Let's talk about George Santos and E. Jean Carroll
the true crime that's worth your time
It’s not the worst news day for the good guys. A jury in New York awarded writer and advice columnist E. Jean Carroll $5 million Tuesday in her civil suit against former President Donald Trump; then this morning, weird fabulist/New York Representative George Santos was taken into custody as he was charged with 13 federal counts. The world remains a deeply unjust place, but both these headlines soothe, somewhat.
It’s been interesting reading coverage of the Carroll decision, as you can see reporters, editors, and outlets trying as hard as they can to plainly state the facts and to avoid the inevitability of misinformation (NBC even embedded the verdict form). Coverage in the New York Times suggests that the defendant (who did not appear in court, nor did his counsel call any witnesses) will appeal, something that he appears to confirm to (holds nose and links) Fox News. So, it’s not over yet, but it must be a nice day to be E. Jean.
Meanwhile, the Department of Justice’s indictment against Santos was unsealed this morning, revealing “seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds, and two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives,” CNN reports. None of that is the super fun stuff (like all the dog-related fraud, what was up with that), but you gotta get ‘em on what you can get ‘em on, I guess.
The Santos story, too, isn’t over by a long shot, and I’m sure that we’re going to learn increasingly bananas things about the politician as that one unfolds. But here’s today’s question: If you were the boss of all true crime and you had to order projects based on what’s happened in either case with an endpoint of today, how would you tackle either or both of these stories? Erin Lee Carr limited docuseries on Carroll? Get Starlee Kine back for a new season of dearly departed podcast Mystery Show on George Santos? Bring Hunter S. Thompson back from the dead to report out books about both?
As a bonus, if you want to pull out any threads you think are most important for a true crime take to highlight in either case, please do — any points you found particularly confounding or obsession-worthy. (Is there a beat you’d end the first episode of a Netflix drama on Santos on, with Santos played by…I hate that I keep thinking Bowen Yang, but his is the only face in my head).
I know y’all have a lot of great ideas and should be the bosses of all true crime, so let’s hash it out. Who knows, maybe someone will read what we spin here and we’ll end up getting our wishes. True crime, on demand, is a world I could happily live in. — EB