When Barack Santos was elected to the United States Senate in November 2018, he said he didn’t attend Baruch College nor New York University, had earned a degree, and had no crimes

Santos, in interviews with WABC radio and the New York Post earlier this week, admitted to lying about attending Baruch College and New York University as well as misrepresenting his employment at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup but claimed he hadn’t committed any crimes.

Santos faces multiple investigations over his finances and repeated lies about his resume and biography. In November, he flipped a Democratic seat in a redrawn district, helping Republicans seize a narrow majority in the House.

Murray saidSantos represented the kind of progress that the Left is so threatened by – a gay, Latino, immigrant and Republican who won a Biden district in an overwhelming fashion and showed everyday voters that there is more to life than broken promises and policies of the Democratic Party.

Santos admitted Monday he didn’t graduate from any college or university, despite previously claiming he had degrees from Baruch College and New York University.

CNN verified that he had listed a salary of $750,000 for this year on his financial disclosures, which he claimed was for a family firm that had $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 profile on LinkedIn was not found, andSantos failed to report any clients that he served.

A retribution wave against George Santos in the New York Times and the Nassau County r-electoral committee chairman

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.

Most of the criticism he faced was because of his attendance of a rally by President Donald Trump on January 6, 2021 in Washington, and the video he claimed to have written a check for.

The December 19th New York Times article is serious and GeorgeSantos should be given the opportunity to address the claims that have been repeated by other news sources, said the Nassau County Republican Committee chairman. “Every person deserves an opportunity to ‘clear’ his/her name in the face of accusations. I will be faithful to the principle and look out for the congressman-elect responses to the news reports.

“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’s no wonder that the New York Times has enemies at the congressman-elect who are attempting to tarnish his reputation with false allegations,” Joseph Murray said.

“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.”

Santos, who is gay, also claimed in an interview with WNYC public radio last month that his employees died in 2016 when a gunman opened fire at the Pulse, a gay night club in Orlando, Fla.

There are people who worked for me in the club. “My company at the time, we lost four employees that were at Pulse.”

New York GOP Rep.-Elect George Santos, R.C. McCarthy, and the New York Democrat Corresponding to NPR

The North Shore Leader newspaper endorsed the Democratic candidate, Robert Zimmerman, and expressed skepticism about the credibility of Santos.

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

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.

In New York, senior Republicans are beginning to reach out to potential primary challengers to topple Santos if he attempts to hang onto his seat. In Washington, senior Republicans are reassuring members of their party in New York that there’s no way they’ll let him be their nominee. GOP leaders are privately hoping that the cascading revelations will convince him to bow out and not run for reelection so that they can have a special election for the seat.

Republicans in the New York district of the House have called for him to step down. Even though he didn’t take questions from NPR Tuesday, he said he has no plans to step down.

Lafazan said he plans to write letters to the House Ethics Committee requesting an investigation and called on the attorney general’s office to look at “potential wrongdoing when it comes to campaign finance violations.”

The congressman-elect has told a lot of lies. Lying about where you live, lying about where you went to college, lying about your employees dying in a mass shooting, lying about where you worked – these are disqualifications for office,” Lafazan said during a news conference.

He said he founded and ran his own charity called Friends of Pets United. There was no such organization in the IRS searchable database or the registered charities of New York state and Florida.

Santos admits to making up parts of his resume but he still intends to serve in Congress.

A pair of House Democrats introduced a resolution last week to expel Santos, which required a two-thirds majority from the House. Mutiple New York Republicans, including freshman Rep. Nick LaLota, said they would vote for such a measure.

The GOP Rep.-elect said in a statement he believed a full investigation by the House Ethics Committee was required and that law enforcement was also needed.

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.

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. The House has the power under the Constitution to expel any member with a two-thirds vote, but doing so is extremely rare and only five lawmakers have been expelled in US history.

The Republican from California has shown no desire to punish his own members for bad behavior in the past. McCarthy will let the probes play out before deciding on what to do when they are under investigation.

In an interview posted Monday night on City & State,Santos said that he would be an effective member of the US Congress in the 118th session.

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 damage that he has done to many people, especially those who have been impacted by the Holocaust, are profound.

Beyond his resume, Santos invented a life story that has also come under question, including claims that his grandparents “fled Jewish persecution in Ukraine, settled in Belgium, and again fled persecution during WWII.”

The New York Post reported that he never claimed to be Jewish. “I am Catholic. I knew my maternal family was Jewish and I said I wasJew-ish.

The Republican Jewish Coalition on Tuesday said the incoming congressman had “misrepresented his heritage” and “will not be welcome at any future RJC event.”

Congressman-Elect Santos: He’s Not Supposed to Study His Past, His Master’s Degree, and His Wealth

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.

According to CNN, the attorney general’s office told them last week that it had not started a formal investigation, but was interested in some of the things mentioned in the reports.

“The numerous fabrications and inconsistencies associated with Congressman-Elect Santos are nothing short of stunning,” said Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly.

She said the residents of Nassau County need an honest and accountable representative in Congress. “If a crime was committed in this county, we will prosecute it.”

The Times uncovered records in Brazil that show Santos was the subject of a criminal investigation there in 2008 over allegations that he used stolen checks to buy items at an clothing shop in the city of Niteroi. He would have been 19 at the time. The case was never heard because he had not been in court, according to The Times.

Soon-to-be freshman member from New York, Mike Lawler, urged his fellow Republican to cooperate with any investigations and asked for the apology of the alleged culprit. He said that by downplaying action’s,Santos is making things worse.

