Rep.-elect George Santos (R-NY) admitted to lying about his education and work experience while campaigning during the midterm elections but remained adamant he would assume office in the next Congress anyway.
Santos was elected to Congress in November after defeating Democratic candidate Robert Zimmerman to represent New York’s 3rd congressional district. Shortly after his victory, several aspects of his resume came under scrutiny after a report from the New York Times found he fabricated details about his education and employment history.
WHAT CAN THE HOUSE DO ABOUT GEORGE SANTOS?
“My sins here are embellishing my resume. I’m sorry,” Santos told the New York Post. “I am not a criminal. This [controversy] will not deter me from having good legislative success. I will be effective. I will be good.”
The initial report found that Santos embellished details about his alleged employment history with several Wall Street firms after he wrote in his campaign biography that he worked with Citigroup and Goldman Sachs. However, both companies confirmed to multiple outlets that Santos had no employment history with them.
Instead, Santos told the New York Post that he worked for a company called Link Bridge that did business with the two financial firms, conceding he “never worked directly” for them and chalking it up to a “poor choice of words.”
“I will be clearer about that,” he said. “It was stated poorly.”
Santos also came under fire for lying about his educational history after he initially claimed he earned degrees in finance and economics from New York University and Baruch College. However, the congressman-elect later confirmed he never graduated from any college.
“I didn’t graduate from any institution of higher learning. I’m embarrassed and sorry for having embellished my resume,” he told the outlet. “I own up to that … We do stupid things in life.”
Critics also blasted the New York candidate for claiming to have Jewish ancestry after writing on his campaign website that his mother was Jewish and that his grandparents had escaped the Nazis during World War II. Santos later clarified those comments, acknowledging that although he is Catholic, his grandmother used to tell stories about being Jewish before converting to Catholicism.
“I never claimed to be Jewish,” Santos said. “I am Catholic. Because I learned my maternal family had a Jewish background I said I was `Jew-ish.’”
Santos had garnered headlines for becoming the first openly gay non-incumbent Republican to be elected to the House, but that also came under scrutiny after it was reported by the Daily Beast that the New York congressman-elect was once married to a woman. Santos confirmed he married a woman in 2012 before getting divorced in 2017 but maintained he is “very much gay.”
“I dated women in the past. I married a woman. It’s personal stuff,” Santos said. “I’m OK with my sexuality. People change. I’m one of those people who change.”
Despite widespread backlash emerging from his embellished resume, Santos was adamant he would still take office in January and that it wouldn’t deter him from his legislative duties.
“I campaigned talking about the people’s concerns, not my resume,” Santos said. “I intend to deliver on the promises I made during the campaign — fighting crime, fighting to lower education, improving education.”
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Although the reports prompted some Democrats to question whether Santos should be accepted into Congress, several House Republicans were reportedly aware of the New York candidate’s embellishments before the election, according to the New York Post.
“As far as questions about George in general, that was always something that was brought up whenever we talked about this race,” one senior GOP leadership aide told the outlet. “It was a running joke at a certain point. This is the second time he’s run and these issues we assumed would be worked out by the voters.”
