Palmeri]

What year did they immigrate to Brazil?

[George Santos]

My. My. My mother's family migrated to Brazil in the 1930s. So I. And I'm not gonna. And look, I'm. I'm so done. I've already submitted DNA test to prove my ash background. I'm Catholic. And then the Jewish thing was always a joke, like it was said in the form of a joke at the rjp, and everybody took it out of proportion. I have utmost respect for Israel and Judaism and all religions in general. But look, I'm not going to relitigate all of it. Right? Because I don't have to, and I don't want to. But at the same time, so much was said that was wrong. The media got so much wrong because you had literally escorts posing as journalists and writing for Politico, Mother Jones and contributing to the Daily Beast. That was Jacqueline Sweet, literally an escort, a call girl on a website where professional call girls are. Posing as a journalist and having an affair with one of my senior staffers to try to get information from my office and writing sensational things without any corroboration, any proof. The lucky thing is, is that at the time, I was in no position to go sue anybody because my attorney said, you don't want to go into a deposition. Right. It would be counter. It would be counterintuitive, but. So a lot of people got really lucky with statute of limitations for libel and defamation.

[Tara Palmeri]

Yeah. Do you have any desire to be known as an honest person?

[George Santos]

You know, I'm already known as an honest person amongst people who deal, have private dealings with me, and you can have those conversations with people. Anyone I've ever had a business dealing with has never felt burned and has always said that I've always operated above board in business. All the people that I have interactions with, I'm pretty blunt, and I'm pretty, like. I don't beat around the bush, and I don't mince words. I'm, like, very direct. So I'm okay if people on the Internet don't care. So you know, I don't, I don't care, honestly, what people who don't know me think about me.

[Tara Palmeri]

If we were going to play a game, like, you can trust me because how would you fill in the blank on that?

[George Santos]

No, you can trust me because I'll be your best phone call when you need it. I'll get, I'll be your, you know, I got in trouble call me like, which I have so many times at 2 o', clock, 3 o' clock in the morning. I, you can trust me because if I have the means and you're in trouble financially, I have come through for so many friends of mine in so many various stages of life, helping bail them out of here's rent money, here's car money so your car is not repossessed. Like, I'm that friend. I know I don't know how to be a half ass boy friend. I'm a full friend. I go all the way. Like just literally yesterday I dropped off in a local Soup Kitchen in Mount Pocono, I dropped off 50 fucking turkeys because people can't eat and have a turkey this Thanksgiving. So it's like, it's the best I can do. I can't do more. I'm not a multibillionaire, right. Like, like Elon Musk, who I wish would give more to, like, people who are really suffering right now with the high cost of food and the holidays coming. But I do the part. I can, you know, like, I, yeah, I can't do everything, but I can do as much as I can. And I'm not one that I don't do it for show. You didn't see a single picture of me doing it. You didn't see a single video of me doing it. I didn't even post about it. I commented it. Yeah, because that's just how I like doing things.

[Tara Palmeri]

So, yeah, you were posting about Hermes. I mean, do you think that's the best look right now?

[George Santos]

I don't care. I like Hermes. What's the look?

[Tara Palmeri]

I mean, there don't. Do you. Are you going to pay back the.

[George Santos]

Donors that, like I said, I, I don't have to. I, I owe nobody anything. That's number one. Number two, I have answered this question that when I have the means and if, and, and as soon as I do, I'll put the funds together and my legal team is exploring how to do it. There's no legal way to do it. There's no legal vehicle to do it. There is no restitution that can be Done.

[Tara Palmeri]

You could just do it yourself, though, right?

[George Santos]

No, you can't. The DOJ doesn't tell you who to. When you're doing restitution and you're paying the doj, they take care of that. So there is no legal way to do it. I don't even know who these people would be that they put in the pot. They don't tell you this. So before you ask a question like that, I would preface making sure you understand how the legal process works. The DOJ does not tell you, like, oh, X to such. And so. No, no, they just say this is the loss amount and they'll disperse it. So there's no legal avenue. But my attorneys, I told them, look, I'm working on some projects. I will hopefully by some point next year have the means to do it. I want to put the money up. If I can't give it to restitution to the people intended that the DOJ wanted it to. I'll just give it to a charity. So a victim's charity. So people or something like that, you know, I don't care. And I'll make that abundantly public and transparent. Right. But that's something I want to do because it's for me. It's. It's so I don't have to hear it from people like you or the Internet. That's just the reality. It's for me because the next time a person asking the question, I'll just tell them to, you know, go pound sand. So that's kind of where my head's at with that.

