George Santos knows he's entertaining.
The former New York congressman, who is indicted on 23 federal charges and was expelled from Congress earlier this month, isn't shying away from the spotlight — at least not while people are watching or willing to pay for it.
Santos, who has allegedly been cashing on his fame by recording paid messages on Cameo, sat for an interview with Ziwe, a comedian known for her blunt and cheeky interview style.
"What can we do to get you to go away?" she asked Santos in the nearly 18-minute interview shared on YouTube on Monday.
"Stop inviting me to your gigs," he said.
"The lesson is to stop inviting you places," she responded.
"But you can't," he said. "Because people want the content."
A day after he was expelled, Ziwe reached out to Santos on X to ask if he'd be interested in a "pay-per-view interview." She told him he'd be an "iconic guest." Santos accepted and the two sat down last week for the interview. Santos was not paid for the interview, even though he asked three times, the video says.
Before the interview, Santos is overheard asking Ziwe if their mics are "hot" and to "be mindful with the DOJ stuff."
Santos is negotiating a possible plea deal with prosecutors as he faces a range of charges that he defrauded campaign donors, lied about his wealth to Congress, received unemployment benefits while he had a job, and used campaign funds for his personal expenses, including on luxury designer clothing, credit card payments and car payments.
A House Ethics Committee report alleged that Santos allegedly spent thousands in campaign donations at Hermès, Ferragamo and on cosmetic procedures like Botox. He allegedly made smaller purchases at Sephora.
Though he didn't admit spending any of his donors' money on the items, Santos told Ziwe he was wearing Ferragamo shoes — "I'm known for that."
"How many stolen credit cards did you use to pay for this look?" she asked. "Ferragamo. Hermès. You like the nice stuff, too."
Santos at first denied owning anything from Hermès "other than the cologne."
"That's all I wear from Hermès," he said, before holding out his wrist. "Oh, no, and the bracelet."
"You're literally wearing an Hermès bracelet," Ziwe said. "How'd you buy that one?"
Santos said it was a gift from his husband. The 35-year-old Republican also said he's been getting Botox treatments and fillers since he was 25.
"I will never deny it," he said.
"How do you pay for it?" Ziwe asked.
"I've always worked, Ziwe," he said. "So yeah, my own money. … Like everything else I own, my own money."
When asked whether he would rather shoplift from Sephora or Ulta, Santos said, "Neither. I don't do petty crimes."
"White collar," Ziwe quipped.
Santos, who previously compared himself to Rosa Parks because he said he refused to sit in the back row in the House chamber, struggled to identify other civil rights icons.
Ziwe asked Santos what Marsha P. Johnson, a gay rights activist and self-proclaimed drag queen, meant to him.
"Very respectful, honorable person," Santos said. "Keep going."
"Respectful and honorable in what way?" Ziwe asked.
"On all the stances and all the work," Santos replied, with a vagueness that suggested he may not have known who Johnson was.
But Santos did admit his ignorance of gay Black writer and civil rights activist James Baldwin. He also did not know who Harvey Milk was — the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, who was assassinated at San Francisco City Hall in 1978.
"Who the hell is James Baldwin?" Santos said, adding that he had "no clue" who Milk was either.
Caitlin Yilek is a politics reporter at cbsnews.com and is based in Washington, D.C. She previously worked for the Washington Examiner and The Hill, and was a member of the 2022 Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellowship with the National Press Foundation.
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