Criminal defense attorney Tamara Holder joined Cheddar News to break down the charges that New York Republican Congressman George Santos is facing. "When the feds come after you -- and this is for anyone, a politician or not -- they generally have already built their case before they indict you," Holder said, regarding the timeline of Rep. Santos' arrest.

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Criminal Defense Attorney Discusses NY Rep. Santos Charges

And we're learning more about the charges against Congressman George Santos. He's just pleaded not guilty in an alleged scheme to defraud campaign donors steal public funds and cover his tracks. Santos is facing a total of 13 different federal charges. Seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, two counts of false statements to Congress and one count of theft of public money. Criminal defense attorney Tamara Holder has been closely following this case. Welcome to the show tomorrow. Thank you very much. Now, first, how serious are these charges? Well, they're pretty serious. Uh I was doing some research for you and uh two dozen more than two dozen members of Congress have been indicted since 2015. Uh I'm sorry, since 1980. And that was in 2015 and there have been a handful since then. Uh a lot of them end up doing prison time. This, these are financial crimes. These are crimes against the people that uh generally donate um and give contributions to elected officials who are held in the highest regard. So you say that they end up doing prison time. How much prison time are we talking about? Based on the precedent for this case. It ranges, uh I think that, you know, anywhere from a few years to a couple of decades. Right. It depends on how serious this person or how serious the crimes are. I think what Mr Santos has going for him for lack of a better word. Uh, is that he's, he's new. Um, it's not like he's been around for a long time. I'm from Chicago and, you know, the politicians there engage in decades long of abuse of, of their constituents. So I think the fact that this could be a short term kind of uh span of criminality. If you will, there are probably going to be lesser amounts of time being sought. OK? So he's new and we're talking about a short term span of criminality, as you say, it's only been a few months since that bombshell expose was published that essentially led to Santos admitting that he lied. What is the speed of all this, tell you about this case? Well, the speed of it is really has to do with this being a federal indictment when the feds come after you. And this is for anyone, a politician or not, they generally have already built their case before they indict you. And so, so that means that usually what happens is you get your lawyer and you enter into a plea agreement pretty quickly because everything that they have is already built and the case against you is very damning. So, uh you know, on one hand, it could move really fast, but we're also dealing with someone who seems to have some narcissistic behaviors, uh personality issues. Um We don't even know, like is, is he straight or has he been married? There are all these weird things that are coming out about him and so maybe he wants to fight it. Thank you so much for providing that needed insight. We appreciate you criminal defense attorney Tamara Holder.