GOP leaders say that Republican Santos lied about his career and Jewish heritage

Inflation, Crime, and a Storm in the Nassau County Dems: Where is Mr. Ryan? The Road Towards the Democratic Presidential Candidate

Between July and last week, Mr. Ryan had a surge of media coverage and campaign cash. Some campaign officials said he may be better positioned than Mr. Riley because he has not held a seat previously and is campaigning on turf he has not held before.

In Nassau County, the Democrats are trying to hold on to their seats in a pair of districts where two of their stalwarts are retiring. Republicans won local elections in both seats last year, campaigning on public safety and living costs, but they were defeated by the Democrats.

Strategists in both parties working on the races say they are tighter than initially expected, particularly on the South Shore, where Republicans recruited a strong candidate, Anthony D’Esposito, a former New York City police detective, to run against Laura Gillen in the Fourth District.

While the neighboring Third District contains fewer Democrats, the party is more confident it will protect that seat after Republicans nominated a candidate, George Santos, who has compared abortion rights to legalized slavery and, in a video obtained last month by Newsday, claimed to have cut a check to help the legal defense of several Jan. 6 rioters.

At the same time, Republicans are increasingly confident the same issues of crime and inflation will help them hold two closely divided seats further east on Long Island, currently represented by Andrew Garbarino and Lee Zeldin, who is running for governor. Mr. Biden carried the Zeldin district two years ago, but spirited Democratic challengers are facing stiff headwinds.

When Don Santos turned 40 on his finances, and the GOP took control of the House, but failed to declare his real estate business (and his 2022 campaign)

Santos faces questions about other key parts of his biography – including a claim that has been contradicted that his grandparents survived the Holocaust – and over loans totaling more than $700,000 that he made to his 2022 campaign. CNN reported last week on the federal investigation of his finances and it has now been carried out by the US attorney’s office in New York.

Multiple investigations are taking place over his finances and multiple lies have been made about his resume. In November, he flipped a seat to help Republicans take control of the House.

Barring something unexpected, Santos likely will be sworn in as a member of Congress on Tuesday without a word of criticism by McCarthy. This is what the GOP looks like today. It is a party that stands for nothing but gaining power at all costs, even if it is very bad for the republic.

During the campaign, Santos said that he graduated from Baruch College, that he worked for Goldman Securities and that he owned real estate.

Federal and state authorities have launched criminal investigations into the finances and fabrications ofSantos. When he first ran for Congress unsuccessfully in 2020, Santos reported he had no assets, yet somehow he was able to lend his 2022 campaign $700,000.

After failing to file the required annual reports, the business was temporarily deemed inactive and registered in Florida in 2021, which is where a search found the organization. Santos failed to report any of his clients in his financial disclosure, due to the fact that a website or LinkedIn profile could not be found.

New York Rep.-elect George Santos and the New York Times: What have they told us about his alleged lies about the 2016 nightclub shooting?

In a district that was redrawn due to the Queens riots, Democrats lost control of the district to Republicans, who won a majority in the House. Democrats in New York called for the state chair to resign after the GOP mini-wave outside the city.

Santos has recently been telling people he is considering running for a second term, according to multiple Republican sources, after previously signaling to Republicans he wouldn’t seek reelection.

“I believe that George Santos deserves an opportunity to address the claims detailed in the article,” said Joseph Cairo Jr., the influential chairman of Nassau County’s Republican committee.

Cairo said that he looks forward to hearingSantos’ reply to every person who deserves an opportunity to clear their name.

“It is no surprise that his enemies at the New York Times are trying to ruin his reputation with these defamation allegations,” said Joseph Murray.

“Only in this country does somebody who comes from a basement apartment in Jackson Heights, like I did, is able to rise to become a successful businessperson, to then run for United States Congress.”

Santos, who is gay, also claimed in an interview with WNYC public radio last month that his employees died in 2016 when a gunman opened fire at the Pulse, a gay night club in Orlando, Fla.

I had people in my club who worked for me at that time. “My company at the time, we lost four employees that were at Pulse.”

In an editorial before the election, the North Shore Leader newspaper endorsed Santos’ Democratic opponent, Robert Zimmerman, and voiced skepticism about Santos’ credibility.

