The Biography and Regulatory Explosion of a Republican Candidate: The Case for a Better Alternative to the Demsitarity Regime
The New York Times revealed that the biography was not real. CNN confirmed the reporting about his college and employment history.
At least one incoming member of the GOP conference called for Santos to face scrutiny from the House Ethics Committee – an investigative panel that is evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats but has limited options for doling out repercussions.
Murray saidSantosrepresented the kind of progress that the Left was so threatened by, a gay, Latino, immigrant and Republican who won a Biden district in overwhelming fashion by showing everyday voters that there is a better option than the broken promises and failed policies of the Democratic Party.
Santos’ biography has at times listed an education at Baruch College and New York University, earning degrees in finance and economics. NYU records do not reflect those with the same name, according to John Beckman, an NYU spokesman. A spokesperson for Baruch College told CNN it could not find a record of anyone with his name or birthday ever attending the school.
CNN also confirmed that Santos listed on his 2022 financial disclosure a salary of $750,000 this year and last at the Devolder Organization, which Santos has claimed is a “family firm” managing $80 million in assets.
A search for the Devolder Organization found that the business was registered in Florida in 2021 and was most recently temporarily deemed “inactive” by the state after failing to file the required annual reports. A website or LinkedIn profile could not be found, and Santos failed to report any of the clients he served in his financial disclosure.
When George Santos was elected to the House of Representatives during the 2016 roiling: The story of his second run in New York
Republicans gained control of the House thanks to a new district in Queens and some nearby Long Island suburbs that had been drawn to make it harder for Democrats to win. The GOP mini-wave outside the city set off roiling recriminations among New York Democrats, including calls for the state party chair to step down.
It was his second run, he lost to Tom Suozzi in the Democratic primary and he faced a lot of criticism due to his attendance at President Donald Trump’s Washington rally and a video where he claimed to have written a nice check.
“I believe that George Santos deserves an opportunity to address the claims detailed in the article,” said Joseph Cairo Jr., the influential chairman of Nassau County’s Republican committee.
“Every person deserves an opportunity to ‘clear’ his/her name in the face of accusations,” Cairo added, saying he looks forward to hearing Santos’ response.
“It is no surprise that Congressman-elect Santos has enemies at the New York Times who are attempting to smear his good name with these defamatory allegations,” said Joseph Murray.
“Only in this country does somebody who comes from a basement apartment in Jackson Heights, like I did, is able to rise to become a successful businessperson, to then run for United States Congress.”
In an interview with WNYC last month, the man who is gay said his employees died in the 2016 shooting at the gay night club in Florida.
“I know of people who worked for me at the time,”Santos said. “My company at the time, we lost four employees that were at Pulse.”
In an editorial before the election, the North Shore Leader newspaper endorsed Santos’ Democratic opponent, Robert Zimmerman, and voiced skepticism about Santos’ credibility.
On his social media pages, Santos has yet to address the controversy, but did say that he plans to vote for McCarthy for House Speaker.
A Democrat in Nassau County, New York, apologizes for his misinformation about animal rescue organizations and the New York Rep.-elect George Santos
Discrepancies on New York Rep.-elect George Santos’ resume are “serious” and the GOP politician “deserves an opportunity” to clear his name in the face of accusations, a top Republican in Nassau County said Monday.
“We are very disappointed in Congressman-elect Santos,” RJC CEO Matt Brooks said in a statement. He lied about his heritage to us. In public comments and to us personally he previously claimed to be Jewish. He has begun his tenure in Congress on a very wrong note.”
Josh Lafazan, a member of the Nassau County Legislature in New York and a former candidate for New York’s 3rd Congressional District, said Tuesday that Santos should resign immediately.
He wants the ethics committee to investigate and the attorney general to look at potential wrongdoing when it comes to campaign finance violations.
Congressman-elect George Santos from New York now acknowledges he misled voters about big parts of his life story before winning a seat on Long Island last month.
He seems to have lied about his charity work. He claims to have founded the group Friends of Pets United, an animal rescue organization that was not registered as a charity in New York or New Jersey. The New York Times reported that the IRS had no record of it. The purported beneficiary of one $50-a-head fundraiser for Friends of Pets United says that she never received the money raised, according to the Times as well. Now, Santos is less clear about his work, saying he helped out the charity and found homes for the animals.
I don’t think I am a criminal. Not here, not abroad, in any jurisdiction in the world have I ever committed any crimes,” Santos said in an interview with WABC radio host John Catsimatidis.
“To get down to the nit and gritty, I’m not a fraud. I am not a criminal who stole the entire country and made up a fictional character to run for Congress. I’ve been around a long time. I mean, a lot of people know me. They know who I am. He said that they have done business with him.
“A lot of people overstate on their resumes or twist a little bit or (sic) engranduate themselves,” Santos told WABC radio. “I’m not saying I’m not guilty of that.”
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.
He lied about earning a degree in finance and economics from a New York college, as well as working at Goldman and Citigroup.
The report further revealed how he lied about his Jewish heritage, claiming his grandparents survived the Holocaust as Ukrainian Jewish refugees. But genealogist Megan Smolenyak told the KFile that “”There’s no sign of Jewish and/or Ukrainian heritage and no indication of name changes along the way.” The lawyer did not comment at the time.
“I never claimed to be Jewish,” Santos told the Post. I’m a Catholic. Because I learned my maternal family had a Jewish background I said I was ‘Jew-ish.’”