[Tara Palmeri]

Because you're tired of people asking.

[George Santos]

It's not that I'm tired. I got out of prison five weeks ago.

[Tara Palmeri]

Yeah.

[George Santos]

Do you all think I'm rolling in cash?

[Tara Palmeri]

Well, you were looking at Hermes bags, and we know that is.

[George Santos]

That was a meme, like, I mean, myself. Like the face you make when the essay says you're not getting a quota bag. Come on. Like it's a joke. Like, if you can't take. The best thing I'm doing right now is buy my Borghese mask. Okay? And that's 49 bucks. Okay. Like, stop. And it's a good mask. You should consider it. It's great for your skin, and you have great skin, so keep it up.

[Tara Palmeri]

Okay. Thank you. All right, I want to go into what's next for you. Said you're working on some projects. So we know you've been a drag performer, you've been a member of Congress, former felon. What's the next George Persona where was I?

[George Santos]

A drag performer. I'm curious.

[Tara Palmeri]

I mean, there, you know, from your past, there are pictures of you and performing in drag.

[George Santos]

Oh, I was performing.

[Tara Palmeri]

Well, you were dressed in drag.

[George Santos]

Okay. I dressed in drag at the age of 18 years old in Rio de Janeiro.

[Tara Palmeri]

I'm not judging.

[George Santos]

First of all, I'm not judging. I'm not sitting or judging. But performing and dressing in drag are two very different things.

[Tara Palmeri]

Okay?

[George Santos]

So if it's about facts, because everybody here screams about facts, so that. That's not facts.

[Tara Palmeri]

To clarify, you were only dressed in drag.

[George Santos]

Okay, thank you. All right, great.

[Tara Palmeri]

What's next? Is there dancing and performing? Dancing with the Stars or.

[George Santos]

You know what? There's so much on the plate right now that we're working on. I have been in a frenzy of work and I'm so humbled by it. The opportunities that been thrown my way. TBD. There is some stuff 2026 is going to be a really busy year for Jordan.

[Tara Palmeri]

I heard that you're headlining events for veterans with Anna Delvey.

[George Santos]

Hey, Ryan Reynolds here wishing you a very happy half off holiday because right now Mint Mobile is offering you the gift of 50% off, unlimited. To be clear, that's half price, not half the service. Mint is still premium unlimited wireless for a great price. So that means half day.

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[George Santos]

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[Tara Palmeri]

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[George Santos]

Again. Oh my God. First of all, fraudster like.

[Tara Palmeri]

Look, do you think she's an honest person?

[George Santos]

I think she's honestly blunt and ambitious and I freaking think that she is just like every other American. Now, I don't know about her deals.

[Tara Palmeri]

What? Oh, wait a minute.

[George Santos]

You're gonna say Americans aren't ambition ambitious?

[Tara Palmeri]

No, no. Ambitious. But you don't take other people's money.

[George Santos]

Oh, no, I'm not saying I didn't. Again, I don't know about her. Believe it or not, I don't know about her. The details of her legal stuff. And I don't care to know because it's not my problem.

[Tara Palmeri]

Well, there's a great Netflix show if you want to watch it.

[George Santos]

Fantastic for Netflix. I don't give Netflix my time of day right now. I'm too busy for that. But my point is, I met Anna Delvey at the event. I don't know about headlining because I arrived at an event. She was at the event. People are saying, we headlined, met her amazing, sweet human being. Quite frankly, gorgeous young lady. She's so chic, it hurts. But, like, the way people are reacting to her is just so wild. Like, I met a person, and all of a sudden it's just like, oh, how dare you? I'm like, wait, what?

[Tara Palmeri]

She created a whole other personality. I think a lot of people don't like scammers, frauds, you know, people who take from others and live with the grift and don't have to work when so many people are struggling. Especially right now when you talk, why did.

[George Santos]

Why then? Why do American people keep voting for members of Congress who do just that?

[Tara Palmeri]

Well, that's kind of what I started with. I mean, who do you think does that?

