New York Republican George Santos turned on a reporter who was interviewing him after she pressed him about lying and not apologising to the public “sincerely”.
On Monday, Mr Santos sat down with Caitlin Sinclair of the conservative One America News (OAN) network in what was perceived to be a softball interview with the embattled Congressman.
The interview, however, turned tense after Sinclair continued to prod him about whether his apologies for lying about his background during the 2022 elections were enough.
“What I might have done during the campaign does not reflect what is being done in the office,” Mr Santos was quoted as saying to Sinclair by RawStory.
“History has shown that the American people can pretty much forgive anything, but that starts with a sincere apology normally, a lot of remorse shown. Prevailing opinion is you have not yet shown that,” Sinclair said.
“I don’t know what you mean by that,” the lawmaker replied.
Sinclair interrupted Mr Santos and said: “Well, you seem angry.”
“I’m not angry. Not angry at all,” he replied.
“Are you sorry?” Ms Sinclair asked.
“I’ve said I was sorry many times,” Ms Santos said.
“I’ve behaved as if I’m sorry ... If you want to compare emotions, people show emotions differently.”
“I don’t know what looking sorry looks like to you, Caitlin,” he quipped.
“The prevailing opinion out there right now, from your voters, is that they have not heard a sincere apology from you yet,” Sinclair continued.
“I’ve made my sincere apology multiple times,” Mr Santos said.
“I thoroughly apologise for lying about my education and embellishing my resume. I’ve made that very, very clear.”
“I don’t know what more can be said. Is there anything more humble or humiliating than admitting that on national television.”
In recent weeks, Mr Santos has been found by reports to have lied about his educational qualifications, working at banks like Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, that he is Jewish and his parents fled the Holocaust.
Most recently, it was reported that Mr Santos gave contradictory accounts about his mother’s death. One claim of his in July last year was that she had died in the 9/11 terror attack.
But on 23 December of that same year, he tweeted that day marked “five years since I lost my best friend and mentor” in reference to his mother.
Mr Santos has been facing growing calls to resign from Congress.
On 31 January, Mr Santos announced that he was stepping down from his committee assignments following a meeting with House speaker Kevin McCarthy.
He also remains under investigation by state and federal authorities, who are probing the long list of fabrications he has admitted to or been caught telling about his background.
