Breaking Update:
Rep. George Santos (R-NY) has announced that he would be recusing himself from two committee assignments in the U.S. House of Representatives. The two committees that Santos will be stepping away from include the Small Business and Science Committees.
Santos because the center of attention and controversy in the U.S. House of Representatives after being caught lying about his mother dying in the World Trade Center attack on 9/11/01, his Jewish heritage, as well as his work and education history, Santos has also been alleged to have connections to a Ponzi scheme, as well as allegations that he used a fake animal charity to scam disabled veterans in 2016, promising to raise money for their dog’s cancer treatment, however, he’s alleged to have kept the fund raised for himself.
The public, as well as both right-wing and left-wing news outlets immediately turned on the newly elected U.S. Congressman. Throughout the following weeks, the Republican from New York had his approval rating continue to drop like a rock, as it is now approaching now nearly single digits.
According to polling done by Newsday and Siena College, 83% of all Santos’ constituents have a negative opinion of him. This polling includes 78% of Republican voters in the Nassau County and Queens districts overwhelmingly want Rep. George Santos to step down and resign from his position representing New York’s 3rd Congressional District.
Don Levy, the director of the Siena College Poll said, “NY-3 voters overwhelmingly and unambiguously say Rep. Santos should resign. Whether you look it at by party, gender, race, age, religion, income, or which county the voters live in, the answer is the same: resign,” adding, “Similarly, voters of every party and every demographic breakdown know who Santos is, are following the news about Santos, and view Santos unfavorably.”
When news of Santos’ fabrications began making news, Santos’ would go on record saying, “I was elected by 142,000 people — until those same 142,000 people tell me they don’t want me … we’ll find out in two years.” However, at this point, the polling numbers are out – and even the largest margin of errors in statistical history can’t make a 13% approval rating appear favorable.
Original Story:
At the beginning of the month, Congress started up with a new class of members and took their time electing a Speaker of the House in what became a historic election. One new member, Rep. George Santos (R-NY), has gained unwanted notoriety over questions arising on his résumé and now his name. After reports of lies on his résumé, Santos has had both Democrat and Republican lawmakers come out in demand he resigns. Though it seems, Santos is set to be the odd man out as he has no plans of resigning, as seen in a recent tweet.
Who is George Santos?
George Santos is the 34-year-old openly-gay son of Brazillian immigrants. This year he comes into the House of Representatives as a freshman elected in November to serve New York’s third district which serves a small portion of Queens and a large portion of the North Shore of Long Island in Nassau County. He is a Trump supporter and had even attended the January 6, 2021, Trump Ellipse rally. One component of his résumé we do know is that one of his confirmed jobs – Harbor City Capitol – has been accused of being a Ponzi scheme by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
What has he lied about?
Santos, if that is his real name, has lied about quite a bit. It starts with his résumé – in which he claims to have graduated from Baruch College and to have worked at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup. Though these were all, according to Santos during a media tour on December 26, “a little bit of fluff” as he never graduated from college or worked at Goldman Sachs or Citigroup. Santos had also lied about his heritage, which he had claimed included Jewish roots and that he had descended from refugees fleeing the Holocaust, though there is no evidence to back up this claim. Santos also claimed that he had started and ran an animal rescue charity, though there was no registration for such a thing.
The Latest
New details have now emerged on the whole situation. The first, was a tweeted video showing Santos using a different name. And while it was a popular “joke” of sorts going around as Santos started his new job the first of the month – it may no longer be a joke. Posted by the Twitter account, Patriot Takes, Santos was seen addressing a panel during an NYC event for “Walk Away LGBT,” an organization for conservative members of the LGBTQ community, using a different name. In the video, George Santos is seen introducing himself as Anthony Devolder before asking the panel a question during the event. His name and details surrounding that have not been fact-checked as his birth certificate has not been made public.
Then Thursday, former GOP Representative Adam Kinzinger started a petition to get Santos to resign. This started after Santos had appeared on the War Room: Pandemic podcast with Florida Representative Matt Gaetz. During the podcast, Santos had claimed he would resign if more than 142,000 people, the same amount that voted him into office in November, signed the petition for his resignation.
