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      New add to George Santos’s résumé: producer on Spider-Man musical

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      New add to George Santos’s résumé: producer on Spider-Man musicalReports emerge that the embattled New York congressman told donors of his role, which the lead producer denies Just as it seemed the well of bizarre stories about George Santos might have begun to run dry, it was reported on Friday that the New York Republican congressman told potential donors he was a producer on the notoriously ill-fated Spider-Man musical.George Santos’s lies are so big you almost have to admire them | Emma BrockesRead moreBloomberg News said: “The lead producer, Michael Cohl, denied Santos’s involvement, saying through an assistant that [Santos] wasn’t a producer on the musical. Santos’s name also never appeared in the playbills for the show.”Santos and his lawyers did not immediately comment.Santos, 34, won election to Congress in New York’s third district in November. Since then, he has been consumed by revelations about his largely made-up educational and professional résumé; disproven claims about his family history including supposed links to the Holocaust and 9/11; allegations of criminal behaviour; and even reports that he once appeared as a drag queen in Brazil.He has admitted embellishing his résumé but denied wrongdoing and said he will not resign from Congress, which Republicans in his district and state and many leading Democrats have repeatedly demanded.Amid investigations at the local, state, federal and international levels – including of his campaign finance filings, personal wealth and business activities under a different name, Anthony Devolder – Santos this week stepped down from two committees to which he was named by Republican leaders.He said he wanted to “focus on serving the constituents of New York’s third congressional district and providing federal level representation without distraction”.That seems unlikely.Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark featured ambitious stagecraft and songs by U2’s Bono and the Edge but was badly reviewed and never trouble-free, including a number of performers suffering injuries. Its Broadway run lasted from 2011 to 2014, when it closed with losses of millions of dollars.Bloomberg noted that during the time the musical was on Broadway, Santos went from living in Brazil to working at a call centre in Queens and founding a charity to raise money for sick animals that is now being investigated after a military veteran accused Santos of absconding with money raised for his dog.The dog died. Santos denies the claim.Santos remains in the House as a valuable vote for Kevin McCarthy, the Republican speaker who must work with a narrow majority. Santos doggedly supported McCarthy through 15 votes for the position of speaker early last month.On Thursday night, meanwhile, a recording emerged of Santos firing an aide who had been on staff a little more than a week.The aide, Dan Myers, was previously a reporter in Ohio who faced criminal charges for publishing recorded legal testimony.Experience: I fell 30ft dressed as Spider-ManRead moreIn Myers’s recorded exchange with Santos, the congressman boasted about messaging with a CNN host.“Don Lemon just texted me – I’m sorry, I’m listening to you – Don Lemon just texted me!” Santos said.He also discussed the merits and costs of Botox treatments before saying Myers’s past problems in Ohio were “not concerning to us, it’s concerning to this institution”.Myers gave the recording to Talking Points Memo. He told the website that as Santos spoke, he was “thinking to myself, ‘I’m a threat and concern to this institution –George Santos, you’re George Santos!’”TopicsGeorge SantosUS CongressUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

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      George Santos’s lies are so big you almost have to admire them | Emma Brockes

