The fallout continues after Rep.-elect George Santos, R-N.Y., admitted a day ago that he lied about his job experience and college education during his successful campaign for a seat in the U.S. House.
The Nassau County GOP said in a statement Tuesday that Santos had "broken the public trust by making serious misstatements regarding his background, experience and education, among other issues. He has a lot of work to do to regain the trust of voters and everyone who he represents in Congress."
Notably, the statement stopped short of demanding that the newly elected lawmaker resign, but the chair of the committee, Joseph Cairo, said that he was "deeply disappointed in Mr. Santos, and I expected more than just a blanket apology." Cairo added that Santos now must "do the public's will in Washington."
"The damage that his lies have caused to many people, especially those who have been impacted by the Holocaust, are profound," the statement for Cairo said.
Santos did not respond to request for comment from NBC New York.
In an interview with the New York Post, Santos said: “My sins here are embellishing my resume. I’m sorry.”
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"I campaigned talking about the people’s concerns, not my resume," he told the paper. "I intend to deliver on the promises I made during the campaign."
The New York Times raised questions last week about the life story that Santos, 34, had presented during his campaign.
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.
On Monday, Santos acknowledged: “I didn’t graduate from any institution of higher learning. I’m embarrassed and sorry for having embellished my resume.”
He added: “I own up to that. … We do stupid things in life.”
Santos told the Post he had “never worked directly” for Citigroup or Goldman Sachs, saying he had used a “poor choice of words.” He told the Post that Link Bridge, an investment company where he was a vice president, did business with both.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said that hardly qualifies as embellishment.
"It's one thing for a politician to embellish their record -- most politicians do. It's another thing to tell somebody something completely untrue," Blakeman said. "There's accusations out there and Mr. Santos has to stand up and tell the public what is true and what is not."
Another news outlet, the Jewish American site The Forward, had questioned a claim on Santos' campaign website that his grandparents “fled Jewish persecution in Ukraine, settled in Belgium, and again fled persecution during WWII.” Santos later noted that his grandparents never escaped the Nazis.
“I never claimed to be Jewish,” Santos told the Post. “I am Catholic. Because I learned my maternal family had a Jewish background I said I was 'Jew-ish.'"
The backlash to that was also swift.
"Whatever fantastic story that Mr. Santos is putting together right now for after the holidays — no one's gonna buy it," Jashua Lafazan, a Nassau County legislator, said late last week as he stood with Jewish leaders at the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County.
"To lie about being descendants of Holocaust survivors is simply unacceptable," added Rabbi Deborah Bravo.
A few future constituents on Tuesday believed similarly, saying he's not qualified to hold office and that he should resign. Santos has insisted he will do no such thing, and some supporters said he should get a chance to serve.
The only place so far to confirm it had employed Santos was 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.
There was another development late last week 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.
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.
The 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 News.
A lawyer for Santos, Joe Murray, said in a Thursday email to NBC News 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.
