Less than a year after it first became clear that George Santos was a serial liar of the highest order, the New York congressman’s time in Congress has drawn to a close. On December 1, 2023, he was officially expelled from the House of Representatives, following the release of a report from the House Ethics Committee accusing him of, among other things, ripping off donors and spending campaign cash on himself. (For these things and more, Santos has also been charged by federal prosecutors. He has pleaded not guilty to everything and has said the Ethics Committee report is “littered in hyperbole” and “opinion.”)
As Santos lies like people breathe, it is virtually impossible to inventory literally all of his cons and deceptions, and one should simply assume that basically anything he says is not the truth. For the biggest and most absurd ones, though, here’s a handy-dandy guide.
The alleged donor lies
According to federal prosecutors, while running for office Santos told a political consultant to tell would-be donors their money would go toward helping him get elected to the House of Representatives. Later, after two donors cut $25,000 checks, Santos allegedly spent the money on himself. What, specifically, did he splash out on? According to the House Ethics report, the money went to, among other things: purchases at Hermès and Sephora, meals, and OnlyFans.
The alleged identity theft
Prosecutors also allege Santos stole donors’ identities and made charges on their credit cards, which most people could tell you is a very, very big no-no.
Grandparents fled the Holocaust
Is there anything more vile, f–ked up, and shameless than claiming you had family members who were hunted by Hitler as he systematically murdered 6 million people? Don’t ask Santos that, because he would clearly view the question as a challenge. In 2021, the then candidate said in a campaign video that his “grandparents survived the Holocaust.” Several months later, speaking with the Jewish News Syndicate, he said, “I’m very proud of my grandparents’ story,” which he claimed included “fleeing Hitler.” Speaking to Fox News Digital, Santos, perhaps girding himself for getting caught in a lie, declared: “For a lot of people who are descendants of World War II refugees or survivors of the Holocaust, a lot of names and paperwork were changed in name of survival.” However, that does not, in fact, appear to be the case for Santos’s family. According to genealogist Megan Smolenyak, who spoke to CNN, “There’s no sign of Jewish and/or Ukrainian heritage and no indication of name changes along the way.” Meanwhile, according to CNN, multiple genealogy records indicate that his grandparents were born in Brazil.
In a November 2023 interview with CNN, Santos claimed to have spent the 10 previous months obtaining proof that his grandparents really were Ukrainian Jews who fled Holocaust, but that his effort was being delayed because “unfortunately, Ukraine is in the middle of a freaking war.”
X content
This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.
Niece was kidnapped, possibly as retribution by Chinese communists
In an interview with The New York Times that was published in October 2023, Santos told reporter Grace Ashford that his young niece had been kidnapped from a playground in Queens, in what he implied may have been retaliation for his public comments about the Chinese Communist Party. A high-ranking member of law enforcement subsequently told Ashford that the matter had been looked into—and that there was no evidence of any kidnapping, period, or really any connection to the Chinese Communist Party. “We found nothing at all to suggest it’s true,” the official said. “I’d lean into, ‘he made it up.’”
His mother died as a result of 9/11
Santos’s campaign website claimed that his mother “was in her office in the South Tower on September 11,” adding that she “passed away a few years later when she lost her battle to cancer.” On July 12, 2021, he wrote on Twitter: “9/11 claimed my mothers life.” While there have obviously been many people who have died as a result of the toxic debris they inhaled on 9/11, NBC News notes that although Santos has claimed his mother was a financial executive, “public employment records show only one employer for Santos’ mother: Imports by Rose, a company based in Queens that shuttered in 1994.” There’s also the awkward matter of documents indicating she was in Brazil on the day of the attacks.
The “assassination attempt”
In December 2022, Santos told a Brazilian podcast: “We have already suffered an attempt on my life, an assassination attempt, a threatening letter, having to have the police, a police escort standing in front of our house.” He also claimed to have been mugged, in broad daylight, on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 55th Street.
Bess Levin
Source link