[George Santos]

Just look at the news. Look at the graph. Look at everybody in the news right now. Congress is a joke, bipartisan joke. You want to talk about. Oh, Joe Santos was a joke. There's sex scandals. There's Dime Tiffany, $109,000 diamond rings from Tiffany bought with stolen FEMA funds. Like what? Like. But here's the deal. I don't see the same obsession with Sheila McCormick from Florida that I saw with Tor Santos. She stole $5 million from FEMA. FEMA, where Floridians are struggling all the time with natural disasters upon natural disasters. And I'm not trying to make this partisan. I'm just giving you an example of media bias. I don't see flocks of herds of people. I don't see Internet sensation obsessions with her. Like, guys, what's up? She has a fabulous taste. Like, that diamond ring is kind of cute.

[Tara Palmeri]

FEMA fund, you know, like, all of these. All this money is supposed to go is with somebody else's. You know what I mean? Like, it should have gone to someone in need. I think that's what I'm trying to get at. Like, all of these people that are taking money.

[George Santos]

Well, that's my point. Where's the obsession with Sheila McCormick?

[Tara Palmeri]

I mean, honestly, I don't. It hasn't really been covered. And you're right. I mean, it hasn't.

[George Santos]

Yeah, she's not a Republican. So thank you for making my point.

[Tara Palmeri]

I mean, Democrats go down all the time for. For.

[George Santos]

Oh, really? What's the last Democrat that went down? Other than Menendez? Please. Because Menendez has been a crap, corrupt politician for a decade. Other than Menendez, Please give me another.

[Tara Palmeri]

What do you make of Bob Menendez and how he was holding on to the gold Bars in his pants.

[George Santos]

I mean, I don't care, honestly. His co defendants were in prison with me. I don't care, honestly.

[Tara Palmeri]

Oh, yeah.

[George Santos]

What were they like, normal human beings? It's like normal. Yeah. Like, got caught up in Menendez's garbage, in my opinion. Okay, you still didn't answer my question. I know it's your.

[Tara Palmeri]

Oh, I'm sorry. I was thinking about that.

[George Santos]

It's okay. It's okay. No, no, you know what? Let's not do that, because that's not the intent of this. Like, look, what it matters to me is, is this. We need to change the temperature in this country. The rhetoric is out of control. I think the divide amongst Americans has just gotten so toxic, it's dangerous. The amount of people who tell me to go, you know, off myself on the Internet, and they do it in the open. And these Internet company, like these social media companies like Meta or X don't do much to moderate that content. They claim they do, but it's still up there. People telling me to go off myself quite regularly.

[Tara Palmeri]

Yeah, but it's all being controlled by Republicans. I mean, it's. It's Elon Musk.

[George Santos]

Mark Zuckerberg is a Republican.

[Tara Palmeri]

I'm talking about X. Elon Musk.

[George Santos]

I did mention Matt.

[Tara Palmeri]

And now Mark Zuckerberg probably is a Republican.

[George Santos]

Not. Neither is Elon Musk. Look, Silicon Valley will always go ahead and pander to whoever's in power. That's just.

[Tara Palmeri]

Yeah, so, I mean, how can you say it's a political thing when they are all just.

[George Santos]

It's not about politics. I'm talking about the behavioral aspect of society. Like, it's so toxic. Like, telling people to go off themselves is just unacceptable, period.

[Tara Palmeri]

Yeah, no, I agree with you. So do you, I guess, for final question, because I know you have to run, but do you think you're honest now?

[George Santos]

I think I'm honest. I think I'm forthcoming, and I think I've been abundantly generous with allowing people to have a look inside of my life. I do a lot of these interviews. I don't beat around the bush. I answer the questions you guys ask me. I refuse to go into some of the antics. And that's just something, I guess, we've never met. And I think that's almost wildly amazing that we've never met because you're Tara Palmieri and everybody talks about you. We have so many friends in common and. And so many people who you've interviewed that I know. And I think it's just kind of like, oh, Wow. I never met Tara, actually, but I think, like, yeah, honest, forthcoming and transparent. And I will continue to be that way. I wish people, all the people who criticize me, they criticize me not knowing that I'm the most accessible former member of Congress. You can't get members of Congress to do as much interviews as I did when I was there, talking about their own personal woes. They'll go on TV to talk about their shiny, you know, scripts, but they won't go answer tough questions like I have. So, you know, it's, it's. I. Can I see your dog? Yeah, I see what you're doing. You're shushing your dog.

[Tara Palmeri]

She's hearing noises. I wanted to ask you, though, who are your top five favorite presidents? Starting with one and going down.

