Former Santos aide says ousted lawmaker’s challenge to LaLota ‘is a joke’

Former Rep. George Santos’s announcement that he would jump into a different House race in New York raised eyebrows Thursday evening, including his former communications director.

Asked if she thought something was wrong with Santos, who was ousted from his own seat in December, Naysa Woomer seemingly agreed with the assessment.

“I want to say yes, a little bit, because it sounds like someone who just, he went from being a congressman to a celebrity,” Woomer told CNN’s Jake Tapper Friday on “The Lead.” “And I think, just the media attention that came around him during his entire time in Congress, it just, I think it increased his ego…I mean, it’s a joke.”

“And one of my biggest questions is, you know, do we need to go back?” she added.

Her comments come just a day after Santos made a surprise appearance at President Biden’s State of the Union address. During the speech, he took to social media to announce he is launching a bid for New York’s 1st Congressional District against Rep. Nick Lakota (R-N.Y.)

“New York hasn’t had a real conservative represent them since I left office arbitrarily, thanks to RINO, empty suits like Nick LaLota,” Santos said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “He is a willing to risk the future of our majority and the future of this country for his own political gain.”

LaLota replied, signaling he would be up to the challenge.

“To raise the standard in Congress, and to hold a pathological liar who stole an election accountable, I led the charge to expel George Santos,” he posted on X. “If finishing the job requires beating him in a primary, count me in.”

Santos’s appearance at Biden’s address to Congress sparked more than just a few groans. Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) — who played a large role in the effort to expel the former lawmaker — unveiled plans for a new rule that would prevent him from making another surprise visit.

The GEORGE rule — or the “Getting Expelled Officially Revokes Guaranteed Entry” rule — would ensure former members who have been voted out of the House cannot use their privileges to return to the House floor.

Woomer suggested to Tapper, who called the title “pretty clever,” that she supports the rule in Friday’s interview.

“I think it is a good rule,” she said. “I mean, let’s just remember too, only, I think he’s the sixth member of Congress who had been expelled.”