WASHINGTON — Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., took his trolling of indicted colleague Sen. Bob Menendez to a new level on Monday by enlisting recently ousted Rep. George Santos to tape a sarcastic video targeting the embattled New Jersey Democrat.
“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 said on Cameo, an app that allows people to pay celebrities to record personalized videos. “You stand your ground, sir, and don’t get bogged down by all the haters out there.”
“Stay strong. Merry Christmas,” the video concludes with Santos smiling.
Santos was expelled from Congress on Friday after a House Ethics Committee report found there was “substantial evidence” that Santos broke multiple laws. Santos is also facing federal charges, to which he has pleaded not guilty.
Fetterman posted the Cameo video to X, writing that he “thought my ethically-challenged colleague @BobMenendezNJ could use some encouragement given his substantial legal problems.”
“So, I approached a seasoned expert on the matter to give ‘Bobby from Jersey’ some advice,” the post continued.
Fetterman was the first Democratic senator to call for Menendez’s resignation. More than half of the Senate Democratic caucus have called for the New Jersey senator to resign.
Santos reposted Fetterman’s post, writing, “I love this! I wish I knew the Bobby in question! LOL.”
Santos charges $200 to book a personal video, according to his Cameo page, which he links to in his X bio. A spokesperson from Fetterman’s Senate office said the Santos video was paid for with campaign funds.
“I don’t think Mr. Clickbait’s donors would appreciate him enriching George Santos,” Menendez told NBC News when asked about the Cameo video. “I’m surprised he didn’t ask his parents for the money.”
Asked whether he believes that Santos should have been expelled from Congress, Menendez said it was for the House to decide. The House voted 311-114 to expel Santos.
“They went forward after an exhaustive Ethics Committee report,” Menendez said. “The history in the Senate is that they wait for, in every previous instance, they wait for the judicial proceeding to come to some conclusion.”
Menendez was indicted alongside his wife in September on charges of accepting bribes. The high-ranking senator “took steps to secretly aid the Government of Egypt,” the indictment alleges. Menendez and his wife were accused of accepting “hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of bribes” in the form of “cash, gold, the luxury convertible, and home furnishings,” according to the indictment.
After the indictment was unsealed, Menendez argued that “when all the facts are presented, not only will I be exonerated, but I still will be the New Jersey senior senator.”
Kate Santaliz, Dareh Gregorian, Scott Wong, Kyle Stewart and Rebecca Kaplan contributed.
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