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A US REPUBLICAN congressman-elect who admitted making up significant parts of his CV is under criminal investigation, US media has reported, citing prosecutors in New York.
George Santos’s victory in the Empire State helped his party secure a narrow majority in the House of Representatives, Congress’s lower chamber.
But a New York Times investigation cast doubt on key parts of his education and work history that he touted during the campaign.
Santos admitted on Monday to significant fabrications of his resume, confessing that he’d neither worked at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup nor graduated from college, despite his claims to the contrary.
“The numerous fabrications and inconsistencies associated with Congressman-Elect Santos are nothing short of stunning,” Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said in a statement carried by multiple major US media outlets.
“The residents of Nassau County and other parts of the third district must have an honest and accountable representative in Congress. No one is above the law and if a crime was committed in this county, we will prosecute it.”
Santos has refused to give up his seat in Congress, telling the New York Post: “I’m not a criminal.”
He apologised for “embellishing my resume” but stretched credulity in defending his false claim that he was Jewish.
“I am Catholic. Because I learned my maternal family had a Jewish background I said I was ‘Jew-ish,’” he told the Post.
Santos, who beat Democrat Robert Zimmerman in a newly-drawn district straddling Queens and Long Island, was at the vanguard of a Republican “wave” in New York that powered the party to a 222-212 House majority.
The Times story raised questions over how he was able to lend his campaign $700,000 after claiming on a campaign finance filing in 2020 that he was making $55,000 a year.
Several Democrats have demanded that House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy call a vote to expel Santos if he does not quit.
What? A politician lying? Well I never….
It reminds me of the old joke about when a man is stopped by a Gunman in Belfast, back in the day. When asked his religion, he said he was a Jew. The Gunman then asked him if he was a Catholic Jew or a Protestant Jew.
@A Well Known Comical Stereotype: He said ‘I’m a Jewish Jew!’ The gunman said ‘You’re out of luck, you have been stopped by the only Palestinian terrorist in Belfast’.
@Patrick Brompton: He said he was an israeli jew and the person replied and im the luckiest palestinian in Belfast
@A Well Known Comical Stereotype: or he was the luckiest Arab in NI.
Democrats don’t seem to care about Joe Biden’s long history of plagiarism and racism!!
@Loretta Loretta: Maurice, have you gone gender-fluid on us?
C’mon. We all lie a little on our CVs.
@John Fagan: Yes, we emphasise the positives. This guy almost completely fabricated his personal and professional past, including his ethnicity. That’s ‘Talented Mr. Ripley’ territory. And I also think he’s wearing a hairpiece, because his hairline fluctuates wildly in interviews I’ve seen.
@John Fagan: Saying I got a C in Irish when I got a D in the junior isn’t the same as what he’s done.
@David A. Murray: Judaism is a religion not an ethnicity
@M Bowe: Yes, you’re right. I should have more coffee before commenting here before noon.
He is Jewish. Is this not anti-Semitic?
He lied about being in the military too. ( Ala eyes left podcast )
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