George Santos silent as NY GOP slam lies — but won’t push him to quit
Nothing else to say, George?
Liar Rep.-elect George Santos was less chatty on Tuesday — when The Post spotted the 34-year-old Republican moving luggage, shopping bags, and a pair of dogs into his sister’s apartment in Elmhurst just a day after he copped to fibbing about most of his resume during his successful House campaign.
In an exclusive interview with the Post on Monday, Santos admitted he lied about most of his credentials — confessing that he had “never worked directly” for Goldman Sachs and Citigroup and acknowledging he never graduated from college despite earlier claims to the contrary.
“My sins here are embellishing my resume,” he said at the time. “I’m sorry.”
“Congressman-Elect George Santos has broken the public trust by making serious misstatements regarding his background, experience and education, among other issues,” Nassau County Republican Committee Chairman Joseph Cairo said in a statement to the Post that stopped short of demanding that Santos resign his seat in the House of Representatives. “He has a lot of work to do to regain the trust of voters and everyone who he represents in Congress. I am deeply disappointed in Mr. Santos, and I expected more than just a blanket apology.”
Santos also admitted Monday that he is “clearly Catholic” despite claiming on his campaign website that his mother was Jewish and his grandparents escaped the Nazis. In his Post interview, he claimed his grandmother – who was born and raised in Brazil – told stories about being Jewish but later converted to Catholicism.
“I never claimed to be Jewish,” Santos said. “I am Catholic. Because I learned my maternal family had a Jewish background, I said I was ‘Jew-ish.’”
However, Santos called himself a “proud American Jew” who had visited Israel “numerous times from educational, business and leisurely trips” in a campaign position paper revealed Tuesday by The Forward.
“The damage that his lies have caused to many people, especially those who have been impacted by the Holocaust, are profound,” Cairo concluded his statement. “He must do the public’s will in Washington. Residents want him to deliver tax relief and pass laws that will make our neighborhoods and our nation safer. What’s more, George Santos will have to continually prove that he has learned his lesson.”
When confronted by a Post reporter with Cairo’s statement Tuesday, Santos said nothing and continued to unload the purple Nissan Rogue in which he arrived at the Elmhurst apartment. He made three trips, removing shopping bags from Target, Macy’s, and Hermes, along with a box for a child’s easel and a carry-on rolling suitcase. On his third and final trip, Santos removed two golden retrievers from the car and brought them to the apartment before driving away.
The Republican Jewish Coalition also denounced Santos Tuesday following his admission to The Post, saying he “will not be welcome at any future RJC event.”
“We are very disappointed in Congressman-elect Santos. He deceived us and misrepresented his heritage,” the RJC said in a statement Tuesday. “In public comments and to us personally he previously claimed to be Jewish. He has begun his tenure in Congress on a very wrong note.”
Santos had been a prominent speaker at the RJC’s November conference, where he flubbed the first name of returning Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“I also stand here very proud to congratulate Prime Minister David Netanyahu for his return to power and to government,” he said in his remarks.
Santos has claimed Jewish heritage since at least May 13, 2021, when he stated he was a “descendant of survivors of the Holocaust” in a statement on Instagram. Six months later, he posted a photo of a dog, Anastacia, wearing Hanukkah-themed pajamas while a Christmas tree appeared in the background.
Also on Tuesday, the National Republican Congressional Committee replaced text on its webpage highlighting Santos’ biography that previously included references to his false claims that he “got degrees in finance and economics” from Baruch and NYU and worked for Goldman Sachs and Citigroup.
It now makes no mention of the soon-to-be congressman’s educational history and only includes a vague reference to his professional resume without citing any companies for which he has claimed to work.
“George is an experienced businessman, financier, and investor, with extensive work in capital introduction, real estate, capital markets, biotech, and M&A,” the new biography states. “He has experience delivering results in the world of business and now he will take that same drive to Washington to deliver results for New York’s Third Congressional District.”
