Reconciling Republicans with State and Local Laws in Nassau County, New York, and the New York City, Rhode Island, Local Elections

A burst of media coverage and campaign cash (a staggering $2.25 million between July and last week) followed Mr. Ryan’s special election victory. Now, some Democratic campaign officials involved in the races said he may even be better positioned than Mr. Maloney, who is used to running hard races but is largely campaigning this fall on turf he has not previously represented, or Mr. Riley, who faces a much less friendly electorate.

In Nassau County on Long Island, Democrats are working hard to hold back a Republican resurgence in a couple of districts where two of their seasoned incumbents are retiring. Both seats favor Democrats by a handful of points, but Republicans swept local elections there last year, campaigning on public safety and soaring living costs.

Strategists in both parties working on the races say they are tighter than initially expected, particularly on the South Shore, where Republicans recruited a strong candidate, Anthony D’Esposito, a former New York City police detective, to run against Laura Gillen in the Fourth District.

While the Third District has fewer Democrats, the party is more confident in its ability to protect it because of a candidate who has compared abortion Rights to legalized Slavery and who claimed to cut a check to aid the legal defense.

At the same time, Republicans are increasingly confident the same issues of crime and inflation will help them hold two closely divided seats further east on Long Island, currently represented by Andrew Garbarino and Lee Zeldin, who is running for governor. Mr. Biden narrowly carried the Zeldin district two years ago, but spirited Democratic challengers are facing stiff headwinds.

An Update on the Biography and Practices of Robert S. Santos, Sen. Joe McCarthy, and the Democrat-Congressional Causal Investigation

The New York Times first reported that key parts of the biography were either not supported by evidence or were conflicting with other information. There were discrepancies in the claimsSantos made about his education and employment history.

A number of House Democrats, some of whom have called on him to step aside, and one of his fellow incoming Republicans, want him to be investigated for possible ethics violations, as the GOP Rep.-elect is facing growing condemnation from House Democrats. The New York Republican lied about some facts in his biography, but the House GOP leadership is silent about it.

After being sworn in on Tuesday,Santos will likely not have to contend with any criticism from McCarthy. This is the GOP on display today. It is a party that stands for nothing except power, even if it is gravely bad for our republic.

On a biography of Santos on the National Republican Congressional Committee website, he claimed he received degrees from New York University and Barcuch College. CNN found that in at least two different interviews in the fall of 2020 he stated that he had zero debt from his undergraduate and graduate studies, as well as saying that he had anMBA from NYU. A review of his websites does not include any references to a master’s degree.

Two days later, CNN reported that the US attorney’s office in the Eastern District of New York had begun investigating the finances of Santos, who faces questions over his wealth and loans totaling more than $700,000 he made to his successful 2022 campaign.

A search indicated that the business had been temporarily knocked out of action after failing to file required annual reports, and was later registered in Florida. Santos failed to report any of the clients that he served in his financial disclosure, because his website orLinkedIn profile was not found.

The New York Times and Democrat George Santos: Why the New York Tribune is Worrying about He’s Running for Congress?

Santos defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman in a newly drawn district covering parts of Queens and some nearby Long Island suburbs, flipping control to Republicans, who dominated the New York suburbs on their way to winning a House majority. 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.

Multiple Republican sources tell me that after signaling to Republicans he wouldn’t be going for reelection, Santos has recently been telling people he is considering a second term.

The influential chairman of Nassau county’s Republican committee believes that George Santos should be given an opportunity to address the claims in the article.

“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 the New York Times are trying to destroy the reputation of congressman-electSantos due to his good name,” said Joseph Murray.

“Only in this country, does a person from a basement apartment in Jackson Heights rise to become a successful business person, and then run for United States Congress?”

Santos had also claimed that he lost four employees in the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando. He didn’t give any names or other details, but he said it was four prospective employees.

In the past, people that worked for me had worked in the club. Four employees of my company were lost at the time.