But it’s not just McCarthy. The GOP leadership has largely been silent about Santos. One of the few senior GOP lawmakers to chime in has been Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, the top Republican on the House Oversight Committee. In remarks Thursday on Fox News, Comer described Santos’ actions as “a disgrace, he’s lied to the voters.” But Comer didn’t call for Santos to step aside, instead only saying he’s “pretty confident” the House Ethics Committee will investigate Santos.

There are serious allegations against the New York Rep.-elect GeorgeSantos and he should be given an opportunity to clear his name, a Nassau County Republican said on Monday.

In New York, senior Republicans are beginning to reach out to potential primary challengers to topple Santos if he attempts to hang onto his seat. In Washington, senior Republicans are reassuring members of their party in New York that there’s no way they’ll let him be their nominee. And GOP leaders are privately hoping that the cascading revelations and potential for criminal charges will be enough to convince him to bow out and not run for reelection – even though they privately would like to see him occupy the seat for the rest of this Congress to avoid setting up a special election for a seat that could flip to the Democrats.

Josh Lafazan is a member of the Nassau County Legislature in New York and was a candidate for the 3rd Congressional District.

He plans to write letters to the House Ethics Committee requesting an investigation and wants the attorney general to look at potential campaign finance violations.

The Nassau County Republican Committee, who is in the 3rd Congressional District, said GeorgeSantos broke the trust of the public with his serious misstatements.

The man is said to have lied about his charity work. He claims to have started the group Friends of Pets United, which wasn’t registered as a charity in New York or New Jersey. According to New York Times reporting, the IRS has no record of it. The purported beneficiary of one $50-a-head fundraiser for Friends of Pets United says that she never received the money raised, according to the Times as well. He said he helped out the charity and found homes for the animals.

Left Behind, Left Behind: Lying About A Muslim Candidate and his Experiences with Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and the New York Times

Editor’s Note: Jill Filipovic is a journalist based in New York and author of the book “OK Boomer, Let’s Talk: How My Generation Got Left Behind.” If you follow her onTTER, you’ll get to know her. The opinions expressed in this commentary are her own. View more opinion on CNN.

But Santos described himself as a “proud American Jew” in a document shared with Jewish groups during the campaign, which was first reported by the Forward and confirmed by CNN.

He listed his roles at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup in his statement. Now he says he simply liaised with both companies through his actual employment at the company Link Bridge, and that a simple “poor choice of words” gave a mistaken impression.

That poor choice of words? Santos’s campaign website said that he “began working at Citigroup as an associate and quickly advanced to become an associate asset manager in the real asset division of the firm” and “was then offered an exciting opportunity with Goldman Sachs but what he thought would be the pinnacle of his career was not as fulfilling as he had anticipated.”

He has lied so much that the public should not trust him anymore, even if it is his own lies. And how should the GOP respond?

But if Santos does run again, party leaders are vowing to mount an aggressive effort to defeat him in a primary and have assured New York Republicans that Santos won’t be their nominee.

He has apologized for some of the lies but claimed last week that he only put a little bit of fluff in his resume.

The Left or Right? Rep. J.-R. Santos Should Reconsider His Resignation in the Wake of the Disavored Deceptions

Kevin Brady, a Republican lawmaker from Texas, said on Fox News that “Santos is going to have to consider resigning” in the wake of the revelations. At least two Democrats – Reps. Joaquin Castro of Texas and Ted Lieu of California – have called for Santos to be expelled from Congress if he does not resign. The House has the power under the Constitution to expel any member with a two-thirds vote, but doing so is extremely rare and only five lawmakers have been expelled in US history.

“As a Navy man who campaigned on restoring accountability and integrity to our government, I believe a full investigation by the House Ethics Committee and, if necessary, law enforcement, is required,” GOP Rep.-elect Nick LaLota said in a statement that marks the sharpest rebuke yet from a Republican coming to Congress or currently serving.

Rep.-elect Anthony D’Ostis called for a path of honesty but stopped short of calling for an investigation, even though he condemned the false statements.

In the past, the California Republican has shown little appetite for punishing his own members for bad behavior when they were part of Congress. McCarthy has also declined to weigh in when members are under investigation, arguing he will let the probes play out before determining how to proceed.

“This will not deter me from being an effective member of the United States Congress in the 118th session,” Santos told City & State in an interview posted Monday night.

Nassau County Republican Committee Chairman Joseph G. Cairo, Jr., said Tuesday that Santos “has broken the public trust” and “has a lot of work to do to regain the trust of voters.”

