Santos doubles down on being ‘Jew-ish,’ hopes to prove grandparents fled Holocaust and says he was inspired to run by AOC
Lying Long Island Rep. George Santos is standing by his claims that he is “Jew-ish” — saying Sunday that he consulted with a genealogist to prove his grandparents actually did flee the Holocaust.
The embattled 35-year-old Republican revealed during an interview on CNN that he has spent the last 10 months evaluating his DNA and working with a genealogist to prove his claims about his heritage.
“That’s something I’m gonna … prove before I die,” Santos told CNN’s Manu Raju on “Inside Politics” in a segment that aired Sunday — after noting he’s yet to acquire the documentation.
“Unfortunately Ukraine is in the middle of freaking war and my grandfather comes from Ukraine,” he said.
“I am working on finishing getting the last pieces of it,” he continued about proof his family fled the Holocaust. “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 stressed that he’s Catholic and comes from a Jewish family, despite questions about that account and the lack of documentation to prove it.
“I never said I was Jewish,” he insisted. “I would always joke for years saying was ‘Jew-ish.’ I was raised Roman Catholic…everybody thought it was funny.”
Shortly after eking out a narrow victory in New York’s competitive 3rd District last November, Santos became engulfed in controversy amid revelations he fabricated vast swaths of his backstory.
“Hell in the most profound way,” Santos replied Sunday when asked what the last year has been like for him.
But Santos — who is facing a 23-count indictment for alleged embezzlement and lying to Congress — added that he didn’t regret running for office.
Sitting across from Raju, Santos walked through his indictment and professed his innocence.
“Those conversations are yet to be had,” he replied when asked about a plea deal.
Among the accusations against him are allegations that he cooked the books to make his campaign’s finances appear greater than they were in order to qualify for a program to draw GOP resources to him.
“I’ve never, ever submitted or even looked at a single report,” Santos contended. “As far as all the allegations, remember how a campaign works. I’m a candidate, candidates do not handle money.”
Prosecutors have alluded to email and text messages they believe shows guilt. They also locked down a guilty plea from Santos’ former campaign Treasurer Nancy Marks last month.
“I would love to see them,” Santos quipped when pressed about the alleged communications. “It’s really easy to take things out of context.”
One thing that he flatly denied was allegations that he falsely claimed to have loaned his campaign around $500,000 — despite his bank accounts registering less than $8,000 at the time.
“I can guarantee you that I made the financial loans campaign that are on the record,” he said. “I’d be very interested to know where they get that information. I’m totally going to defend that.”
He also distanced himself from the accusations of using campaign donor cash for personal expenses.
“Whenever people say, Oh, I got charged again, we will refund them. It’s on the reports to the best of my knowledge,” he said. “I can say that I did not handle donations.”
Santos’ campaign fundraising took a nosedive for the third quarter, coming up negative while recording $123,000 more in debt than previously reported.
Last week, he survived a bid in Congress to expel him from the lower chamber, championed by five fellow freshmen New York Republicans.
“At that point, I understood politics that [it] doesn’t matter what size your audience about political expedience,” Santos said musing it was a ploy by his colleagues to “save face locally back home.”
Backers of the bid to oust him cited his flagrant lying to the public about attending college and other details about his biography.
“Insecurity, stupidity, I don’t know,” he replied when asked about why he lied. “Look, I’m human we make mistakes. I’ve apologized and I will continue to apologize profusely for this with remorse.”
The congressman is also facing an investigation from the House Ethics Committee which is set to disclose its findings by Nov. 17.
Santos is facing stiff GOP primary and general election competition, but said he believes he can prevail, and that “there’s no predetermined outcome.”
“Nobody elected me because I play volleyball or not. Nobody elected me because I graduated college or not. People elected me because I said I’d come here to fight the swamp,” he stressed.
During the lively exchange, Santos revealed that he was inspired to run for office by progressive star Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).
“AOC was my inspiration. Most people don’t know that,” Santos reflected. “I always felt like you needed to be a Kennedy or Bush or Clinton to be in politics.”
“She’s a scrappy girl. She’s from where I’m from,” he added. “She proved that everybody can do this. No matter right or left.”
