The George Santos controversy

Last week, federal and state prosecutors opened separate investigations into incoming House Rep. George Santos (R-NY) after he admitted to lying about parts of his background during his election campaign.

⏪ Let’s start at the beginning… While running for office last year, Santos said he graduated from Baruch College in Manhattan, then worked at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup before making a previous congressional run in 2020.

But as it turns out, these claims were faker than cubic zirconia. A NY Times report published last month found all three of those institutions have no record of Santos ever attending or working there.

And to top it all off, further investigation into Santos’ background by other news orgs revealed more falsehoods that he perpetuated during the midterm campaign, including claims that he’s Jewish, and that his grandparents fled Europe to escape the Holocaust.

🗣️ Santos’ response: In a NY Post interview published last Monday, Rep.-elect Santos admitted to “embellishing” his resume in regards to his education and employment history, and clarified that he never graduated college and “never worked directly” for the firms listed above. Santos also said he still plans on serving as a member of Congress for the next two years.

👀 Looking ahead… Unless he chooses to resign, Santos will be officially sworn-in at the first meeting of Congress later today, since elected House candidates can only be prevented from taking office if they violate the Constitution’s age, citizenship, or state residency requirements.

Expelling a sitting House member, which has happened five times in US history, would require support from two-thirds of all lawmakers in the chamber.