Former New York Republican Rep. George Santos is working with prosecutors in the hopes of striking a plea deal, according to court records and his recent comments surrounding the 23 felony charges he faces.
“The parties are presently engaged in plea negotiations with the goal of resolving this matter without the need for a trial,” U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace wrote in a letter to U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert on Monday.
BIDEN LOSING YOUNG VOTERS TO TRUMP AS HE FALLS BEHIND IN TWO SWING STATES
Asked whether he would take a plea deal, Santos said Sunday that “a plea is not off the table obviously at this point.”
“But we just don’t know that yet,” Santos told WCBS-TV.
Santos appeared in federal court in central Long Island for a status conference on Tuesday. His attorney Joseph Murray appeared optimistic about the prospects of the plea deal, telling the court that he believes those discussions “can be fruitful,” according to the Associated Press.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jacob Steiner told the court Tuesday that he expected plea negotiations to continue, as U.S. District Court Judge Joanna Seybert announced the next status conference would be Jan. 23. Prosecutors have said the additional 30 days between status conferences could help the effort to reach a deal and avoid a trial, according to court records.
If the case does head to a trial, prosecutors want to move up the September trial to either May or June, according to the letter from the prosecutor. Santos opposes the government’s bid for an earlier trial.
Seybert indicated she was inclined to keep the trial’s start date in September but noted that if her own trial schedule changes, the parties could reconsider a new date in the future.
Santos, 35, pleaded not guilty to a revised indictment in October. He has been indicted on 23 federal charges and will face a real challenge in avoiding jail time, as some of his former campaign staffers have already pleaded guilty to crimes they committed on his campaign.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Asked by WCBS whether he was afraid of being sent to jail, Santos responded, “I think everyone should be afraid of going to jail. It’s not a pretty place, and I definitely want to work very hard to avoid that as much as possible.”
Santos was less talkative to the press on Tuesday, telling one journalist as he left the courthouse, “It’s cold, go home.”
