Rep. George Santos defiantly vowed Tuesday to resist persistent demands that he step down from Congress over his serial lying.
Denouncing calls for his ouster as “Twitter trolling,” the New York Republican insisted he isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
“I’m not leaving, I’m not hiding and I am NOT backing down,” Santos tweeted.
“No amount of Twitter trolling will stop me,” he added. “I’m looking forward to getting what needs to be done, DONE!”
The freshman lawmaker is facing a daily drip of damaging stories about his checkered past and questionable campaign finance disclosures.
Santos, 34, says he has learned his lesson and deserves forgiveness for what he portrays as innocent fibs.
But critics say Santos needs to be held accountable for a campaign of lies including intentionally deceiving voters about his education, work history and even supposed Jewish heritage.
More concerning to officials are his murky and shifting claims about loans that funded his campaign and dubious spending in his winning campaign for a Democratic-leaning district that includes most of northern Nassau County and a slice of eastern Queens.
Santos can only be forced out of Congress by a two-thirds expulsion vote in the House, a rare step that has generally only been spurred by criminal behavior.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who needs all the GOP votes he can get to hold onto his narrow majority, has so far suggested he would rather see Santos face some punishment short of being ousted.
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