George Santos pleads not guilty to 13 federal charges, including fraud and money laundering

Rep. George Santos has pleaded not guilty to 13 federal charges, including allegations of fraud related to Covid-19 unemployment benefits, misusing campaign funds and lying about his personal finances on House disclosure reports.

Santos was released on a $500,000 bond, according to the US Attorney's Office in New York. He was ordered to surrender his passport and will need permission to travel outside of Washington, DC, New York City and Long Island.

The New York Republican appeared in a federal court on Long Island on Wednesday. He has been charged on seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds and two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives.

In a combative, impromptu press conference after his arraignment, Santos said that he has been "compliant throughout this entire process" but blasted the indictment as a "witch hunt" and said he will "fight my battle."

The charges inject fresh uncertainty into the political future of Santos, a freshman congressman whose astonishing pattern of lies and fabrications stunned even hardened politicos and led top Democrats and some New York Republicans to call for his resignation earlier this year.

The congressman said on Wednesday that he will not resign from his seat and that he still plans to seek reelection next year.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, on Wednesday said he would wait before calling on Santos to resign.