Former member of Congress George Santos, who was booted from the House on Friday, already has a new hustle. And Sen. John Fetterman was one of his first customers.
Using campaign funds, the Democratic senator from Pennsylvania paid for a personalized video from Santos on Cameo, an app that lets people purchase secondslong personalized videos from B- and C-list celebrities. Fetterman addressed the video to Sen. Bob Menendez, a fellow Democrat, who was indicted in September on charges of bribery and acting as a foreign agent. (Menendez has pleaded not guilty and refused to resign.)
“Hey Bobby! Look, I don’t think I need to tell you, but these people that want to make you get in trouble and want to kick you out and make you run away, you make them put up or shut up,” Santos says in the video posted Monday. “You stand your ground, sir, and don’t get bogged down by all the haters out there.”
Fetterman, who was the first Democratic senator to call for Menendez to resign and has continued to pressure him to do so, tweeted that he thought the New Jersey senator “could use some encouragement given his substantial legal problems.”
According to Business Insider reporter Bryan Metzger, Fetterman’s campaign paid $343.20 for the Cameo — which included a rush fee — and received Santos’ video within minutes.
Asked about the Cameo, Menendez told NBC News, “I don’t think Mr. Clickbait’s donors would appreciate him enriching George Santos.”
Santos was expelled from the House after an Ethics Committee investigation determined that he had used campaign funds on expenses unrelated to his campaign. He also faces a host of federal charges related to alleged misuse of campaign contributions, to which he has pleaded not guilty.
The Pennsylvania senator was patronizingly dismissive of critics who might question why he was giving money to the disgraced ex-representative from New York, saying, “Progressives? Oh, no, really? Somehow we’ll be OK with it, despite that.” But it’s unclear what using campaign funds to mock Menendez does for Fetterman, beyond scoring points on social media. “I think it was a really great investment to troll the biggest sleazeball in the Senate,” he told Business Insider.
Clarissa-Jan Lim
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking/trending news blogger for MSNBC Digital. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.
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