Rep. George Santos’ lies were known to plugged-in Republicans before last year’s election but they did not act on them, according to a new report.
Republicans alerted to Santos’ vulnerabilities before the election included Dan Conston, the head of a super PAC dedicated to winning a GOP majority in the House; and associates of Rep. Elise Stefanik, an upstate New York lawmaker, The New York Times reported Friday.
Spokespeople for Conston and Stefanik declined to comment to the Times. Conston is a close ally of Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California, and Stefanik is the No. 4 Republican in the House.
Santos, a newly sworn-in Republican whose district includes a section of northeast Queens and part of Nassau County, has been criticized by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle after admitting to making outlandish fabrications to his biography — from his work experience to his academic achievement to his religion.
The web of falsehoods, which was brought to public light by a bombshell Dec. 19 report published in the Times, have also landed the congressman under a legal microscope.
Multiple American prosecutors’ offices are investigating him, a Brazilian prosecutor’s office has moved to revive a 2008 theft charge against him and a nonpartisan watchdog has filed a Federal Election Commission complaint accusing him of violating campaign finance law.
On Thursday, a group of New York Republicans urged the 34-year-old to resign.
The Times reported Friday that a research firm hired by Santos’ campaign found in a 2021 background check that some of the false claims Santos was making could lead to future humiliation.
Researchers found no evidence Santos earned degrees at Baruch College and New York University, as he claimed. The researchers did find documents showing his involvement with a company accused of a running Ponzi scheme, the Times reported.
When Santos disputed some of the findings of the study, members of his campaign quit, according to the report.
Santos, who has admitted to “embellishing” his resume, said Thursday he wouldn’t resign from Congress unless “142,000 people” who voted for him told him to step down, understating the number of votes he won by about 3,000.
He has also insisted that he has “lived an honest life” and has never been accused of “any bad doings.”
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