George Santos loses bail battle

The courts have a way of doing everything in steps, so even when a ruling is definitive, it’s still often followed by procedural steps that take a bit of time. For instance a week and a half ago the courts ordered that the names of the people who paid George Santos’ bail be made public. But nothing happened with it until today, when the judge announced that the names will be unsealed this Thursday.

This sets up what could be an interesting series of events. The judge set the two day window so that the people who paid the bail can decide whether to withdraw the bail in order to keep their names secret. But if they withdraw the bail money in order to remain anonymous, Santos’ bail will be revoked unless he can immediately find other people to cover his bail who don’t mind having their names out there.

George Santos recently claimed that he’d rather rot in jail while awaiting trial than expose the names of the people who paid his bail. If they do withdraw the bail before Thursday, he could end up indeed sitting in jail – which could prompt House Republicans to reluctantly decide to expel him.

The other scenario is that we get to find out on Thursday who paid George Santos’ bail. Given how hard he’s worked to try to keep those names a secret, that could be a scandal in and of itself. Either way it should be an interesting 48 hours.