New York Rep. George Santos, aka George Zimmerman: A First Step Towards Honesty in Congressman’s Biography

In an editorial before the election, the North Shore Leader newspaper endorsed Santos’ Democratic opponent, Robert Zimmerman, and voiced skepticism about Santos’ credibility.

McCarthy, who is still struggling to secure enough votes to secure the speakership, has not yet commented publicly on the controversy surrounding Santos’ biography.

The GOP politician, who will represent New York in congress, deserves an opportunity to clear his name, despite the serious problems on his resume, said a top Republican in Nassau County.

Goldman was a former federal prosecutor who called Santos a total fraud. He said that it was clear that the House ethics committee can’t be trusted to investigate GeorgeSantos, and Congress also needs to hold him accountable.

Several Republican members of the House as well as Republicans in his New York district have called on Santos to resign. Santos did not take questions from NPR Tuesday morning but has repeatedly said he has no plans to resign.

He called on the attorney general’s office to look into “potential wrongdoing when it comes to campaign finance violations.”

He said that Long Island residents were hurt and offended by the lies and misstatements of Congressman-elect GeorgeSantos. While he has taken a first step by coming clean, he must continue to pursue a path of honesty.

Santos also claimed he founded and ran his own charity called “Friends of Pets United.” But no such organization was found in the IRS’ searchable database, nor in the registered charities in New York state and Florida.

Why did a Navyman tell the Forward? The American Jew’s story of his time at Goldman, Link Bridge and the U.S. Navy

Editor’s Note: Jill Filipovic is a journalist based in New York and author of the book “OK Boomer, Let’s Talk: How My Generation Got Left Behind.” Please follow her on abbreviating her. She makes her own opinions clear in this commentary. There is more opinion on CNN.

But Santos described himself as a “proud American Jew” in a document shared with Jewish groups during the campaign, which was first reported by the Forward and confirmed by CNN.

He worked at Goldman and Citigroup and listed all of the roles he held there. Now he says he simply liaised with both companies through his actual employment at the company Link Bridge, and that a simple “poor choice of words” gave a mistaken impression.

The poor choice of words. The campaign website said that they worked at Citigroup and Goldman and that they were offered an exciting opportunity but did not take it.

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?

Republican Party leaders should be pushing forSantos not to take office. They could publicly denounce him, and say that their party stands for honesty and will not stand for brazenly lying to constituents. Their party will lose the seat in a special election, but that is not a foregone conclusion, and at some point principles have to trump power. If he insists on taking office anyway, they could launch an ethics investigation and/or withhold committee assignments from him.

The man, who is intending to serve in Congress, admitted to fabricating sections of his resume, but says he wants to serve in Congress.

Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia told CNN that it was Santos’ decision that he made on his own to “abstain” from the committees. She said he told the conference he would step aside from the committees as the GOP is trying to oust Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota from the Foreign Affairs Committee.

“As a Navy man who campaigned on restoring accountability and integrity to our government, I believe a full investigation by the House Ethics Committee and, if necessary, law enforcement, is required,” GOP Rep.-elect Nick LaLota said in a statement.

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.

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 has also declined to weigh in when members are under investigation, arguing he will let the probes play out before determining how to proceed.

The interview was posted on City & State’s website Monday night. Santos told the website he will be an effective member of the United States Congress.

Nassau County Republican Committee Chairman Joseph G. Cairo, Jr., said Tuesday that 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 effects of his lies have been terrible for people who have been impacted by the Holocaust.

He lied to us about his heritage. In public comments and to us personally he previously claimed to be Jewish,” the coalition said. He will not be invited to any future event of the RJC.

FEC Investigation of Campaign Finance Fraud by a New York Rep.-Elector Tom Santos, Former U.S. Attorney’s Attorney, James L. Briffault

“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.”

Even as he publicly admitted to a long list of lies, Santos continued to hold onto his seat in federal office.

