Former US Rep. George Santos' fraud trial will progress with an anonymous jury, as confirmed Tuesday by Judge Joanna Seybert. Jurors, however, will not need to complete questionnaires assessing their views on Santos despite significant media coverage. The trial is scheduled to begin on September 9 and is expected to last three weeks.
Santos, who has pleaded not guilty to multiple financial crime charges, attended the final pre-trial hearing but declined to comment. His lawyer, Robert Fantone, expressed confidence, stating, "I think we're going to be all right." The charges include misrepresenting his finances to Congress, falsely claiming unemployment benefits, and misusing campaign funds for personal expenses.
Though Santos' defense argued that extensive media coverage—including 1,500 articles by major news outlets—warranted a written questionnaire for jurors to ensure impartiality, prosecutors argued it was just a delay tactic. The prosecution emphasized Santos' active engagement with the media, suggesting he created his public image problems. Santos' legal team also requested anonymous jurors, with prosecutors not opposing. Prosecutors have a request of their own: to be permitted to introduce evidence of Santos' fabricated claims prior to his 2022 election. Last month, a request to dismiss three of the 23 charges against Santos was denied. (This story was generated by Newser's AI chatbot. Source: the AP)