Cairo said he was deeply disappointed in Mr. Santos, and that he expected more than just a blanket apology. Many people, especially those who had been affected by the Holocaust, have been damaged by his lies.

The Republican Jewish Coalition on Tuesday said the incoming congressman had “misrepresented his heritage” and “will not be welcome at any future RJC event.”

Rep. Dan Goldman: “What has happened to the Brooklyn congressman?” a comment on the comments of Donald J. Santos

In an interview with the New York Post earlier this week, Santos apologized for his fabrications but downplayed them as “sins” over embellishing his resume, adding that “we do stupid things in life.”

Despite intensifying doubt about his fitness to hold federal office, Santos has shown no signs of stepping aside — even as he publicly admitted to a long list of lies.

He acknowledges that none of that is true. Four of his employees died in the Pulse night club shooting in Florida, but he admitted his claim was false.

“He’s constitutionally entitled to his seat,” said Richard Briffault, an expert on campaign law at Columbia University, who noted the Constitution doesn’t disqualify candidates for lying.

Santos has been telling people he believes his treasurer, who has come under scrutiny for unusual campaign expenses on multiple campaigns, will ultimately be responsible for any issues related to his finances, according to Republican sources who have talked to Santos. Santos’ treasurer informed the FEC in January that she had left her position on Santos’ campaign. She did not reply to CNN.

“All of Mr. Santos’s disclosures must be thoroughly investigated by the Federal Election Commission…for campaign finance fraud,” said Rep.-elect Dan Goldman, a New York Democrat who won a House seat last month, in a statement.

New York Times examined the narrativeSantos presented to voters during his successful campaign for congressional district that straddles the north shore suburbs of Long Island and a portion of Queens.

CNN spoke to the New York attorney general last week, who said it had not started a formal investigation intoSantos, but was looking into some of the things that were raised about him.

Anne Nolan said that the congressman-elect’s fabrications and inconsistencies are stunning.

She said that people living in the New York 3rd Congressional District must have an honest and accountable representative in Congress. If a crime was committed in this county, we will prosecute it.

Rep.-elect Mike Lawler, also a soon-to-be freshman member from New York, urged his fellow Republican cooperate with any investigations and called on Santos to apologize, calling the whole controversy a “distraction.” By downplaying action’s, Santos is making things worse.

He will be sworn in next Tuesday when the U.S. House returns. He could face investigations by the House Committee on Ethics and the DOJ if he takes office.

The Republican has admitted to lying about his background, but he has not yet said who the source of his fortune is.

Correlations Between Republican and Democrat Accusations Regarding the Defendant, Brosh, on a Case Study of a Recent Crime in Brazil

Brendan Brosh said the Nassau County DA’s office was looking into the matter. It was not immediately clear what the scope of the investigation was.

The New York Post reported last week that Santos was accused of a crime in Brazil but he denied it. Absolutely not. That did not happen.

He admitted to lying about working for Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, as well as having earned a degree in finance and economics from Baruch College in New York.

He backtracked on his claim and said he was never going to claim Jewish heritage, which would have likely raised his appeal with Jewish voters in his district.

In its opposition research on Santos, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee raised several red flags about the Republican’s record — but also accepted some of his assertions, including his educational record, as fact. The 86-page document was designed to find out if he was involved in the January Capitol insurrection or in his support for baseless claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election. He was depicted in the report as a far-right candidate. His financial standing and multiple evictions left him with thousands of dollars in debt, according to a report buried within.

His Democratic opponent, Robert Zimmerman, also tried to raise Santos’ misrepresentations during his losing campaign, but it didn’t gain much traction.

The Dean Obeidallah Show on CNN. View more opinion on the case of former Rep.-Elect George Santos after the January 6 attack on the US Capitol

Editor’s Note: Dean Obeidallah, a former attorney, is the host of SiriusXM radio’s daily program “The Dean Obeidallah Show.” Follow him @[email protected]. The views expressed in this commentary are his own. View more opinion on CNN.

McCarthy has abandoned principle before in the pursuit of power. The most glaring example was his flip-flop on Trump’s culpability over the January 6 attack on the US Capitol. The President bears responsibility for Wednesday’s attack on Congress said McCarthy on the House floor. McCarthy said that he should have denounced the mob when he saw it.

Matthew Gaetz wrote an op-ed stating that Kevin does not actually believe in anything because he does not have core values. He has no ideology at all.

