Why tell all those lies? That was the focus of a new hour-long interview between embattled Long Island Rep. George Santos and TV host Piers Morgan.
The freshman congressman took the hot seat in a sit-down recorded Monday. In the back-and-forth, Morgan asked Santos about the laundry list of his alleged lies.
Few topics appeared off limits. The media personality asked Santos about claims that his mother was in the Twin Towers on Sept. 11.
"There's no record that she was there that day, at all. And there's a record of every single person that was in both towers," Morgan said.
"I stay convinced that that's the truth," Santos responded.
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Santos defended his claims of attending Horace Mann School, even though the school has no record of him. He also defended his claims to having Jewish heritage and his grandparents survived the Holocaust.
"This is the one that I'll battle to my grave, to the point I've already ordered those DNA test kits. I've done four so far and I'm just waiting on those returns," he told Morgan.
"I never claimed to be Jewish. I've always made a party favor joke," he said, referencing past mentions of being "Jew-ish."
The two men went back and forth at one point about pinning blame on journalists for the "witch hunt" Santos feels he's been subject to over the past two months. Morgan, meanwhile, wanted admissions from Santos about the lawmaker's role in the media firestorm.
"I'm a terrible liar. Would you be prepared to say that?" Morgan asked.
"Sure. I've been a terrible liar on those subjects," Santos replied.
Santos is under investigation by local, state and federal lawmakers in connection with alleged campaign finance violations.
He has denied allegations of doing anything illegal.