During an interview with CNN’s Manu Raju on Sunday, George Santos said that he's been consulting with a genealogist for ten months to gain concrete evidence for claims he's made that his grandparents fled the Holocaust.
Hoping to obtain the documentation he's seeking before he dies, Santos said the process has been taking a lot of time because Ukraine is in the middle of a war and that's where his grandfather is from.
“I'm working on finishing getting the last pieces of it,” he said. “Specifically the piece where they go to Brazil and then have documents forged. Once I have everything ready, I will allow the same company hired to submit the report to the press with glee.”
Santos: Oh, it's true. I spent the last ten months DNA, hiring genealogists --
— Acyn (@Acyn) November 5, 2023
Raju: Is there documentation of this?
Santos: Unfortunately, Ukraine is in the middle of a war and my grandfather came from Ukraine pic.twitter.com/Dm9t7l43Uy
Touching upon confusion over whether or not he himself is Jewish, Santos went on to say, "I never said I was Jewish. I would always joke for years saying I was ‘Jew-ish.’ I was raised Roman Catholic. Everybody thought it was funny.” An interview with Piers Morgan conducted earlier this year backs that, with Santos telling him, "It’s always been a party-favor joke, everybody’s always laughed, and now that everybody’s canceling me, everyone’s pounding down for a pound of flesh.” To which Morgan responded, “Because you’re not Jewish!”
