People believed Santos’ bogus claims that he had a college degree and expertise in the financial field, leading them to vote for him.
House Democrats have demanded that newly elected Republican New York representative George Santos resign or be expelled from Congress after he admitted to lying to them throughout the campaign about his job history and educational background.
Santos’s opponent in November’s general election, Democrat Robert Zimmerman, is now demanding that the Republican step down and fight him in a fresh election.
This past Tuesday, Zimmerman publicly dared George (if that is his name) to resign and run against him in a new special election. “Present your genuine identity and respond honestly to voters’ questions about your criminal history. Make the issue a vote of the people.”
Santos, a political neophyte who claimed on the campaign trail to have worked for Goldman Sachs and Citibank and had advanced degrees in finance, was elected as a Republican representative for New York’s 3rd Congressional District in November.
Fox News confirmed with Santos’ purported employers that he never really worked for them. After an investigation by the New York Times revealed significant inaccuracies in his biography, Baruch College declared he never attended there.
Perhaps not the finest choice of words, Santos stated he “never worked directly” for Goldman Sachs and Citigroup in an interview with the New York Post on Monday.
Santos said he worked for Link Bridge rather than Citigroup or Goldman Sachs.
As reported by the Post, Santos claimed to have facilitated “capital introductions” between investors and clients of Link Bridge, who were limited partnerships at the two financial institutions.
To add insult to injury, Santos told the Post that he dropped out of college despite listing a 2010 Baruch degree on his campaign resume.
Santos told the Post on Monday, “I am not a criminal.” “To put it simply, I did not finish college with a degree. My resume was embellished, and I feel awful about it.”
Democrats sought Santos’ resignation from Congress after he admitted to lying, while Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., threatened to force him out.
Democrat Eric Swalwell of California has demanded that Santos be “banned from taking the oath for Congress.” Democrat Ted Lieu of California questioned McCarthy whether he would seek a vote to remove Santos if he were to become speaker of the House under the incoming Republican majority.
“George Santos, the newly elected congressman, ought to resign. They should remove him from office if he refuses to engage in Congress. The law enforcement sector must also investigate him, “Democratic Texas State Representative Joaquin Castro says so. “His entire life seems fabricated. We expect people to embellish their resumes, but this is ridiculous.”
Even more powerfully, New York Democrat Ritchie Torres said that Santos had committed felonies and lied to voters.
“George Santos admits openly that he has fabricated his whole life story. Even after his pitiful admission of guilt, we still have reason to be worried about the likelihood of crime and corruption on his part, “added Torres, a Democrat from New York. “The Ethics Committee needs to investigate his sources of wealth. The presence of smoke indicates the potential for fire.”
No response came from Santos despite repeated requests for comment.