George Santos claimed mother was killed in 9/11 before backtracking to say she died in 2016
George Santos #GeorgeSantos
Incoming Rep. George Santos (R-NY) has once again come under fire for promoting false claims about his background while campaigning during the midterm elections, this time surrounding the details of his mother’s death.
Santos, who was elected to represent New York’s 3rd Congressional District, has come under intense scrutiny over the last week after it was revealed the freshman lawmaker lied about several details of his life on his campaign website. This scrutiny only intensified on Wednesday night after a photo surfaced on Twitter showing a tweet from Santos claiming his mother died during the 9/11 attacks — only to follow up five months later to say she died in December 2016.
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“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.”
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” when she died 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, which reported on the congressman-elect’s resume embellishments.
Santos admitted to lying about several details on his campaign website while running for office earlier this year, including his alleged employment history with Wall Street firms such as Citigroup and Goldman Sachs. Instead, the congressman-elect later told the New York Post 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.”
Santos also came under fire for lying about his educational history after he initially claimed he earned degrees in finance and economics from New York University and Baruch College. However, the congressman-elect later confirmed he never graduated from any college.
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The concessions prompted several Democrats to warn about the precedent his presence would set, possibly encouraging others to run for office while touting false background details.
Santos is now being investigated by prosecutors in Long Island, although it’s not entirely clear the parameters of the investigation. Meanwhile, Santos’s Democratic opponent, Robert Zimmerman, has called on the congressman-elect to resign and run again in a special election.
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Tags: Campaigns, Congress, Midterms 2022, House of Representatives, Republican
Original Author: Cami Mondeaux
Original Location: George Santos claimed mother was killed in 9/11 before backtracking to say she died in 2016