He acknowledges that it isn’t true. He admits that he made up a story that four of his employees died in the massacre at thePulse night club.

“He is constitutionally entitled to his seat and he does not need to lie in order to get there,” said Richard Briffault, an expert on campaign law at Columbia University.

Santos has been telling people he believes his treasurer, who has come under scrutiny for unusual campaign expenses on multiple campaigns, will ultimately be responsible for any issues related to his finances, according to Republican sources who have talked to Santos. Santos’ treasurer informed the FEC in January that she had left her position on Santos’ campaign. She didn’t reply to CNN’s request for comment.

Rep.-elect Dan Goldman of New York demanded that the Federal Election Commission investigate the disclosures of Mr. Santos for campaign finance fraud.

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.

The federal probe was first reported by CBS News as the district attorney’s office in Nassau County was looking into fabrications fromSantos.

The district attorney of Nassau County said the fabrications and inconsistencies associated with congressman-elect 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, also a soon-to-be freshman member from New York, urged his fellow Republican cooperate with any investigations and called on Santos to apologize, calling the whole controversy a “distraction.” Santos is making things worse by downplaying action’s.

He is scheduled to be sworn in next Tuesday, when the U.S. House reconvenes. 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 having Jewish ancestry, a Wall Street pedigree and a college degree, but he has yet to address other lingering questions — including the source of what appears to be a quickly amassed fortune despite recent financial problems, including evictions and owing thousands in back rent.

Nassau County DA’s Investigation of a Brazilian Controversy Charged with a Crime in the “Nassau County Attorney’s Office”

A spokesperson for the Nassau County DA’s office, Brendan Brosh, said Wednesday: “We are looking into the matter.” The scope of the investigation is not clear.

In an interview with the New York Post last week, Santos denied that he had been charged with any crime in Brazil, saying: “I am not a criminal here – not here or in Brazil or any jurisdiction in the world. Absolutely not. That did not happen.

He admitted to lying about working for Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, as well as having earned a degree in finance and economics from Baruch College in New York.

He backtracked on his original claim because he didn’t want to claim Jewish heritage, which would have made him more appealing to Jewish voters.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee studied the Republican’s record and raised a few red flags, but also accepted some of his assertions, including his educational record. The 87-page dossier sought to tie him to the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and his support for baseless claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election. The report also sought to depict him as a far-right candidate. He was in deep financial trouble due to his shaky standing and multiple evictions that left him thousands of dollars in debt.

During his losing campaign, Robert Zolga tried to raise the misrepresentations, but it didn’t gain much traction.

Dean Obeidallah: Defending Freedom in the Age of Corrupt Politics: The Case against McCarthy and the Indictment of the Santos Case

Editor’s Note: Dean Obeidallah, a former attorney, is the host of SiriusXM radio’s daily program “The Dean Obeidallah Show.” Follow him @[email protected]. His opinions are his own in this commentary. CNN has more opinions on it.

It isn’t the first time McCarthy has shown his willingness to abandon principle in the pursuit of power. The most glaring example was his flip-flop on Trump’s culpability over the January 6 attack on the US Capitol. McCarthy made a statement on the House floor that Trump was to blame for the attack on Congress. McCarthy says that he should have denounced the mob when he saw what was happening.

Even fellow GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz — who has opposed McCarthy’s bid for House speaker — recently slammed the Republican leader for not having any core values, writing in an op-ed, “Every single Republican in Congress knows that Kevin does not actually believe anything. He has no ideology.”

McCarthy has been outspoken on many other political issues since The New York Times article put the spotlight on Santos. For example, on December 21, McCarthy took to Twitter to slam the January 6 committee, writing in part: “Pelosi’s Select Committee has been focused on political theater and posturing.” McCarthy said that the Republicans can eliminate waste and wokeism when they take control of Congress.

McCarthy has also criticized the Biden administration’s border policy and played up accusations on Fox Business that the FBI worked to suppress news stories hurtful to Democrats.

