Rep. George Santos has a lot to do to recover the trust of the public: CNN’s City & State reveals that congress never wants to resign

Rep. George Santos told the House GOP conference on Tuesday behind closed doors he wants off of his two committees until his issues are resolved, three members told CNN.

In interviews with WABC radio and the New York Post on December 26, Santos admitted to lying about attending Baruch College and New York University as well as misrepresenting his employment at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup but said at the time he still intended to serve in Congress.

A Republican Representative-elect said in a statement that the House Ethics Committee and law enforcement is needed to investigate allegations of corruption.

It is unlikely House Republican leadership will refuse to seat Santos, who is scheduled to be sworn in with the rest of the new members of Congress next Tuesday. It is rare for the House to expel a lawmaker with a two-thirds vote, and only five have done so in US history.

In its statement, the Ethics Committee noted that opening an investigation “does not itself indicate that any violation has occurred.” If the panel finds that Santos committed ethics violations, punishments could range from a reprimand to expulsion from the House of Representatives, depending on the severity of the conduct.

In the past, the California Republican has shown little appetite for punishing his own members for bad behavior – particularly when it comes to actions from before they were a member of Congress. McCarthy doesn’t want to use his power when members are under investigation because he will let the probes play out before deciding how to proceed.

In the interview with City & State posted Monday night,Santos insisted that he would remain an effective member of the United States Congress in the 118th session.

Nassau County Republican Committee Chairman Joseph G. Cairo, Jr. told reporters Tuesday that he thinks Santos has broken the public trust and has a lot of work to do to regain the trust of voters.

“I am deeply disappointed in Mr. Santos, and I expected more than just a blanket apology,” Cairo said in a statement. “The damage that his lies have caused to many people, especially those who have been impacted by the Holocaust, are profound.”

CNN’s KFile finds that Santos’ claims that his grandparents fled the Holocaust as Ukrainian Jewish refugees and that his mother died as a result of being present in the South Tower during 9/11 have come under scrutiny.

CNN has confirmed that the document that was shared with Jewish groups during the campaign was that ofSantos, who described himself as a proud American Jew.

“He deceived us and misrepresented his heritage. He has previously claimed to be Jewish, the coalition said. “He will not be welcome at any future RJC event.”

What caused Mr. Santos’s controversies? And what did he actually do last week when he was arrested?

It came to light Monday thatSantos did not graduate from any college or school he claimed to have degrees from.

He also admitted that he never worked directly for the financial firms Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, as he has previously suggested, but claimed that he did do work for them through his company, telling the New York Post it was a “poor choice of words” to say he worked for them.

The New York Times reported last week that the biography was not real. CNN confirmed his college education and employment history.

The New York attorney general’s office told CNN last week that it had not initiated a “formal investigation” into Santos but said Attorney General Letitia James was “looking into” some of the things that were raised about Santos in recent reports.

The Nassau County District Attorney said that the congressman-elect’s numerous fabrications and inconsistencies are stunning.

“The residents of Nassau County and other parts of the third district must have an honest and accountable representative in Congress,” she said. “If a crime was committed in this county, we will prosecute it.”

CNN confirmed reporting from the Times that Santos was charged with embezzlement in a Brazilian court in 2011, according to case records from the Rio de Janeiro Court of Justice. However, court records from 2013 state that the charge was archived after court summons went unanswered and they were unable to locate Santos.

Rep.-elect Mike Lawler, who is also an incoming freshman from New York, urged his fellow Republican to cooperate with any probes and called on him to apologize, saying the controversy is a distraction. Lawler added that by downplaying action’s, Santos is “only making things worse.”

For now there is no way to avoid the fact that the growing phenomenon of saying or doing anything with no consequences is what caused Mr. Santos’s con game. Whether it be far-right election deniers, personal attacks that call for violence against opponents, claims of false-flag mass shootings, extremists spouting the first thing that comes to mind and even one politician saying he could “shoot somebody” on Fifth Avenue and still not lose supporters. If we are going to eradicate tyranny of liars and their lies, then Mr. Santos has to go because there is no guarantee that he will voluntarily step down.

