Leaders of New York’s Nassau County Republican Party on Wednesday called on George Santos (R-NY) to resign his position as the 3rd Congressional District’s U.S. Representative over lies about his personal and professional life.
“His lies were not mere fibs,” Chairman Joseph Cairo, Jr. said, kicking off the presser. “Many groups were hurt. Specifically, I look at those families that were touched by the horrors of the Holocaust and feel for them,” he added, referring to a now-debunked claim by Santos that he had Jewish grandparents who migrated to Brazil to escape the genocide.
Moments after the news broke, Santos, who was in Washington at the time, refused to resign.
“I will not,” he told reporters on Capitol Hill when asked if he will step down. He refused to answer any other questions as he entered an elevator.
The Nassau County Republicans are the latest New York politicians to call out Santos for his lies and demand action. Democratic Reps. Dan Goldman and Ritchie Torres filed a complaint Tuesday with the House Ethics Committee against Santos, alleging he failed to file “timely, accurate, and complete financial disclosure reports as required by law.”
And Rep. Nick LaLota (R-NY) said last month that Santos should be investigated by the House Ethics Committee and potentially law enforcement.
Santos is already under federal investigation for his financial dealings. Questions include how he generated enough personal wealth to lend his campaign $700,000 as campaign filings show. Santos has said his money came from his company, Devolder Organization, but he has disclosed very little information about its operations.
The Campaign Legal Center (CLC) filed a complaint on Monday following up on the federal investigation, asking the Federal Election Commission to look into Santos’ potential violations of political money laws. The CLC, like federal prosecutors, questioned where Santos obtained more than $700,000 by noting that when he ran for Congress in 2020, he reported only $55,000 in assets.
Nassau County prosecutors in December opened an investigation into Santos’ lies about his background. Along with falsely claiming a having Jewish ancestry, he also falsely claimed a Wall Street pedigree and a college degree.
The Santos case has stretched beyond U.S. borders as well. Brazilian authorities have said they intend to revive fraud charges against Santos related to a stolen checkbook in 2008. He was also charged with embezzlement in a Brazilian court in 2011. Police in Rio de Janeiro had suspended their investigation after being unable to find him for nearly a decade—until he surfaced amid the U.S. Congress.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) told reporters Wednesday afternoon that Santos would “continue to serve.”
“I try to stick by the Constitution. The voters elected him to serve. If there is a concern, and he has to go through the Ethics, let him move through that,” McCarthy said.
Asked about Santos admitting to fabricating parts of his resume, McCarthy said, “So did a lot of people here in the Senate and others.”