Yet not a peep about the Santos story — which even caused an uproar on Fox News on December 27 when former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard as a guest host confronted Santos about his fabrications, asking: “Do you have no shame?”

The incoming congressman of New York faces scrutiny and condemnation over lies he told about himself and an investigation by federal prosecutors into his finances.

The vote for House speaker will occur after noon on Tuesday and all incoming congress members are expected to be sworn in following the vote.

Investigating Rep. George Santos’ Investigation of a New York Republican Checkbook Suspension in Brazil and a Report to the US Attorney’s Office

The case of a stolen checkbook was suspended by police because they were unable to locate him for more than a decade.

The New York Republican is being accused of fraud in Brazil as he takes his seat in the US House Tuesday under a cloud of suspicion.

Authorities, having verified Santos’ location, will make a formal request to the US Justice Department to notify him of the charges, Maristela Pereira, a spokeswoman for the Rio de Janeiro prosecutor’s office, told CNN. The prosecutor’s office told CNN the request will be filed upon reopening on Friday.

“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’s office in the eastern district of New York declined to comment when the district attorney’s office said it was exploring fabrications.

Santos’ FEC reports contain a number of unusual expenditures, including exorbitant expenses on air travel and hotels, as well as a number of expenses one penny below the dollar figure above which the FEC requires campaigns to keep receipts.

Three people told CNN that Rep. George Santos told the House GOP conference on Tuesday that he wants to take his two committees off until his issues are solved.

The New York Republican who has faced calls for his resignation for false statements – including regarding his professional experience, education history and identity – is a member of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology and the Committee on Small Business. The federal prosecutors are looking into the finances of Santos, as well as a number of questions about his personal finances.

“He just felt like there was so much drama really over the situation, and especially what we’re doing to work to remove Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee,” Greene told CNN.

The Campaign Legal Center filed a complaint with the FEC that stated his disbursements were strange and seemingly impossible. It notes that one of the $199.99 expenses was for a hotel stay in Florida in October of 2021, where the lowest priced room would have cost 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.

“What do you want to see in your congressman?” Romney reportedly told Republican Sen. Mitt Romney after his remark about Santos

“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.

“It appears that he wants to go back to committees when he hits a threshold where he doesn’t have an issue anymore, and he wants to get going again,” Williams said.

The question that I used to be asked by the press is, where are you going to put him? Can he do this?’ – it became about him,” Williams said. It’s not about him. We have so much to do, and he will return to us when he’s ready. Let’s let him go because he’s met the thresholds that he 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. He was a disgrace yesterday. He is a disgrace today. And he’ll be a disgrace tomorrow. He should resign from office immediately.”

He should not be an elected official or a public servant in the Nassau County Republican Committee. “He’s not welcome here at Republican headquarters for meetings or at any of our events.”

McCarthy said at a January press conference that the voters had elected GeorgeSantos. “If there is a concern, he will go through ethics. He will be dealt with if something is found.

Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah told GOP Rep. George Santos of New York: “You don’t belong here,” according to a member who witnessed the tense exchange in the House of Representatives chamber Tuesday night.

Romney criticized Santos for standing in the front aisle to shake hands with President and the senators, given the fact that he is under ethics investigation.

He said he should be sitting in the back row and staying quiet, since he didn’t hearSantos reply to his remark.

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

“And they’re gonna go through the process and hopefully get him out. .. But he shouldn’t be there and if he had any shame at all, he wouldn’t be there.”

The Embattled New York Rep. George Santos: Staying Informed and Don’t Wanna Seek Another Post-Election Election

Embattled Rep. George Santos is contemplating a nightmare scenario for House Republicans: Trying to stick it out in Congress, even if he is indicted on criminal charges.

“Let me be very clear, I’m not leaving, I’m not hiding and I am not backing down!”Santos angrily responded to a series of questions about his career, education and identity on Tuesday. I will not stop working for #NY03 despite the many cruel comments made on social media. I am looking forward to finishing what needs to be done.

