George Santos misses campaign finance deadline for the third time!
New York, New York - Representative George Santos may have made more problems for himself after he recently missed the deadline to submit his campaign's financial disclosures for the third time.
According to CBS News, Santos failed to file the key report with the House Committee on Ethics on Wednesday, despite the deadline having been extended for him twice before.
Santos first missed the original May 15 deadline, and was granted a 90-day extension. A 30-day grace period followed, with the congressman promising to submit before then, but he has once again failed to follow through.
The Republican, who currently faces 13 federal charges including theft and fraud, argued that he would "rather be late, accurate, and pay the fine than be on time, inaccurate, and suffer the consequences of a rushed job."
"Despite my legal team's and my best efforts to meet the deadlines, additional auditing and tax filing for 2022 remained," Santos wrote. "I still have until November 2023 to submit my 2022 taxes with the IRS in order to avoid legal troubles."
"Because House filing deadlines conflict with IRS regulations, this misalignment exists," he added.
Each missed deadline costs the congressman a $200 penalty fee. If he doesn't file all together, he may be hit with a civil penalty of $71,316.
Stephen Spaulding of the watchdog group Common Cause described Santos' reasoning for not filing as "nonsensical."
Cover photo: Drew Angerer / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP