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, and has been a leader in the New York Young Republican Club.[1]

Personal

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.[2]

Early career

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.[2]

He then obtained technical training and worked in IT.[2]

Political career

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.[2]

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.[2] Bannon fired him for going to a Young Republicans party instead of working.[2]

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.[2]

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.[2]

Currently, Burra works for Representative George Santos as his "director of operations". He joined Santos's team after Santos was exposed as a fraud and is now working on a strategy to turn Santos into a figurehead for the MAGA wing of the party.[2] 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 violence against the reporter.[3]

References

  1. ↑ 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.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 McCreesh, Shawn (March 2, 2023). "George Santos, MAGA 'It' Girl". Intelligencer.
  3. ↑ Rohrlich, Justin (May 12, 2023). "George Santos Staffer Faces Discipline for Menacing Sexual Comments to Reporter" – via www.thedailybeast.com.
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