He is going to be sworn in when the House returns next week. If he assumes office, he could face investigations by the House Committee on Ethics and the Justice Department.

The Republican has admitted to lying about his background, but he hasn’t talked about the source of his fortune, evictions and thousands of in back rent, as well as the fact that he doesn’t have a college degree.

Brosh, Zimmerman, and Santos: “We don’t do stupid things in life,” a New York Times editorial criticizes

Brendan Brosh, a spokesman for the Nassau County District Attorney’s office, stated that they were looking into the matter. The scope of the investigation was unknown at the time.

Questions intensified after The New York Times examined the narrative Santos, 34, presented to voters during his successful campaign for a congressional district that straddles the north shore suburbs of Long Island and a sliver of Queens.

In an interview with the New York Post earlier this week, Santos apologized for his fabrications but downplayed them as “sins” over embellishing his resume, adding that “we do stupid things in life.”

He backtracked on that claim, saying he never intended to claim Jewish heritage, which would have likely raised his appeal among his district’s significant ranks of Jewish voters.

The Democrats raised red flags about the Republican’s record but also accepted some of his assertions, including his educational record. His support for a fraudulent presidential election and the January Capitol insurrection were both included in the 87-page dossier. The report also sought to depict him as a far-right candidate. But buried within its report, the DCCC had raised issues about his shaky financial standing and multiple evictions that left him thousands of dollars in debt.

Robert Zimmerman tried to raise misrepresentations during his losing campaign but it didn’t gain much traction.

“Campaign expenditures for staff members including travel, lodging, and meals are normal expenses of any competent campaign. The suggestion that the campaign spent campaign funds in a way that was not legal is irresponsible, according to a statement by a lawyer for the campaign.

Campaign finance experts say those expenditures the New York representative-elect reported stood out for a key reason: They are one penny below the dollar figure above which the FEC requires campaigns to keep receipts.

Paul S. Ryan said the expenditures, particularly the $199.99 payments to businesses like Best Buy, Delta Airlines and others, stood out to him.

He said the payments could reflect an effort to skirt FEC requirements for campaigns to keep receipts for expenditures over $200. The FEC requires candidates to make payments over $200 if they want to keep their receipts below that threshold.

However, Ryan said, the consistent appearance of $199.99 charges effectively shows that Santos knew about the threshold he was attempting to skirt – potentially inviting Justice Department scrutiny and criminal penalties.

“My view is a bunch of expenditures right below legal requirement for the committee to keep receipts is evidence that he knew what he was doing,” Ryan said. “If in fact he did misuse campaign funds, this was a blatant effort to evade detection.”

Amid the avalanche of revelations of ways in which Santos lied about his biography, many of those who voted for him in his Long Island-based New York 3rd Congressional District say they would not support him again.

She said that the ability to lie to us is troubling. We all know this man shouldn’t be in office. I want to assure you the Republicans know it too.”

The 7th District Reprieved by George Santos: “I feel like I’m a fool but I can’t do that”

Tom Zmich, who was a candidate in the 6th District, said that he had not done anything wrong, as far as legality wise.

She said that she had supportedSantos because he was the leader in her race and she didn’t think that he would do something like this.

It’s not clear ifSantos has been in contact with the Office of Congressional Ethics or who initiated the contact. Santos made the comment in an exchange in which he appeared to be trying to assuage a concerned donor.

CNN has reached out to the OCE requesting confirmation. The office could refer the complaint to the House Ethics Committee in order to look into the matter.

Another campaign donor, who similarly requested anonymity to speak freely, told CNN on Friday that she “of course is shocked” following the news of the congressman-elect’s alleged deception and feels “betrayed and lied to.”

Today is my last day as a member of Congress, and George Santos is about to be sworn in to take the seat I held for six years. In order to fulfill his duty to the Constitution, he will have to take an oath tobear true faith. I have lost track of how many people Mr. Santos deceived in relation to our area of Long Island and northeastern Queens. It will diminish my country and Congress when he’s seated. After 30 years of public service, I am being replaced by a con man.

