List of George Santos lies continues to grow as swearing-in nears
George Santos #GeorgeSantos
As incoming Rep. George Santos (R-NY) prepares to be sworn into Congress on Tuesday, the freshman lawmaker faces intense scrutiny after it was revealed he lied about several details on his resume while campaigning for office.
Santos was elected to Congress in November after defeating Democratic candidate Robert Zimmerman to represent New York’s 3rd Congressional District.
The New York Republican, however, has been under fire since his win due to inconsistencies on his resume, with criticisms only intensifying Monday night after Santos admitted to a number of outlets that he had fabricated details of his professional life.
SANTOS CLAIMED MOTHER WAS KILLED IN 9/11 BEFORE BACKTRACKING TO SAY SHE DIED IN 2016
As the congressman-elect began to acknowledge his shortcomings to the public, more details have emerged, revealing more falsehoods.
Here’s a breakdown of the embellishments Santos has admitted to so far.
Work experience
While on the campaign trail, Santos touted years of business expertise and his experience working with a number of top Wall Street firms.
However, Santos later admitted to lying about his alleged employment history with financial firms such as Citigroup and Goldman Sachs after a report with the New York Times revealed neither company had any record of him working there.
Instead, the congressman-elect later admitted he worked for a company called Link Bridge that did business with the two financial firms, conceding he “never worked directly” for them and chalking it up to a “poor choice of words.”
Education
Santos came under fire for lying about his educational background after he claimed to have graduated from two different universities despite having no college degree.
The New York Republican initially claimed he earned a bachelor’s degree in finance and economics from Baruch College before graduating from New York University with a master’s degree in business administration. However, Santos later admitted he never graduated from any institution of higher learning.
“I’m embarrassed and sorry for having embellished my resume,” Santos told the New York Post. “We do stupid things in life.”
Jewish ancestry
Critics also blasted the New York candidate for claiming to have Jewish ancestry after writing on his campaign website that his mother was Jewish and that his grandparents had escaped the Nazis during World War II.
Santos amplified these claims on his campaign website, writing that his mother and grandparents “fled Jewish persecution in Ukraine, settled in Belgium, and again fled persecution during WWII.” He also addressed his heritage during the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership conference in November, referring to himself as a “proud American Jew” in a campaign position document.
Santos later clarified those comments, acknowledging that he is Catholic but that his grandmother used to tell stories about being Jewish before converting to Catholicism.
“I never claimed to be Jewish,” he told the New York Post. “I am Catholic. Because I learned my maternal family had a Jewish background, I said I was ‘Jew-ish.’”
Finances and real estate properties
While on the campaign trail, Santos told supporters he owned 13 properties in the state — only to admit later he “does not own any properties” at all.
Instead, Santos admitted that he currently lives with his sister and that he has been “able to use” his family’s property in exchange for “keeping the books,” he told local outlet City & State.
The congressman-elect went further to acknowledge a string of financial difficulties that left him owing thousands of dollars to landlords and creditors, leaving questions unanswered as to how he was able to spend $700,000 in his own congressional campaign in 2022.
Mother’s death
Santos was again in the spotlight Wednesday after social media posts revealed he gave inconsistent details surrounding his mother’s death.
“9/11 claimed my mother’s life … so I’m blocking so I don’t ever have to read this again,” Santos tweeted on July 12.
But that claim was questioned by Twitter users after Santos posted again on Dec. 23 commemorating his mother’s death, which he said occurred in 2016.
“December 23rd this year marks 5 years I lost my best friend and mentor,” he wrote in a tweet. “Mom you will live forever in my heart.”
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The details get further muddled on Santos’s campaign website, on which he paid tribute to his mother by acknowledging she “survived the tragic events on September 11th” but that she was working in her office in the South Tower when the attack occurred. Santos then wrote she died “a few years later” of cancer in 2016 — 15 years after the terrorist attack.
However, Santos’s mother’s occupation has been described as being a “domestic worker” or “housekeeper,” according to the New York Times.
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Tags: Congress, New York, Campaigns, House of Representatives
Original Author: Cami Mondeaux
Original Location: List of George Santos lies continues to grow as swearing-in nears