Expelled Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) appeared at the Capitol on Thursday dressed in a Santa suit to attend Rep. Tim Burchett’s (R-Tenn.) famous annual 15-minute Christmas party.
Each year, Burchett hosts a quick Christmas party to ring in the holidays in Congress. Last year, his party stretched to 16 minutes, but he decided against it this year, saying he was “going back to the original 15 minutes” because he felt like the slightly longer event dragged on a bit.
He started the gathering in 2022. Last year he said he nearly ran out of Cheez Wiz for his charcuterie board and had plans this year to have a Mountain Dew fountain.
Burchett hinted that there would be a “celebrity Santa Claus.” That person ended up being Santos.
Santos posted on the social platform X that he had a great time.
“@timburchett has the best holiday party in town!” he said.
Even Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) made a brief appearance at the party.
Earlier Thursday Santos posted that despite dressing up as Santa Claus later in the day, he “did not wake up in a jolly mood.”
As Santos was leaving the 15-minute party, he made a remark about his expulsion from Congress.
“I have PTSD from this place,” he said.
Santos was ousted from Congress last December after only serving for 11 months. He was voted out after a scathing House Ethics report found there was clear evidence he engaged in serious crimes, including campaign finance violations.
Shortly after his departure, he announced he’d be selling videos on Cameo. The video-sharing platform is now being used by former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), too.
In a post on X last year, Santos announced his new alter ego, telling his followers that it’s time for “Santos-Claus.” He said for a limited time he would be selling Cameo videos “to bring Christmas cheer to all your faces!”
