Viswanag (Vish) Burra (born 1991) is an American political operative. He was director of operations for US representative George Santos. Previously, he was a regular on right-wing podcasts and web broadcasts, and had a role in the Hunter Biden laptop saga. He has also worked closely with figures such as Steve Bannon and Republican Matt Gaetz,[1] and is currently the Executive Secretary of the New York Young Republican Club.[2]
Personal edit
Burra is the son of South Indian immigrants. He currently lives in the Rosebank, Staten Island, New York City with his parents. He has a brother.[3]
Early career edit
Burra sold illegal narcotics in his early career. In 2014 he was arrested and convicted of possessing 2.5 lb of marijuana and a certain amount of psychedelic mushrooms. He was sentenced to three years probation.[3]
He then obtained technical training and worked in IT.[3]
Political career edit
Burra became interested in politics during the 2016 presidential election. He was disillusioned with Hillary Clinton and liked what he was hearing from Donald Trump.[3]
Burra then joined the Staten Island Young Republicans club and became active in their main branch in Manhattan (i.e., New York Young Republican Club). This led to a job as an assistant for Steve Bannon, where he helped produce Bannon's War Room podcast and was involved in the handling of Hunter Biden's hard drive.[3] Bannon fired him for going to a Young Republicans party instead of working.[3]
After being fired by Bannon, Burra was hired by Matt Gaetz in 2021 to help rebuild his reputation following a Department of Justice investigation into his relationship with an underage girl. Burra helped Gaetz set up a podcast and organized public appearances to regain public support.[3]
Burra also worked for Carl Paladino, a Republican from western New York who praised Adolf Hitler. Burra was responsible for controlling Paladino's message and managing his public image.[3][4]
Prior to Santos' resignation from the House in a cloud of fraud and multiple indictments, Burra worked for Representative George Santos as his "director of operations". He joined Santos's team after Santos was exposed as a fraud and was working on a strategy to turn Santos into a figurehead for the MAGA wing of the party.[3] In 2023, Burra targeted a Long Island reporter named Jacqueline Sweet on social media with a series of menacing tweets in response to her coverage of Santos' indictment. The tweets escalated from denials of the accusations to suggestions of sexual violence against the reporter.[5]
References edit
- ^ Walker, Hunter (January 28, 2023). "Meet Vish Burra, The Chaos Agent Behind The Most Scandalous Member Of Congress". Talking Points Memo. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
- ^ Bidgood, Jess (2024-04-15). "Donald Trump, the Defendant". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-04-16.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i McCreesh, Shawn (March 2, 2023). "George Santos, MAGA 'It' Girl". Intelligencer.
- ^ Fandos, Nicholas (2022-06-09). "Paladino Draws Backlash for Calling Hitler 'the Kind of Leader We Need'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-04-16.
- ^ Rohrlich, Justin (May 12, 2023). "George Santos Staffer Faces Discipline for Menacing Sexual Comments to Reporter". The Daily Beast.