GOP Rep. George Santos says Congress is ‘not about his personal life’ just after being
Rep. George Santos, the scandal-ridden Republican congressman who was caught lying about significant swaths of his backstory, signaled early on Saturday that he intends to serve out his term representing New York’s 3rd Congressional District.
Santos released a statement shortly after 2am on Saturday after he and the other members of the House of Representatives were sworn into the 118th Congress, following gridlock over the Speaker’s gavel.
The gay New York Republican has admitted to lying about having worked at Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, as well as the colleges he claimed to have attended. He is also accused of falsely claiming his grandparents were Jewish Holocaust survivors, and was married to a woman until shortly before he filed to run for Congress for the first time in 2020.
Both state and federal investigations have been opened into whether his questionable accounts led to any laws being broken.
But nevertheless, Santos said his work on Capitol Hill is ‘not about [his] personal life’ and called on Americans and fellow lawmakers to ‘put political differences aside.’
George Santos released a statement declaring he is ‘committed’ to serving his district shortly after being sworn into Congress early on Saturday morning
Later that same day, protesters lined up outside of Santos’ Queens, New York office to demand he be locked up and no longer represent their urban/suburban district.
‘I am committed to serving the people of New York’s 3rd Congressional District and finding solutions to solve tough problems,’ Santos said.
‘The work begins today, and I am determined to work with both Republicans and Democrats and support sound policy that will provide funding for local law enforcement, and reducing inflation.’
He continued, ‘Now is the time to put political differences aside, stop the finger pointing, and start delivering results.’
‘The work of Congress is not about my personal life, this is about delivering results for my constituents, finding bipartisan solutions, and reversing abysmal policies that have caused some of the worst inflation and crime in our nation’s history.’
Just hours after he was sworn into Congress, Santos’ Long Island constituents took to the streets of Queens to once again demand he stepped down from office.
They screamed: ‘Lock him up!’ – a line originally used by former President Donald Trump in reference to Hillary Clinton‘s email scandal.
Just hours after he was sworn into Congress, Santos’ Long Island constituents took to the streets of Queens to once again demand he stepped down from office. They screamed: ‘Lock him up’ after it was revealed he lied on his resume
‘It’s insane that he still has a job right now,’ one of the protesters told journalist Oliya Scootercaster. ‘He completely made up everything on his resume and he tried to excuse himself by saying everyone does that, but people like about lie about knowing excel when they only kind of know excel, you don’t lie about your family dying in the Holocaust or 9/11.
‘That is so immoral.’
Among the protesters were Robert Zimmerman, his Democratic opponent, Assemblyman Edward Braunstein, and activist Jody Kass Finkel.
‘My only focus and my only agenda is building a bipartisan coalition to remove George Santos from office. He is fraud and a danger to both our country and the citizens for our congressional district — if he name is actually George Santos,’ Zimmerman told the New York Post.
Protesters took turns speaking at the rally and many times they were caught chanting as a group: ‘We deserve better!’ and ‘Liar, liar, pants on fire!’
One protester accused Santos of ‘weaponizing’ the Jewish religion.
To trivialize the million of lives lost to the Holocaust for personal political gain is disgusting,’ the man said.
‘It’s insane that he still has a job right now,’ one of the protesters said at the protest. ‘He completely made up everything on his resume and he tried to excuse himself by saying everyone does that, but people like about lie about knowing excel when they only kind of know excel, you don’t lie about your family dying in the Holocaust or 9/11’
Santos has revealed he lied about his resume and about having family dying in the Holocaust and in 9/11
One of the biggest lies he made was that his mother died during 9/11. Now his former roommate Gregory Morey-Parker, who rented a room from Santos in Jackson Heights dismissed Santos claims.
He said: ‘I’m fully confident that I would have known if Fatima was in 9/11. I am sure she would have brought [being in 9/11] up.’
Santos mother Fatima died in 2016 from cancer.
Morey-Parker lived with the family in Queens and said he grew quite close to Fatima. While living with them, Santos went by the name Anthony Devolder.
While living with the family, he said he experience Santos lying several times, including when he claimed his family owned a house on Nantucket and would often times say he bought a bottle of liquor for them to share when Fatima had actually bought it, he said, according to Patch.
‘Santos had delusions of grandeur,’ he said. ‘Fatima would just roll her eyes and say: “Anthony and his stories.” His mother was just very not happy with him and his ridiculous lifestyle that he was portraying.’