Santos’ lawyer needs more time to review federal documents

In Santos’ first court appearance since he was expelled from Congress earlier this month, his attorney, Joseph Murray, argued that bringing the September trial forward while the two parties were in talks to resolve the case would be premature.

Judge Joanna Seybert sided with Murray, saying she would try to move the case “as expeditiously as possible” but that September seemed like the earliest possible date based on her current caseload. She set the next hearing in the case for Jan. 23.

Santos faces a slew of federal charges related to alleged fraud and campaign finance violations, detailed in a pair of federal indictments handed down earlier this year.

Santos, 35, pleaded not guilty to a revised indictment on Oct. 10 that added 10 additional counts. He is now facing 23 charges. Earlier this month Santos became the sixth lawmaker in history to be expelled from the U.S. House of Representatives, a move that left Republicans with a razor-thin majority in the chamber.

In an interview on CBS New York that aired Sunday, Santos said he hadn’t ruled out pleading guilty, saying “there’s obviously conversations taking place, especially after what happened in Congress, and we’ll see.”

“We should focus on the plea deal. I believe they can be fruitful,” Murray told Seybert. He also argued that he found it difficult to keep up with voluminous materials produced by the government during the discovery process.

Santos declined to comment on the case to reporters after his court appearance.