McCarthy has been outspoken on many other political issues since The New York Times article put the spotlight on Santos. McCarthy slammed the January 6 committee on December 21, saying it had been focused on political theater and posturing. McCarthy made the statement on Fox News while also promising to eliminate waste and wokeism when Republicans take control of Congress.

McCarthy has also criticized the Biden administration’s border policy and played up accusations on Fox Business that the FBI worked to suppress news stories hurtful to Democrats.

Yet not a peep about the Santos story — which even caused an uproar on Fox News on December 27 when former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard as a guest host confronted Santos about his fabrications, asking: “Do you have no shame?”

Rep.-elect George Santos of New York is scheduled to be sworn in to Congress on Tuesday as he faces mounting scrutiny and condemnation over lies about his biography and amid an investigation by federal prosecutors into his finances.

All incoming members of the 118th Congress are scheduled to be sworn in following the vote for House speaker at the US Capitol, which is set to begin after noon ET on Tuesday.

Do we need a new committee to investigate a case of fraud in Brazil? The case of George Santos, the prosecutor’s office, in New York

Prosecutors said they will seek a “formal response” from Santos related to a stolen checkbook in 2008, after police suspended an investigation into him because they were unable to find him for nearly a decade.

The New York Republican was indicted on fraud charges in Brazil and will be sent to prison there, as he takes his seat in the US House Tuesday.

Authorities, having verified Santos’ location, will make a formal request to the US Justice Department to notify him of the charges, Maristela Pereira, a spokeswoman for the Rio de Janeiro prosecutor’s office, told CNN. After reopening on Friday, the request will be filed by the prosecutor’s office.

In January, the Nassau County District Attorney said that if a crime was committed in the county, they would prosecute it.

The district attorneys office in New York didn’t specify what fabrications it was looking at, and the US attorney’s office in New York didn’t comment.

Santos’ FEC reports contain a number of unusual expenditures, including exorbitant expenses on air travel and hotels, as well as a number of expenses one penny below the dollar figure above which the FEC requires campaigns to keep receipts.

CNN reported that three members of the House GOP conference said that GeorgeSantos told the conference in closed doors that he wants his two committees removed until his issues are resolved.

Small Business Committee Chairman Roger Williams, a Republican from Texas, said that he thinks Santos “probably made the right decision” to step down from his committee assignments until the questions about his past and his financial irregularities are resolved.

“He just felt like there was so much drama really over the situation, and especially what we’re doing to work to remove Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee,” Greene told CNN.

The FEC complaint that the Campaign Legal Center has filed describes his disbursements as odd and seemingly impossible. It notes that one of the $199.99 expenses was purported to be for a “hotel stay” at the luxury W Hotel South Beach in Florida in October 2021, where the lowest-price room typically would have cost more than $700.

The confusion about the source of loans that Santos has said he made was compounded by the amended reports he filed last week.

When George Santos resigned, “What have we learnt about him?” Rep. Elise Stefanik told reporters after the conference

“We just got out of conference and George has voluntarily removed himself from committees as he goes through this process,” said Rep. Elise Stefanik, who chairs the GOP conference.

“There’s a threshold that he feels like [where] he’s not the issue anymore and when he hits that, it sounds like he wants to get back on committees and get going,” Williams told reporters.

“For a while, the question I was getting asked by [the press] is ‘Where you gonna put him? Can he do this?’ – it became about him,” Williams said. It’s not about him. It’s about our committee and we have so much to do and when he gets ready to get back on Let’s go, he has met the thresholds he set.

He said voluntary removing himself from his committee assignments were not enough for the people of New York’s third congressional district. He was a disgrace yesterday. He’s a disgrace today. And he’ll be a disgrace tomorrow. He should leave office right away.

He said that he doesn’t have a place in the Nassau County Republican Committee or in public service. He is not welcome at Republican headquarters or any of our events.

“The voters have elected George Santos,” McCarthy said during an early January press conference. “If there is a concern, he will go through ethics. If there is something that is found, he will be dealt with in that manner.”

A Republican senator from Utah told a GOP representative from New York he did not belong in the House, a member who witnessed the exchange said.

Romney told CNN that he criticizedSantos for standing in the front aisle trying to shake hands with the president and senators because he was under ethics investigation.

“He should be sitting in the back row and staying quiet instead of parading in front of the president and people coming into the room,” he said, noting that Santos may have responded to his remark but he “didn’t hear.”

He says that he embellished his record. The senator said it’s a lie to say you got a A when you got an A-. He shouldn’t be in Congress, because you didn’t even attend college.