The story of George Santos in the U.S. House of Representatives on Capitol Hill: Investigations into a Money-Less Investigation into an Inflating Checkbook

I still have a sense of optimism. I think our democracy, our free press and the rule of law work just as well as slower and more frustrating. They have to.

GeorgeSantos is set to be sworn in to Congress on Tuesday, even as he faces mounting scrutiny and condemnation over lies about his past and an investigation into his finances.

All incoming members of the 118th Congress are scheduled to be sworn in following the vote for House speaker at the US Capitol, which is set to begin after noon ET on Tuesday.

Prosecutors said they will seek a “formal response” from Santos related to a stolen checkbook in 2008, after police suspended an investigation into him because they were unable to find him for nearly a decade.

The New York Republican is likely to be charged with fraud in Brazil as he takes his seat in the US House on Tuesday under a cloud of suspicion.

The criminal case is based on a visit to the small clothing store in Niteri, a city outside of Rio de Brazil, whereSantos spent $700 out of the stolen checkbook using a fake name.

“No one is above the law and if a crime was committed in this county, we will prosecute it,” Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said at the time.

The US attorney in the Eastern District of New York did not respond to a request for comment about what fabrications it was investigating.

The Democrats say Republicans are hypocrites for not taking Omar, and other House Democrats, off committee assignments. While Schiff and Swalwell were able to be ejected from the House Intelligence Committee unilaterally by McCarthy, Omar’s position on House Foreign Affairs will need a vote on the House floor, one that Republican leaders have yet to force.

He felt like there was so much drama going on, and especially what we are doing to remove Ilhan from the Foreign Affairs Committee.

Small Business Committee Chairman Roger Williams, a Republican from Texas, said that he thinks Santos “probably made the right decision” to step down from his committee assignments until the questions about his past and his financial irregularities are resolved.

The Campaign Legal Center filed a complaint with the FEC that describes his disbursements as “odd and seemingly impossible.” The $199.99 expenses was for a stay at the luxury W Hotel South Beach in Florida, where the lowest-price room is typically more than $700.

Last week, Santos also filed a slew of amended reports with the FEC that only added to the confusion about the source of loans he has said he made to his campaign.

A Disgrace: George Santos House-Committees for a Reply to the New York Democrat Committee

“We just got out of conference and George has voluntarily removed himself from committees as he goes through this process,” said Rep. Elise Stefanik, who chairs the GOP conference.

“There’s a threshold that he feels like [where] he’s not the issue anymore and when he hits that, it sounds like he wants to get back on committees and get going,” Williams told reporters.

“For a while, the question I was getting asked by [the press] is ‘Where you gonna put him? Can he do this?’ – it became about him,” Williams said. It’s not about him. There’s a lot to do when he gets ready to go back on, it’s about our committee. Let’s go after he’s met the thresholds he has set.

“Half-measures like voluntarily taking himself off his committee assignments are not good enough for the people of New York’s third congressional district, or for the American people,” Torres said in a statement. Yesterday he was a disgrace. He’s a disgrace today. Tomorrow, he will be a disgrace. He should resign from office immediately.”

He said that he had absolutely no place in the Nassau County Republican Committee or in public service. “He isn’t welcome here at Republican headquarters or in any of our events.”

Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/01/31/1152771493/george-santos-house-committees

Romney’s remark on the scandal that embarrassed him: Are you kidding me? When you didn’t admit you weren’t supposed to be in Congress

An investigation from The New York Times couldn’t verify some of his claims, such as his work with Goldman Sachs and Citigroup.

McCarthy said that the voters had elected George Santos at the press conference. He will have ethics if there is a concern. If there is anything found, he will be dealt with in that way.

A member who witnessed the exchange in the House of Representatives chamber Tuesday night said that Romney told the New York Rep that he didn’t belong there.

Romney told CNN that he criticized the man for trying to shake hands with the president and senators because he was under ethics investigation.

“He should be sitting in the back row and staying quiet instead of parading in front of the president and people coming into the room,” he said, noting that Santos may have responded to his remark but he “didn’t hear.”

“He says he, you know, that he embellished his record. Look, embellishing is saying you got an A when you got an A-,” the senator said. “Lying is saying you graduated from a college that you didn’t even attend and he shouldn’t be in Congress.”