Corresponding to the Santas Report: Kevin McCarthy apologizes for his comments on ‘How My Generation Got Left Behind’ and why the GOP shouldn’t respond
CNN reached out to House GOP leadership and the National Republican Congressional Committee in the wake ofSantos’ admissions. House GOP leadership was quiet last week. Kevin McCarthy would not respond when asked if he was concerned about misrepresentations.
The author of the book ‘OK Boomer, Let’s Talk: How My Generation Got Left Behind’ is a journalist based in New York. Follow her on Twitter @JillFilipovic. The opinions expressed in this commentary are her own. You can also add your opinion on CNN.
He named specific roles he held in Goldman and Citigroup, which he claimed he worked at. He claims he simply worked with both companies through his employment at Link Bridge, and that the poor choice of words gave a wrong impression.
So why should the public trust anything further he says, given his egregious pattern of lying, dissembling and then downplaying his own lies? And how should the GOP respond?
Rep.-elect J. G. Santos Defeated His Representation of the Holocaust, and he’s not going to resign
The new members of Congress will be sworn in next Tuesday and it is unlikely that the House Republican leadership will refuse to seatSantos. In the US only five people have been expelled from Congress without a two-thirds vote, even though the House has the power to do so under the Constitution.
Santos has admitted to fabricating sections of his resume – including his past work experience and education – and has apologized but says he intends to serve in Congress.
Democratic Reps. Joaquin Castro of Texas and Ted Lieu of California were among those calling on Santos – after the congressman-elect gave interviews acknowledging “embellishing” his resume – to resign and if he refuses, for the House to expel him.
A GOP Rep.-elect says a full investigation of the House Ethics Committee and law enforcement is needed to restore integrity to the government.
Another incoming GOP lawmaker from New York, Rep.-elect Anthony D’Esposito, condemned Santos’ false statements and called on him to “pursue a path of honesty,” although he stopped short of calling for an investigation.
The California Republican has not shown appetite for punishing his own members for their bad behavior in the past. McCarthy has also declined to weigh in when members are under investigation, arguing he will let the probes play out before determining how to proceed.
In an interview posted Monday night, Santos said that he would still be an effective member of the United States Congress in the 118th session.
Joseph G. Cairo, Jr., chairman of the Republican Committee in Nassau County, said that he is broken the public trust and needs to regain the trust of voters.
Cairo said he was disappointed in Mr. Santos and expected more than just a blanket apology. He has ruined many people’s lives by lying, including those who have been impacted by the Holocaust.
He misrepresented his heritage and deceived us. In public comments and to us personally he previously claimed to be Jewish,” the coalition said. “He will not be welcome at any future RJC event.”
Santos hasn’t responded to NPR’s repeated requests for an interview, but speaking with conservative media outlets, he downplayed the significance of his deceptions, describing them as “embellishments” and insisting he’ll take office next month as scheduled.
He is now acknowledging that it’s not true. He also admits his claim that four of his employees died in the 2016 Pulse night club shooting in Orlando, Fla., was false.
On the Corrupt Activities of Congressman-Elect Mike Santos and the Problems of Electing New York Rep.-Elect Dan Goldman
“He’s constitutionally entitled to his seat, even though the constitution does not disqualify candidates from lying,” said Richard Briffault, an expert on campaign law at Columbia University.
Santos now acknowledges he struggled financially in recent years and at times couldn’t pay his debts. Some Democrats have called for an investigation into the source of money. Santos says he contributed to his race.
“All of Mr. Santos’s disclosures must be thoroughly investigated by the Federal Election Commission…for campaign finance fraud,” said Rep.-elect Dan Goldman, a New York Democrat who won a House seat last month, in a statement.
In Interviews, the Long Island Senator blamed his past on what he called the liberal media and said that he still has the support of voters.
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 District Attorney in Nassau County said the fabrications and inconsistencies associated with congressman-elect Santos 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.”
Rep.-elect Mike Lawler of New York called for his fellow Republican to apologize, and urged him to cooperate with any investigations. Lawler added that by downplaying action’s, Santos is “only making things worse.”
He is scheduled to be sworn in next Tuesday, when the U.S. House reconvenes. He could be under investigation by the House Committee on Ethics and the Justice Department.
The Republican has admitted to lying about his background and college degree but has not yet addressed other questions, including how a fast-growing fortune can be built in the midst of financial troubles.
The Nassau County DA’s Office investigates a criminal investigation of a U.S. Senator in 2008, when he was a shopping spree
A spokesperson for the Nassau County DA’s office, Brendan Brosh, said Wednesday: “We are looking into the matter.” The scope of the investigation was not immediately clear.
Records in Brazil that were uncovered by the Times show a criminal investigation against him in 2008 for using a stolen check to purchase items at a clothing shop. The time would have been 19 years ago. The case had been inactive because he hadn’t shown up in court, according to The Times.
In an interview with the New York Post this week, in which he apologized for his fabrications,Santos downplayed them as “sins” and said that “we do stupid things in life.”
He said that he did not intend to claim Jewish heritage, which would have raised his appeal among his district’s significant ranks of Jewish voters.
In its opposition research on Santos, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee raised several red flags about the Republican’s record — but also accepted some of his assertions, including his educational record, as fact. He was linked to the January 6 insurrection in the U.S. Capitol and his support for fraud claims in the 2020 presidential election. He was portrayed as a far-right candidate in the report. His shaky financial standing and his multiple evictions left him thousands of dollars of debt, which was raised by the DCCC in its report.
His Democratic opponent, Robert Zimmerman, also tried to raise Santos’ misrepresentations during his losing campaign, but it didn’t gain much traction.