WASHINGTON, D.C. — George Santos tells me he’s sorry as I walk into the bar of the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill dressed in a pair of wrinkled blue jeans, gnawing on a breath mint, and toting my luggage. We’d originally planned to meet at 8 p.m., after I’d showered and brushed my teeth and put on my best business casual, but instead I’d come straight from the train station, at his assistant’s request.
The former congressman had “appearances he was under contract for” and there had been a “major delay,” so everything had to be “pushed back.” Or in my case, pushed forward. All of this is to say that less than two months after being granted clemency by Donald Trump and being released from prison, the sixth member of Congress ever to be expelled from that august body is a very busy man. Especially today, on the eve of his inaugural “Santos Claus” Christmas party.
“The most competitive cutthroat event of D.C. for some reason,” Santos tells me as we ordered our drinks—me a gin and tonic, him a martini—all under the watchful eye of his assistant Debbie, who sat silently at the table sipping, sadly, on tap water.