They are hoping to get him out through the process. But he shouldn’t be there and if he had any shame at all, he wouldn’t be there.”

The Ethics Committee is Moving Forward with an Investigation of a New York Republican Rep. George Santos, a Paraiah of Long Island

The Federal Election Commission sent a letter to Rep. George Santos asking him to declare that he is running for reelection in 2024 after raising enough money to do so.

The FEC wrote to Santos that he needs to either tell them he’s not a candidate or redesignate his campaign committee by filing a statement of candidacy.

You have to register with the FEC as a candidate if you raised or spent more than $5,000 in a campaign for federal office. Any such candidate, including incumbents like Santos, must file a statement of candidacy with the agency each electoral cycle.

The House Ethics Committee announced on Thursday that it is moving forward with a probe into the New York Republican, who is facing mounting legal issues and calls to resign.

The freedom of the speech of my constituency is not a distraction to my work, what do you think? People are a distraction to the work I am doing.

A growing number of Republicans have called for his ouster, and Santos is widely viewed as a pariah in his home district on Long Island, which includes a small portion of Queens.

The good news for the guy is that he’s managed to get Democrats, Republicans and independents to agree about a political figure. “The bad news for Santos is that the political figure they agree on is him, and they overwhelmingly view him unfavorably.”

Overcoming the Ocasio-Cortez Ethics Complaint: An Insight into a New York Congressman’s alleged misuse of taxpayer funds to settle a sexual harassment case

Additionally, the campaign’s bookkeeping has also come under a harsh spotlight, especially following the revelation that his former treasure listed dozens of expenses just a penny beneath the legal threshold for keeping receipts.

The individual alleged in a House ethics complaint that they were invited to his home by his husband, who was out of town, and that he was touched by the congressman before giving up his job.

The ethics committee is broadening its inquiry into New York congressman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s acceptance of gifts as a congress member. The committee released information about a report by the Office of Congressional Ethics which states that the lawmaker may have accepted illegal gifts for attending the Met Gala.

The editor and co-author of “Overcoming Trumpery: How to Restore Ethics, the Rule of Law, and Democracy” is Norman Eisen. Colby Galliher is a senior research analyst at Brookings and a co-author of the book. The views are of their own. CNN has more opinions on it.

Those allegations, if proven, are violations of the House’s code of official conduct — which require members to “behave at all times in a manner that shall reflect creditably on the House” — and of federal laws that the committee is entrusted with minding as well.

On Thursday, the office acknowledged the investigation on social media and said he was fully cooperating. And while he has thus far resisted mounting calls to resign despite controversies over the veracity of his academic and professional record, ties to shady business operations and questions about his campaign finances, history suggests that the committee’s nascent investigation may erode his resolve.

Most scandal-plagued members of Congress have decided to leave rather than go through ethics investigations. A Pennsylvania Republican who was a member of the ethics committee resigned due to an investigation into allegations that he used taxpayer funds to settle a sexual harassment case involving a former staffer.

Meehan, who was married at the time, initially denied the former staffer’s allegations after the settlement became public, but he ultimately went on the record about their interactions. He admitted in an interview with Philadelphia public radio station WHYY that despite being a soul mate to the former staffer, it was something that he struggled with. He also promised to repay the US Treasury the $39,000 of taxpayer money he used to make the settlement within 30 days of his resignation.

Former Rep. Anthony Weiner, a New York Democrat, promptly resigned in 2011 after the committee began a preliminary inquiry of his conduct. Weiner, who had tweeted an inappropriate photo of himself and admitted to exchanging lewd messages and photos with a number of women, prompted Nancy Pelosi, House minority leader at the time, and then-Rep. Steve Israel, a New York Democrat, to call for an Ethics Committee investigation.

For all these reasons, congressional history is replete with other examples of members resigning upon the announcement of an investigation by the Ethics Committee.

And, if the evidence points to violations of federal or state law, the ethics body, like other House committees, can bolster these external investigations by passing on its investigative findings to the relevant law enforcement bodies. Indeed, the January 6 committee achieved one of its most impactful legacies by making criminal referrals to the Department of Justice.