Naysa Woomer, the communications director of embattled representative George Santos, resigned and accused him of failing to take even “one point of professional advice”.
“With respect for my colleagues, the people of New York, and most importantly, myself, I am honoured to tender my resignation,” Ms Woomer said in her resignation email, according to Scripps News.
“Unfortunately, you never took one point of professional advice given.”
Ms Woomer’s resignation came after she was caught on tape bashing Mr Santos as “not a good person”. “I actually hope he does [get kicked out of Congress],” she was recorded saying by the O’Keefe Media Group.
“He’s not a good person, sorry,” she continued.
Ms Woomer had previously worked for GOP Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker and representatives Ryan Costello, Thomas Massie, and Tim Huelskamp.
Her departure comes amid a string of negative developments for Mr Santos, who was indicted on 13 counts, including fraud and money laundering, last week by the Department of Justice.
Mr Santos on Wednesday narrowly survived Democrats’ move to expel him from Congress, with the Republicans voting largely along party lines, 221-204, to the ethics panel.
The freshman member of Congress has been charged with embezzling money from his campaign, falsely receiving unemployment funds, and lying about his finances.
He has denied the charges and has pleaded not guilty.
The Long Island representative has also been facing multiple calls for his resignation after admitting to a plethora of lies on his resume, starting from his high school to college and employment.
Representative Robert Garcia introduced a resolution in February to expel Mr Santos, something the House has only done twice in recent decades. He sought to force a vote on that resolution under a process that left three options for Republicans: a vote on the resolution, a move to table, or a referral to committee.
House speaker Kevin McCarthy chose the third option, much to the chagrin of Democrats who described it as a “complete copout”.
Mr Santos on Wednesday compared Congress to the film Mean Girls and compared himself to Cady Heron, the protagonist portrayed by Lindsay Lohan.
Mr Santos spoke on the Macrodosing podcast and was asked what Congress was like.
“Have you ever watched ‘Mean Girls’?” Mr Santos asked the interviewer. “That’s Congress in a nutshell. There is a mean girl there.”
“I don’t come from a political background,” Mr Santos said, despite the fact he ran for Congress in 2020 and lost before he mounted his successful campaign in the Long Island district in 2022.
