George Santos isn’t faring well. A neighboring Republican Congressman-elect suggested the possibility of a law enforcement investigation in new remarks.
Santos, a Republican, recently won an election to represent portions of New York’s Long Island in the House, but he is now facing evidence of lies about his personal, professional, and educational backgrounds, and even when confronted with the basic facts evident about his past, he is struggling to acknowledge his deception. He characterizes lies he pushed about where he worked and went to school as merely embellishments on his resume — and has also disputed he was deceptive at all. Key claims were he worked at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, which evidence shows he didn’t actually do. He’s suggested relationships he had with the companies while working elsewhere in financial services cover what he claimed, but working with, say, Citigroup isn’t the same as working for the company. It’s just not.
Santos is also facing questions about his personal finances. He loaned hundreds of thousands of dollars in support of his 2022 campaign and claimed a $750,000 annual salary from a company he owns called the Devolder Organization in a financial filing with the House. A Dun & Bradstreet estimate from this July put the company’s income, presumably for the year, at under $50,000. He also didn’t identify any clients in his House filings, despite requirements for details on individual sources of more than $5,000 in income, which would apparently cover Devolder clients.
Nick LaLota, the Republican who recently won the election to replace outgoing Republican Congressman Lee Zeldin in New York’s 1st Congressional District elsewhere on Long Island, isn’t thrilled with Santos. “I have heard from countless Long Islanders how deeply troubled they are by the headlines surrounding George Santos,” LaLota said. “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. New Yorkers deserve the truth and House Republicans deserve an opportunity to govern without this distraction.”
During an interview on Fox on Tuesday night with guest host Tulsi Gabbard (the former Congresswoman), Santos tried to deflect criticism for his deception by noting that making “mistakes” is an (obviously) relatively common occurrence. The thing is that most of those everyday people who might make such a mistake don’t use their lies to fuel a Congressional campaign, return to those lies over and over again, and then anticipate serving in the United States House of Representatives! He’s not great at this. Asked in a follow-up question about whether he was ashamed for his deception, the first words Santos said in reply were complaints about Democrats and Joe Biden.
New Yorkers deserve the truth and House Republicans deserve an opportunity to govern.
My complete statement: pic.twitter.com/FJJu00o6FC
— Nick LaLota (@nicklalota) December 27, 2022
