Array
The incoming leader of the House Democrats had some harsh words on Wednesday for George Santos, the newly elected Long Island Republican whose credibility has come under question following reports that large parts of his campaign biography might have been fabricated.
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), the incoming House minority leader, said Santos needs to come clean to voters and address the uncertainties surrounding his résumé. A failure to do so, Jeffries suggested, would make Santos unfit to serve in Congress.
“He appears to be a complete and utter fraud — his whole life story made up. And he’s going to have to answer that question: Did you perpetrate a fraud on the voters of the 3rd Congressional District in New York?” Jeffries told reporters in Washington.
Santos was part of the red wave that hit New York during last month’s midterms, picking up the Nassau County seat being vacated by outgoing Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.) and helping Republicans win a slight majority in the next Congress. In the process, Santos made history, becoming the first openly gay Republican to win a House seat without the advantage of incumbency.
Yet Santos has come under intense scrutiny in recent days following a New York Times investigation that raised questions about the accuracy of the life history he had boasted on the campaign trail. Santos had, at various times, told voters that he’d graduated Baruch College; worked with Citigroup and Goldman Sachs; and managed a small, family-based real estate empire.
