1/15/23

By Aditi Jha

Who is Rep. George Santos? He's a newly elected Representative who admitted on Monday to having lied about many things, including his education and work experience. His resume is largely fictional. "My sins here are embellishing my resume. I'm sorry," Santos said. "I am not a criminal. This [controversy] will not deter me from having good legislative success. I will be effective. I will be good." He admitted that he had never graduated from any college, despite earlier claims. "I didn't graduate from any institution of higher learning. I'm embarrassed and sorry for having embellished my resume. I own up to that ... we do stupid things in life." He also lied about his family history and Jewish history. He wrote on his campaign website that his mother was a Jew and his grandparents had escaped the Nazis in World War 2, which are not true. Santos responded to this by saying that he "never claimed to be Jewish" and that he was "clearly Catholic." He said that "because I learned my maternal family had a Jewish background, I said I was Jew-ish." He claimed that his mother died because of 9/11, but this has also been fact-checked to not be true. He also does not own any properties, after having said that he owned 13. This is only the beginning of Santos' numerous lies on the campaign trail (Santos may not even be his real name; numerous videos and social media posts show him using the names and introducing himself as George Devolder and Anthony Devolder). A nonpartisan organization, the Campaign Legal Center, filed a request to the Federal Election Commission for an investigation into Santos' campaign finances. Democrats in Congress have requested an ethics committee campaign finance investigation as well. The CLC complaint read; "Particularly in light of Santos's mountain of lies about his life and qualifications for office, the [FEC] should thoroughly investigate what appear to be equally brazen lies about how his campaign raised and spent money." On Sunday, Republican House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said that US Representative George Santos will be removed from Congress if it turns out that he broke campaign finance laws. Comer said on CNN's "State of the Union" that "He's a bad guy. It's not up to me or any other member of Congress to determine whether he can be kicked out for lying. Now, if he broke campaign finance laws, then he will be removed from Congress."Over a dozen Republican officials and six of his fellow Republican representatives have requested his resignation but Santos has repeatedly said he won't resign, and on Thursday, he said that he would leave only if he lost the next election.

That's the news for today! Stay safe!