George Santos Clashes with Bill Maher Over Trump 'Lies' After Presidential Prison Commutation — and Reveals Wild New 'Strategic' Term for Lying
George Santos came up with a creative term to describe Trump not telling the truth.
Sept. 29 2026, Published 1:00 p.m. ET
George Santos has coined a creative new term for lying and used it to defend Donald Trump’s relationship with the truth, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
The disgraced former New York congressman, 38, bragged about his own skills at dancing around the truth during the latest episode of Bill Maher’s Club Random podcast, as the pair clashed over Trump’s reputation for lying.
George Santos Admits He Has Gift for Dancing Around the Truth
Santos appeared on the September 28 episode of Maher's 'Club Random' podcast.
Santos boasted about his gift for selling just about anything, including himself to voters.
"I'm good at selling. I'm a great salesman. I can sell sand in a desert in a drought," he bragged. "So, well, that was kind of like my profession. So, selling myself to the people wasn't so hard."
He noted, "Okay. But, you know, you shouldn't lie. No excuses," about how he's such an amazing self-proclaimed liar.
Maher fired back that even his own young staffers knew exactly who Santos was before he came on the show and knew him for all the wrong reasons.
"You went to prison, and 28-year-olds think of you as the 'liar guy,'" Maher bluntly told him.
Bill Maher Claims Trump's Fans 'Take Him Seriously, Not Literally'
Maher claimed even Trump's own base knows they can't take everything he says as the truth.
Maher shared, "Yeah. I mean, I mean, Trump obviously has told more lies than all the presidents combined," as Santos fired back, "I don't know that that's true, though."
The Real Time host became incredulous, explaining, "Well, you do know it's true. You know that even his fans say, 'We take him seriously, not literally.' He just, you know, pulls stuff out of his a-- whenever he wants to," about the president's habit of making off-the-cuff remarks that may not be totally rooted in reality.
That's when Santos came up with a strange new term for lying.
George Santos Tries to Coin His Own Phrase About Lying
Santos claimed lies can be a 'strategic disruption of the matrix.'
"Is it a lie, or how about this? Is it a lie, or is it a strategic, like, disruption of the matrix, right? Like, I feel – and I'm not making excuses, but I'm going to throw this at you," Santos shot back, seemingly trying to draw a distinction between outright lying and playing fast and loose with the truth.
Maher shut down the conversation by saying, "Try that in a relationship. It doesn't work."
The former congressman appeared to be trying to coin his own catchphrase, à la Kellyanne Conway’s infamous “alternative facts” defense during a 2017 appearance on Meet the Press, when host Chuck Todd challenged her over the Trump administration’s claims about the size of the crowd at his inauguration.
George Santos' Congressional Career Was Short-Lived
Never Miss an
Daily updates from the heart of Hollywood, right to your inbox
By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you’re agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
Santos only served four months in Congress before he was indicted for wire fraud and other charges.
Santos readily admitted he was no stranger to spewing nonsense, and pointed to his prison stint as proof he was well aware of his checkered past.
"I'm the first one to say I've said a lot of b------- in my life, and I'm very self-aware of that," he confessed, before bluntly adding: "Hey, I went to prison, Bill. Let's just put it that way."
Santos made history in 2022 as the first openly g-y Republican elected to Congress, defeating Democrat Robert Zimmerman in the battle for New York's 3rd Congressional District.
But Santos' time in Congress would prove incredibly short-lived. Just four months after being sworn in, the scandal-plagued lawmaker was hit with a bombshell 13-count federal indictment in May 2023, charging him with wire fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds, and making false statements to the House of Representatives.
Santos landed behind bars after pleading guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, admitting to a sprawling web of financial schemes that included ripping off campaign donors, making unauthorized charges on their credit cards, stealing identities, and fraudulently collecting unemployment benefits. He was sentenced to 87 months in federal prison in April 2025.
Trump commuted his sentence in October of that year, writing in a Truth Social post, "George Santos was somewhat of a ‘rogue,’ but there are many rogues throughout our Country that aren’t forced to serve seven years in prison," adding he had "just signed a Commutation, releasing George Santos from prison, IMMEDIATELY."
