Republicans in George Santos’s Long Island district said his campaign was built on “deceit, lies and fabrications” and demanded he resign from the US House.
(Bloomberg) — Republicans in George Santos’s Long Island district said his campaign was built on “deceit, lies and fabrications” and demanded he resign from the US House.
It was a dramatic and unusual rebuke from local GOP officials, and piles even more pressure on the embattled New York Republican, who has owned up to inventing key parts of his life story.
“George Santos’s campaign last year was a campaign of deceit, lies and fabrications,” Nassau County Republican Party Chairman Joseph Cairo Jr. said after a meeting Wednesday with local GOP elected officials in Westbury, New York. “His lies were not mere fibs. He disgraced the House of Representatives.”
Santos’s fate is a crucial matter for Republicans, who won control of the House by a slim majority and struggled last week to get Kevin McCarthy elected speaker because of that. The GOP has few votes to spare as the chamber takes up contentious issues in the months ahead, including on spending, abortion and the debt limit.
If Santos resigns, a special election would be held in a district that historically has favored Democrats.
Surrounded by reporters near his Capitol office, Santos said he wouldn’t leave Congress and later tweeted that he would “remain committed” to representing the people of the district.
McCarthy hasn’t said whether Santos would face any penalty for his fabrications, although he said Santos, who had voted for him for speaker, won’t be assigned to top-level committees in the new Congress. On Wednesday, the California Republican said he had yet to examine the Nassau County Republican Party statement: “Let me read it and I’ll respond.”
Representative Anthony D’Esposito, a fellow freshman who represents a neighboring district, appeared virtually at the Long Island meeting and became the first GOP member of Congress to urge Santos to resign: “I join with you and I join with my colleagues in saying that George Santos does not have the ability to serve here in the House of Representatives and should resign.”
If Santos were to step aside, Governor Kathy Hochul would have to call a special election to fill the vacancy. His 3rd Congressional District is one of the wealthiest in the nation, comprising the “Gold Coast” of northern Nassau County and parts of Queens in New York City.
The relatively unknown 34-year-old won election in November with the support of McCarthy, local Republicans and some major party donors in a surprisingly strong showing fueled by fears of crime.
Santos so far has dug in.
He plans to finish his two-year term, despite reports of fabrications about his heritage and work experience — including false claims that he worked for Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Citigroup Inc. He’s also wanted in Brazil on fraud charges, and hasn’t fully explained the source of a net worth of as much as $11 million after having no assets as recently as 2020.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a Republican, said Wednesday he’s instructed county offices not to deal with Santos on county issues or constituent services requests. Those issues will be referred to D’Esposito instead. “He cannot serve anymore. He does not deserve that right. He is a stain on the House of Representatives,” he said.
The local party’s demand carries no legal weight, and members of Congress can’t be recalled from office. Democrats in Congress have asked for an ethics investigation, but the House of Representatives can expel him only with a two-thirds vote.
Two New York Democrats, Representatives Ritchie Torres and Dan Goldman, have asked the Ethics Committee to investigate whether the New York congressman broke the law by omitting crucial details on his financial disclosures.
Santos faces a separate Federal Election Commission complaint by the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center probing the source of the funding for his campaign.
–With assistance from Erik Wasson, Zach C. Cohen and Steven T. Dennis.
(Updates with remarks from New York Republican, Santos tweet beginning in sixth paragraph)
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