Beleaguered Republican Congressman-elect George Santos admitted Monday to lying about his education and his work history but assured his supporters he’s still fit to hold public office, according to local reports.
His confession comes after a report from The New York Times that brought up discrepancies on his résumé.
“If I disappointed anyone by résumé embellishment, I’m sorry,” he said in an interview with WABC radio host John Catsimatidis.
Last week, the Times found Santos, 34, claimed he graduated from Baruch College and attended New York University, but neither school could find a record of anyone matching his name or date of birth.
He told a local New York City newspaper he didn’t graduate from any college or university.
Santos claimed he was once employed by Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, but pivoted on the conservative billionaire’s talk show, admitting he never worked directly for the financial firms.
“The way it’s stated on the résumé, I have worked for, not on or at or in, I understand that and let that be a lesson learned for everybody,” he told Catsimatidis.
He instead blamed the “elitist” reporters at the Times for any negative headlines.
“I’m not going to make excuses for this, but a lot of people overstate in their résumés or twist a little bit or ingratiate themselves. I’m not saying I’m not guilty of that. I’m just saying I did so much good work in my career.”
Santos also claimed during his campaign that four of his employees died in the June 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting. The Times uncovered the victims were never in business with Santos.
The congressman-elect backtracked on Catsimatidis’ show and said the four victims had been hired to work for the company he worked for at the time.
The radio host asked Santos if he would sue the Times for “defamation.”
“I’m going to look through and see everything and just like they nitpicked at me, now it’s going to be my time to nitpick at both journalists who made it their mission to slander me across this country and across the world,” Santos responded.
Santos flipped the 3rd Congressional District which covers parts of eastern Queens and Long Island in the November midterm elections in a victory against Democrat Robert Zimmerman.
“I will be sworn in; I will take office,” Santos said. “I will be able to be an effective member of the legislator (sic) in the 118th Congress.”
____
