A newly elected New York Republican whose life story has come under question since his election to the U.S. House of Representatives said Thursday that he plans to respond to the concerns.
In a statement on Twitter, Rep.-elect George Santos said, "I have my story to tell and it will be told next week. I want to assure everyone that I will address your questions and that I remain committed to deliver the results I campaigned on."
Questions have been raised this week about the life story that Santos, 34, had presented during the campaign for the 3rd Congressional District.
The Queens resident said he had obtained a degree from Baruch College, but the school said that couldn't be confirmed. He claimed to have attended NYU as well, but the college had a similar response. Santos also said he had worked for Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, but neither company could find any records verifying that.
An attorney for Santos called the stories, first printed by The New York Times, a smear but didn't answer questions about the concerns. Calls placed to Santos and his attorney were not returned.
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"It's one thing for a politician to embellish their record -- most politicians do. It's another thing to tell somebody something completely untrue. And so there's acusations out there and Mr. Santos has to stand up and tell the public what is true and what is not," said Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman.
The only place so far to confirm that Santos had been employed be them? Dish Network, according to Patch. The local outlet spoke with multiple people who said they had worked with Santos more than a decade ago at a Queens customer service center, and the cable provider confirmed that he had worked there from Oct. 2011 to July 2012, Patch reported.
One woman who said she worked with Santos told Patch that she remembered him using different names, such as Anthony Devolder, George Devolder, or George Anthony Devolder Santos. The woman said Santos told them he was born in Brazil, traveled there frequently, and "came from money."
Court records also showed that Santos had had financial issues, including being put under eviction proceedings three times between 2014 and 2017 over unpaid rent.
Santos first ran for Congress in 2020 and lost. He ran again in 2022 and won in the district that includes some Long Island suburbs and a small part of Queens — a win that came amid a New York "red wave" that helped Republicans take the House of Representatives.
But he's now facing growing pressure to step down before he ever gets sworn into Congress. Claims on his website are being questioned as well. For example, the site used to say that his grandparents "fled Jewish persecution in Ukraine, settled in Belgium and again fled persecution during World War II."
But on Thursday, the site simply said that he is "a first generation American whose parents immigrated from Brazil."
"Whatever fantastic story that Mr. Santos is putting together right now for after the holidays — no one's gonna buy it then," Jashua Lafazan, a Nassau County legislator, said as he stoof with Jewish leaders at the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County.
"To lie about being descendants of Holocaust survivors is simply unacceptable," said Rabbi Deborah Bravo.
There was another development as well, as the Daily Beast reported that Santos — who told voters he was married to a man and the first openly gay Republican to seek office on Long Island — got a divorce from a woman just three years ago.
"At this point he has to seriously consider going one by one addressing each of the accusatIons and telling the public what the real story is," Blakeman said.
New York Attorney General is now looking into the allegations, NBC News reported. The office did not confirm if an official investigation into Santos had been launched, and did not provide further comment to NBC.
A lawyer for Santos, Joe Murray, said in an email to NBC News Thursday afternoon that he had "not been contacted by anyone" from the attorney general's office.
Congressional sources told NBC New York that Santos has been participating in orientation for new members of Congress, and he's currently on track to be sworn in on Jan. 3.
