Two former roommates of New York Republican Representative George Santos have claimed that he stole expensive items from them when they lived together in Queens in 2020.
Gregory Morey-Parker and Yasser Rabello texted each other about the things they believed the scandal-plagued congressman to have stolen, such as a $520 Burberry scarf and a $500 Armani shirt, according to Insider.
In the texts obtained by local news site Patch, they call Mr Santos “Anthony”. It’s been previously reported that Mr Santos has gone by the name Anthony Devolder.
Mr Morey-Parker told Patch that when he saw Mr Santos speak at a “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington DC on 5 January 2021, the day before the Capital attack, he was certain that he was wearing his camel check scarf.
Mr Santos appeared on stage during the rally, comparing himself to former President Donald Trump.
“They did to me what they did to Donald J Trump. They stole my election... Who here is ready to overturn the election for Donald J Trump?” he said, falsely claiming that the 2020 election was fraudulent.
“For 14 days I was congressman-elect of the 3rd Congressional District of New York, the first ever biggest upset for a Republican in New York City,” he added, according to Patch.
“They sneaked in a few [votes] from my opponent,” he said, despite there being no evidence of widespread fraud.
Mr Santos lost the 2020 race for New York’s third congressional district, the seat he won in 2022.
House Oversight Committee Chairman, Kentucky Republican James Comer, told CNN on Sunday that Mr Santos would be removed from Congress if he’s found to have violated campaign finance laws.
“He’s a bad guy,” Mr Comer said. “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.”
The Independent has reached out to the Santos campaign for comment.
After three years of misleading the Nassau County Republicans, they called on Mr Santos to resign on Wednesday.
Joseph Cairo Jr, the chairman of the Nassau County committee, said during a press briefing last week that “he answered the questions, obviously not truthfully, but at that time we trusted him”.
“We were duped here,” he added.
On Wednesday afternoon, Mr Santos tweeted: “I was elected to serve the people of #NY03 not the party & politicians, I remain committed to doing that and regret to hear that local officials refuse to work with my office to deliver results to keep our community safe and lower the cost of living. I will NOT resign!”