They are going to go through the process and hope to get him out. He wouldn’t be there if he had any shame, but he shouldn’t be there.

Do We Wanna Run With George Santos? How Congressman D’Esposito explains his struggle for no office in Long Island

Embattled Rep. George Santos is contemplating a nightmare scenario for House Republicans: Trying to stick it out in Congress, even if he is indicted on criminal charges.

On Tuesday, he made it clear that he was not leaving, was not hiding and was not backing down. No matter what the troll does, I will keep working for #NY03 and no amount of it will stop me. I will be looking to get what needs to be done.

The truth may surprise CongressmanSantos, but not anyone else, because he will be first to see it, according to a CNN interview with Molinaro. Leadership and people in his district on Long Island have had enough. I don’t think he would want to run for reelection or complete his term.

But even before Santos publicly telegraphs his next moves, top party leaders are vowing to knock Santos off and mount an aggressive effort to ensure he can’t tarnish their New York ticket, with six House Republicans in districts carried by Joe Biden in 2020 already on defense going into next year.

I am certain that George was not going to be on any ticket in the foreseeable future, said Rep. Anthony D’Esposito as he spoke to reporters about his freshman year. I am confident that we have the right candidate, honest candidate and honest candidate who is honest about his entire being, and that we will do everything to make sure that happens.

He has to go as quickly as possible, so that the country and the Republican Party can benefit. I don’t think he will go on his own. But there’s no way he would win the Republican primary. If he runs again, he’ll get destroyed,” said former GOP Rep. Peter King, who represented a Long Island district when he was in Congress.

It is a problem for Republicans in Long Island because the longer he stays there, the worse it is. The last thing we want to be doing is running with George Santos over our head.”

There is a process in place. The process is going to work itself through. The campaign arm of the House Republican Party has a policy of not being involved in primaries. “Members who have concerns, they’re all on the record where they stand.”

The seat was already a top target for the Democrats even before the revelations, as voters there voted for Biden by the widest margin of any House district represented by a Republicans.

According to several top political insiders back in New York, they believe that an indictment may come as early as the spring, and that’s why they’re preparing for a special election to replace him. New York law allows county chairs to handpick their nominees, rather than hold a primary if one were to occur.

If it comes, Jay Jacobs, the state Democratic chairman and the Nassau County Democratic chairman, would not expect much drama. Jacobs said he expected to consult with the neighboring county chairman, Queens’ Rep. Gregory Meeks, given that about 13% of the district is contained there, and with Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, as both the House Democratic leader and a New York member of Congress himself. But Jacobs said the buzz about the return of ex-Rep. Tom Suozzi, who previously held the seat and trounced Santos in the 2020 race, was “certainly interesting.”

After giving up his congressional seat to run for Gov. Kathy Hochul, Suozzi refused to comment when asked about a return to Washington.

The DCCC is Zeroing in on New York: Why Santos should not be a fraudster when he runs for the White House

“If he is the nominee, I will give money to his campaign, but I am sure the damageSantos has already done with voters will hurt efforts to recruit other people,” he said.

Jack Martins, a former Republican state senator who narrowly lost to Suozzi in the 2016 election, has become the focus of Republican talk about alternatives. Martins did not give a response.

Several prominent local Republicans have already passed and there is also some speculation about Nassau County Comptroller ElainePhillips.

Beginning on Monday, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is rolling out a five-figure billboard campaign targeting five freshman Republicans who took donations from Santos: New York Reps. Nick LaLota, Anthony D’Esposito, Mike Lawler, Marc Molinaro and Brandon Williams, all of whom helped Republicans win a narrow majority last fall by winning seats that President Joe Biden had carried.

Molinaro and D’Esposito both returned the money from Santos after a number of his financial issues came to light, but the billboards in their districts ask why the lawmakers took campaign cash from “a fraudster” in the first place. There are billboards that ask if the members will return the campaign donations.

The DCCC isn’t alone in zeroing in on New York. Last week, House Majority PAC – the predominant super PAC that works to elect Democrats to the House – announced a $45 million program dedicated to the Empire State to help Democrats regain the majority in 2024.

“New Yorkers want Santos out of office, and these congressmen’s meaningless words aren’t enough to make up for their failure to actually take action to hold their campaign donor accountable,” said DCCC spokesperson Nebeyatt Betre. The least they can do is answer the questions.