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House Republican leadership is facing growing pressure to punish Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) after GOP leaders in New York called on the congressman to step down for fabricating large parts of his resume and personal details.
Nassau County Republican Chairman Joseph Cairo and other officials — including freshman Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-N.Y.) — said Santos should resign during a press conference on Wednesday, arguing that his campaign was one of “deceit, lies, and fabrication.”
“He has no place in the Nassau County Republican Committee, nor should he serve in public service nor as an elected official. He’s not welcome here at Republican headquarters for meetings or at any of our events,” Cairo said. “As I said, he’s disgraced the House of Representatives and we do not consider him one of our congresspeople.”
D’Esposito, the first sitting House member to call for Santos’s resignation, said his “many hurtful lies and mistruths surrounding his history have irreparably broken the trust of the residents he is sworn to serve.” And Rep. Nick Langworthy (N.Y.), chairman of the New York GOP, backed Santos’s resignation and said the congressman “cannot be an effective representative,” arguing that “it would be in the best interest of taxpayers to have new leadership.”
But Santos is refusing to step down, writing in a statement that he was “elected to serve the people of #NY03 not the party & politicians” — a stance that is putting top House Republicans in a pickle, forcing them to figure out how to handle the freshman congressman while holding on to their narrow majority in the chamber.
In his most extensive comments on the Santos controversy yet, Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told reporters on Wednesday that the New York Republican “will continue to serve,” noting that voters elected him to be their representative. The newly minted leader also said Santos is “innocent until proven guilty” — a notion that was echoed by other GOP lawmakers.
