Top George Santos staffer facing discipline for Tweets attacking female journalist: report
A top staffer for George Santos is reportedly facing disciplinary action from the embattled New York congressman after he lashed out at a female journalist on in a series of threatening tweets — and appeared to suggest she wanted to have sex with him.
Viswanag “Vish” Burra, a convicted drug dealer and Santos’ director of operations, is currently in hot water after he relentlessly harassed freelance reporter Jacqueline Sweet in a bizarre tweet storm, The Daily Beast reported.
“This kind of behavior from anyone is unacceptable, much less from a congressional staffer,” Santos communications director Naysa Woomer told the outlet on Friday. “Threats of violence of any kind will not be condoned. The tweets have been deleted and disciplinary action will be taken.”
On Thursday — one day after Santos was federally indicted on 13 charges including fraud and money laundering — Burra unleashed on Sweet, who has been closely covering Santos’ fall from grace and exposed a number of his innumerable lies.
Vish Burra, 32, previously worked as a producer on former Trump staffer Steve Bannon’s podcast. John Nacion/UPI/Shutterstock
Sweet first reported that the rookie Long Island rep was charged in 2017 with writing bad checks to an Amish dog breeder; that he was accused of fraud in the same year for running an ATM skimming operation; and that he has a history of stealing from his roommates, according to The Daily Beast.
“I knew you were looking into my eyes!” Burra posted Thursday night in a since-deleted tweet in response to Sweet’s post about him staring at her in the courtroom during Santos’ arraignment on Long Island.
“Jacqueline couldn’t keep her eyes off me!” he said.
Burra continued to barrage the reporter, claiming Sweet was “obsessed” with him and “fixated” on his “every move,” according to the outlet.
When an account named “George Santos Stan” tweeted at Burra and told him he “should have hit [Sweet] with that venom,” Burra responded saying “I think she wants me to hit her with something else!”
Santos was federally indicted on 13 charges on Wednesday. Getty Images
“Hey now we can’t have both of you in court,” the “George Santos stan” account tweeted back.
Burra responded: “I think she wants me to lock her up somewhere else!”
In another tweet the 32-year-old said that Sweet had only attended Wednesday’s hearing in Long Island to see him. In yet another, he said that she was “not the first” liberal woman to fall in love with him.
“Don’t worry, I know I have an effect on your [sic] types,” Burra posted.
When Sweet posted a photo of a shoe that someone had left behind in the courtroom, Burra wrote that he thought Sweet left it behind intentionally, “hoping I would find who it belonged to and return it,” according to the Daily Beast.
Burra is reportedly facing discipline for a series of tweets about a freelance journalist covering Santos. REUTERS
Burra’s future as a staffer with the scandal-ridden congressman is unclear, although a source close to Santos’ office told The Daily Beast the incident is being taken “very seriously.”
In a tweet posted Friday afternoon, Burra whined “These people really expect to tweet shit about you all day and I can’t even joke and roast them back without them crying vIoLeNcE. I will never comply! Never!”
Santos tapped Burra, a MAGA world political operative tied to ex-White House strategist Steve Bannon, to join his staff in January as his house of cards built on a litany of lies began to fall on him.
“[Burra] has no problem working for controversial figures – and that’s kind of what makes him a prized staffer in that regard, because he’s not going to run away scared. He doesn’t care about the supposed professional, reputational risks because this is what he does,” a source close to Santos’ office told The Post about the hire.
Source: New York Post
