Embattled Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., on Thursday insisted he won’t resign from Congress unless “142,000 people who voted for me” tell him to step down.
Santos, 34, who has admitted to telling a string of lies, actually got just under 146,000 votes in winning his Democratic-leaning Long Island district in one of the bigger upsets of the 2022 midterm elections.
He corrected his latest statement minutes after initially saying he would resign if “142 people” wanted him to, a slip-up that briefly sparked a new wave of calls for him to step down.
Santos also claimed that he’s not been accused of anything bad.
“I’ve lived an honest life,” he told Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., on Steve Bannon’s podcast. “I’ve never been accused of doing bad things."
At least five GOP lawmakers have openly demanded Santos resign, including four members of New York’s incoming class of six newly elected Republicans.
Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, a key national moderate, joined the chorus of resignation demands that now includes Long Island’s Rep. Anthony D’Esposito and Rep. Nick LaLota, R-N.Y., along with two newly minted upstate GOP congressmen.
The other two incoming New York Republicans, Rep. Mike Lawler and Rep. Marc Molinaro, both said they think he should resign because the cascading scandals will make it impossible for him to work effectively.
GOP House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who holds only a tiny majority, has refused to call on Santos to resign, although he says the embattled lawmaker will likely face a House ethics probe.
The Santos drama is a big black eye for the New York GOP congressional delegation, which picked up a remarkable four seats in the midterms. The Empire State wins effectively handed Republicans their narrow 222-212 edge in the House.
A new report Thursday also said Santos apparently skirted federal campaign finance laws by using an unregistered company to solicit big-money donations.
Such political action committees are supposed to act independently of candidates and cannot be mostly focused on electing a candidate but the one tied to Santos told donors it was only focused on helping him win election to Congress.
Santos portrayed himself as a trailblazing conservative gay immigrant on his way to winning a Democratic-leaning district previously held by Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., who gave it up to make a losing run for governor.
After his upset win, Santos was forced to admit he lied extensively about going to college, working for big investment banks and that his grandparents were Jews who fled the Holocaust.
He is also facing criminal investigations, which will likely focus on financial disclosures like his claim that he personally loaned his campaign $700,000 after supposedly making just $55,000 a year as recently as 2020.
Brazilian prosecutors say the onetime call center employee admitted his role in stealing checks and could still face charges in the 2009 case.
Two Democratic lawmakers, Reps. Ritchie Torres and Dan Goldman, both of New York, have asked the House Ethics Committee to investigate Santos for filing “sparse and perplexing” campaign finance documents.
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