[George Santos]

So one is. One is always going to be Abe Lincoln. I'm a big Abe Lincoln fan.

[Tara Palmeri]

Honest Abe.

[George Santos]

Honest Abe is the best president this country's ever had. Temperament and everything he accomplished. I'd say Reagan, then Donald Trump. And my, my obsession with Reagan comes from electoral shellacking of 1984, which was winning 49 states like a gravitation. Donald Trump, which in my lifetime is my. Is the best president of the country. George Washington, who was so honest he would never tell a lie. And number three, number five is jfk. I'm a big JFK fan and I think JFK represented in the people and they're in the most pure sense of like, what the American people deserve to be represented by, despite coming from a super elite family. JFK is number five.

[Tara Palmeri]

Okay. Well, thank you for coming into the lion's den. I appreciate it. And yeah, it's your, Your Thanksgiving I'm sure you didn't expect to have.

[George Santos]

I did not very thankful for it.

[Tara Palmeri]

I saw that you were posting recently that you were feeling unwell, that you were feeling mentally unwell, which is surprising now that you're free. And I. I guess that's some sort of ptsd. So are you in therapy or are you getting help?

[George Santos]

I'm. I have a therapist. I have a psychiatrist, and I did get diagnosed with ptsd. And it's not from prison. It's from the isolation from the 41 days where I'm still struggling. I actually. It's going to sound so a first world issue, but it's still an issue. I can't go into my closet. I have an issue with it. Right. Like, it instantly caves in on me and it's just like something wild that I never experienced before. So Tight Spaces has become somewhat of difficult. And I have the same reoccurring nightmare every single night. I wake up at the same time screaming my lungs out. It's just not cool. But, you know, it is what it is. I'm. I'm going through it. But I like to talk about mental health awareness and talk about that. It's okay. We all have it. Because a lot of times there's a stigma and this taboo about, like. Oh, we don't talk about that. No, we talk about it because we. We lean on one another as human beings in order for us to get by difficult situations. And that's why I keep doing it. And. And I get a lot of people thanking me, like, oh, thank you so much for normalizing this conversation, you know, doing my part. Yeah.

[Tara Palmeri]

So am I going to see you in the Marjorie Taylor Greene 2028 campaign?

[George Santos]

Hey, if she runs for president, I said I would go campaign for her. And there's a few other people that I also like, but I don't think she's running.

[Mint Mobile Announcer]

She.

[George Santos]

She's already said that she's not running. I think she just wants to go have a happy, quiet life at this point. She tried. She.

[Tara Palmeri]

She's, you know, is she okay? I mean, this is her identity in so many ways.

[George Santos]

I don't think this is her identity. I think, you know, remember, Marjorie's only been in Congress. This is her third term. How can it be her identity? She's 50, I think four, if I'm not mistaken.

[Tara Palmeri]

Yeah.

[George Santos]

Yeah. So.

[Tara Palmeri]

So no, her identity, her national identity.

[George Santos]

It could be her political identity for sure.

[Tara Palmeri]

Yeah.

[George Santos]

You know, lucky for Marjorie, five years in Congress doesn't define the amazing 49 years that preceded that. And. And I think that is. That's the identity is Marjorie just. She's a loving mother, she's a loving daughter, she's a loving friend, and a businesswoman. Tough businesswoman, too. She's a contractor. You know, she's a construction company. So I think that that's more her identity than all the political identity, in my opinion.

[Tara Palmeri]

Okay, well, thanks, George. I appreciate it and hope to hope you have a great Thanksgiving and thanks everyone who tuned in, and I hope you all got it out there. What you wanted me to ask from George, where you end up next?

[George Santos]

Let's say you bet. Bye.

[Tara Palmeri]

That was another episode of the Tara Palmeri Show. Thanks so much for tuning in. If you like this show, please rate it, subscribe, follow, share it with all of your friends. Please leave comments. If you like my reporting, you can go to tarapalmieri.com. that's T A R A P A L M E R I. You can sign up for the red letter. That's where you can get all of my exclusive reporting and my independent journalism straight to your inbox. It is how you can support my independent journalism. And I will keep at it, thanks to you. I want to thank my producer, Eric Oppenhate. I want to thank Abby Baker, who does my research and my social media. And Adam Stewart on the thumbnails. I'll be back again this week. I'm thankful for all of you. I hope you have a great Thanksgiving week and you are able to take it a little slower.