Adding to the intrigue about Santos’ future, the Federal Election Commission asked Santos last week to announce whether he plans to run again in 2024 after the freshman lawmaker crossed a post-election fundraising threshold that now requires him to make a formal declaration by March 14. His office wouldn’t comment on campaign matters.

But the underlying predicament is this: Republicans are worried that if Santos resigns, the district will very likely flip given that Biden carried it by eight points.

The New York lawmaker has said that he would vote to expel him from Congress if a resolution to kick him out of Congress came to the floor.

“For the good of the country and for the Republican Party, he’s got to go as quickly as possible. I don’t think he will go on his own. He wouldn’t win the Republican primary. He will get destroyed if he runs again, said Peter King, who was a Republican in Congress.

“Now, here’s the problem: the longer he stays in there, the worse this is for Republicans on Long Island,” King added “We have local elections (in New York) coming up. The last thing we want to be doing is running with George Santos over our head.”

There is a process in place. The process is going to work itself through. Then we’ll see where we are,” said Rep. Richard Hudson, who chairs the House GOP’s campaign arm, which has an official policy of staying neutral in primaries. There are members who have concerns who are all on the record.

The seat was already a top target for Democrats before the revelations, as voters in that district went for Biden by a high margin in the 2020 election.

Multiple top political insiders in New York tell CNN that an indictment could come as soon as the spring and they are preparing for a special election to replace him. If one were to occur, New York law makes for a very insider, party boss run process, which would allow the Republican and Democratic county chairs to essentially handpick their nominees rather than hold a primary.

Jay Jacobs, who serves as the Nassau County Democratic chairman in addition to being the state Democratic chairman, said he would not expect much drama around the process, if it comes. Jacobs said he expected to consult with the neighboring county chairman, Queens’ Rep. Gregory Meeks, given that about 13% of the district is contained there, and with Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, as both the House Democratic leader and a New York member of Congress himself. The buzz about the return of ex-Rep. Tom Suozzi, who was defeated in the 2020 race, was certainly interesting.

Suozzi, who gave up his seat in Congress to make a failed primary run against Kathy Hochul, wouldn’t discuss his return to Washington.

The Democratic Campaign Committee is rolling out $5-figure billboards in the Nassau County Congressional District exposing a Republican Senator who lost a race to Suozzi

If there is a chance that he will be the nominee, I will contribute to his campaign, but I think the damage he has done to voters in the district will hurt efforts to recruit anyone.

Jack Martins was a former Republican state senator who lost to Suozzi in the 2016 election. Martins didn’t return a request for comment.

Some speculation has also circulated around Nassau County Comptroller Elaine Phillips, but several other prominent local Republicans have already passed, officially or in private conversations.

Beginning on Monday, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is rolling out a five-figure billboard campaign targeting five freshman Republicans who took donations from Santos: New York Reps. Nick LaLota, Anthony D’Esposito, Mike Lawler, Marc Molinaro and Brandon Williams, all of whom helped Republicans win a narrow majority last fall by winning seats that President Joe Biden had carried.

Molinaro and D’Esposito both returned the money from Santos after a number of his financial issues came to light, but the billboards in their districts ask why the lawmakers took campaign cash from “a fraudster” in the first place. The other three billboards, which feature a picture of Santos and the lawmaker, ask whether the members will return the campaign donations.

The weeks-long campaign, the details of which were first shared with CNN, comes unusually early in the cycle, and is a sign that Democrats plan to make a serious effort to reverse their midterm losses in the Empire State. Democrats were able to save their party from a wave of red in many parts of the country. Republicans there effectively ran on the issue of crime and flipped a number of competitive House seats, which will be top targets for Democrats as they look to win back power in 2024.

The congressman’s meaningless words weren’t enough to make up for the fact that they hadn’t held their campaign donor accountable. “The least they can do is answer these questions.”