"The 34-year-old called into a talk radio show for an interview with WABC to address the Times investigation," reported Jake Lahut. "'Well, the record is, I don't know what my options are,' Santos said when asked if he would sue the publication."
Santos, a Brazilian immigrant, made several claims about himself in the course of his congressional campaign that have come under scrutiny. He claimed to have graduated from Baruch College and New York University, which have no records of his attendance, and that he went on to work for Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, which have no records of his employment. An openly gay man, he claims to have lost four coworkers from his company at the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando, but none of the identified victims have a record at the firms mentioned in his biography. And he claimed to have run a charity called Friends of Pets United, which rescued thousands of dogs and cats — a charity that does not appear anywhere in IRS tax records.
Subsequent reporting revealed Santos may also have made up being part Jewish and his family having escaped the Holocaust. Even his claim to have come out as a gay man a decade ago doesn't add up, as records show he was married to a woman until 2019.
"The Long Island Republican said he was going to be 'quiet anyway' for the past week because of the sixth anniversary of his mother's death, but vowed to take his seat and be sworn in on January 3, when the new Congress will convene for the first time," said the report. "'I'm gonna look through and see everything, and just like they nitpicked at me, now it's gonna be my time to nitpick at both journalists who made it their mission to slander me across this country and across the world, and let's see what happens at the end,' Santos said. 'But the one thing is, I will be sworn in, I will take office, I will be able to be an effective member of the legislator [sic.] in the soon-to-be 118th Congress…'"
"He then went into a reworked version of his stump speech before one of the hosts asked if he gave his own money to his campaign," said the report. "'That is the money of, that I paid myself through my company, the Devolder Organization,' Santos said. The hosts did not push back any further, and Santos thanked New Yorkers for their 'tremendous amount of support.' Santos also gave a vague apology 'if I disappointed anyone by résumé embellishment,' but did not elaborate beyond that."