After signaling to the Republicans that he wouldn’t run for reelection,Santos now says that he is considering running and that he will be cleared of any wrong-doing and that hisTreasurer will face scrutiny over his finances. And Chris Grant, a political consultant who once worked for an indicted former member of Congress, has advised Santos to not resign, encouraging the New York Republican to ride out his myriad legal issues, another GOP source said.

He will be sworn in on Tuesday, when the U.S. House returns. 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, his college degree and his wealth, but has yet to answer other unanswered questions, including where the money came from.

The New York Times Observes “Sins”: George Santos, a New York congressman, during a campaign to a congressional district

Brendan Brosh, a spokesman for the Nassau County district’s office, said that they were looking into the matter. The scope of the investigation was not immediately clear.

Questions grew after The New York Times looked at how the north shore suburbs of Long Island and Queens were portrayed during the campaign for a congressional district.

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 Republican’s education record was accepted by the committee as fact, despite raising a number of red flags about his 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 sought to show him as a far-right candidate. He was left with thousands of dollars in debt due to his shaky financial standing and multiple evictions, that the DCCC raised in its report.

During their losing campaign, Robert had tried to bring upSantos’ misrepresentations but it did not gain much traction.

GeorgeSantos, a Republican from New York, will be sworn in as a congressman on Tuesday as he faces mounting scrutiny and an investigation by federal prosecutors 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.

When he’s out of trouble, it’s about time to get back on committee, not just about losing a million bucks a year ago

In the past few days,Santos has faced questions about his campaign finances, as well as campaign disbursements, which have all been reported at exactly $199.99, one cent below the threshold which the campaign is required to retain receipts.

After police suspended an investigation into him because they could not find him for nearly a decade after he stole a checkbook, prosecutors are hoping to get a formal response from him.

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.

The New York Republican who has faced calls for his resignation for false statements is a member of the committees on Science, Space, and Technology and Small Business. Federal prosecutors are also investigating Santos’ finances, and he continues to face a myriad 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 FEC has been told by the Campaign Legal Center that his disbursements are strange and seemingly impossible. It notes that one of the $199.99 expenses was purported to be for a “hotel stay” at the luxury W Hotel South Beach in Florida in October 2021, where the lowest-price room typically would have cost more than $700.

Santos claimed to have $700,000 in his hand to lend to his campaign in 2022, just a year after filing a financial disclosure report showing he had no major assets.

“We just finished the conference and George voluntarily removed himself from committees as he undergoes this procedure,” said Rep. Elise Stefanik, who chairs the GOP conference

“He wants to get back on committees and get going after he hits a threshold, where he feels like he’s not the issue anymore,” Williams said.

The press has asked me where to put him for a while. Williams said it became about him after he was asked whether he could do this. It’s not about him. It’s about our committee and we have so much to do and when he gets ready to get back on and he’s met the thresholds that he’s set or whatever, then let’s go.”

“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. Tomorrow, he’ll be a disgrace. He should no longer be in office.

“He has no place in the Nassau County Republican Committee, nor should he serve in public service or as an elected official,” he said. “He’s not welcome here at Republican headquarters for meetings or at any of our events.”

“The voters have elected George Santos,” McCarthy said during an early January press conference. If there is a concern he will go through ethics. If something is found, he will be dealt with that way.

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 told CNN that he dislikedSantos because he was under ethics investigation and he tried to shake hands with the president and senators.

“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 going to go through the process and hopefully get him out. He should not be there and if he had shame, he wouldn’t be there.

The Problem With George Santos: How Will We Fix the New York Phenomenon in Congress? CNN’s Insider Report on a New York State Senator

House Republicans may have to try to stick it out in Congress even if GeorgeSantos is indicted on a criminal charge.

I’m pretty sure that the investigations will produce truth and that the truth may surprise CongressmanSantos but not everyone else, according to CNN. “And leadership and constituents in his district on Long Island have had enough. I don’t see a scenario where he runs for reelection or, quite frankly, completes his term.”

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 congressman from New York has said he would vote to expel GeorgeSantos if he was kicked out of Congress.

He has to go as quickly as possible for the good of the country and the Republicans. I don’t believe he will go on his own. He would not win the Republican primary. If he runs again, Peter King said that he would get destroyed.

“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. It’s not the right thing for us to be running with George Santos.

“There’s 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. “Members who have concerns, they’re all on the record where they stand.”

Voters in the seat went for Biden by the highest amount of votes of any Republican district in the House.

Multiple top political operatives in New York tell CNN that they think a special election will be necessary to replace Santos, because an indictment is expected as early as the spring. 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 said that he wouldn’t 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. But Jacobs said the buzz about the return of ex-Rep. Tom Suozzi, who previously held the seat and trounced Santos in the 2020 race, was “certainly interesting.”

When asked if he would return to Washington, Suozzi did not reply.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/15/politics/george-santos-reelection/index.html

A Reply to the Comment on Jack Martins and the Case for an Alternative to the Suozzi-Suozzi Electorate”

“If there’s any chance he will be the nominee, you’ll be able to see it in the campaign finance filings – I’ll contribute to his campaign,” he said, while also predicting that the damage Santos has already done with voters in the district would hurt efforts to recruit anyone else.

Jack Martins, a Republican state senator who lost to Suozzi in the 2016 election, has become the focus of Republican chatter around an alternative in a special election or next year. Martins did not return a request for comment.

Several other prominent local Republicans have already passed, officially or in private conversations, despite speculation around Nassau County Comptroller ElainePhillips.