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      George Santos’s lies are so big you almost have to admire themEmma BrockesThe New York congressman’s increasingly wild claims have all the thrill-seeking of a man running across a football field naked In retrospect, as it often seems to go in these cases, the evidence appears to have been so glaringly obvious, it’s a wonder we were ever taken in. George Santos – like Anna Sorokin, the “fake heiress” – even had the Scooby-Doo, black-rimmed glasses that might have come from a joke shop selling disguises. When the representative for New York’s third congressional district entered the House last November, he was briefly notable as the Republican’s first openly gay non-incumbent to win a seat.Now, his fame resides elsewhere. So wild and untrustworthy have statements made by Santos proved to be – Did his granny really survive the Holocaust? Was his mother’s death really related to 9/11? Did he ever appear in a movie alongside Uma Thurman? – that it would come as no surprise, at this stage, to discover that rather than a 34-year-old man, Santos is actually four children piled on top of each other beneath a trenchcoat.The fascinating thing about Santos, and other practitioners of these kinds of fabrications, is how easily disprovable their falsehoods turn out to be. If compulsive lying has its roots in something deeper and more complicated than mere self-advancement, you assume the risk-taking is part of the appeal. Psychologically, Santos’s claims appear akin in scale, impulse and thrill-seeking to a man running across a football field naked, each more lurid and exposing than the last.Let’s start with the small stuff, like where he went to school and what year he graduated. Per Santos’s claims, he attended Horace Mann, a prestigious private school in the Bronx (a representative of the school told CNN it had no record of him ever attending).After school, Santos claims he studied at Baruch College in New York, graduating with a degree in economics and finance in 2010. (Baruch College has no record of him graduating that year.) He claims to have gone on to study for an MBA at New York University (no record), to have worked on Wall Street for Goldman Sachs (no record) and Citigroup (no record). All of these lies were itemised in a comprehensive list in New York magazine last week, with citations for where Santos made the claim and where it was later rebutted.The New York Times, meanwhile, has also handily uploaded a copy of Santos’s two-page CV, which even in the weeds between his biggest tent-pole lies, will make your own CV claim to be “fluent in French” look like a modest inflation.George Santos withdraws from House committees amid spiraling scandalRead moreAnd that’s just the professional stuff. The personal fabrications are, if possible, even weirder in their overreach. Santos appears to have the recognisable, attention-seeking syndrome of claiming association with historical events that on closer inspection he had nothing to do with. His claim to be of Jewish heritage and have grandparents who survived the Holocaust has been thoroughly debunked, as has the claim he made on Twitter in 2021 that his mother was in the South Tower of the World Trade Center on 9/11. (Evidence suggests that, in fact, his mother, Fatima Devolder, was in Brazil in September 2001.)He has claimed, simultaneously, to own property in Brazil worth up to $1m, to own 13 rental properties – no record of these properties has so far been found – and to own no property at all and be living with his sister. The claims and reversals have reached a pitch so chaotic that it’s tempting to regard Santos as a conman approaching the level of satirist.And yet. Before we get carried away by the sheer entertainment value of all this, it’s worth reminding ourselves that beneath the improbably fanciful claims, there are suggestions of extremely banal, entirely predictable and straightforwardly self-interested financial impropriety on Santos’s part, all of which are now being investigated by federal prosecutors. A complaint has been filed with the Federal Election Commission about his alleged misuse of campaign funds, and the source of that funding, which is also under criminal investigation by the Department of Justice. And, less than a month after being sworn in, there are, of course, calls for the man to resign. Meanwhile, the most Santos has admitted to is “embellishing” his résumé.It’s a serious thing to mislead the electorate and lie to members of Congress, with a much more damaging fallout than the lies of a fake heiress trying to score a free holiday. Still, in both cases, the fascination with the workings of compulsive liars is the same. Scrutinising photos of Santos’s blank and babyish face triggers the vertiginous possibility inherent in all really big grifts – and one, possibly, deserving of sympathy, although who knows – that he has come to believe all this stuff himself.
      Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist based in New York

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      George Santos withdraws from House committees amid spiraling scandal

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      George Santos withdraws from House committees amid spiraling scandalNew York Republican congressman under investigation over his largely made-up résumé and current campaign finance filings The Republican congressman George Santos has temporarily withdrawn from two House committees to which he was appointed by party leaders despite a spiraling scandal over his largely made-up résumé, bizarre past behavior and campaign finance filings.Donald Trump sues Bob Woodward over The Trump Tapes for $50mRead moreExplaining his decision, Santos said he wanted to “focus on serving the constituents of New York’s third congressional district and providing federal level representation without distraction”.Critics would argue Santos has provided plenty of distraction since winning his seat in November.Earlier this month, the House speaker, Kevin McCarthy, appointed Santos to the committees on small business and science, space and technology.The speaker did so despite confirming that a member of staff for Santos pretended to be McCarthy’s chief of staff while seeking campaign donations.But that was hardly the biggest news of Santos’s first month in Congress.Found to have largely fabricated his educational and professional résumé, Santos has denied or deflected reports about past conduct including an alleged fraud of a homeless veteran seeking medical care for his dog and appearances as a drag queen in Brazil, where he is also being investigated over alleged use of a stolen chequebook.Santos is under local, state and federal investigation in the US. Last week it emerged that the congressman, who has also been known as Anthony Devolder, faces a criminal investigation by the Department of Justice over campaign finance filings that have prompted questions about the source of his wealth and a possible link to a Russian oligarch.Santos’s district party and other New York Republicans have been joined by New York and national Democrats in calling for Santos to quit. Polling in the third district shows nearly 80% of voters there now think he should do so.But if he did, prompting a special election, McCarthy would face further erosion of an already slender majority.Before being sworn in, Santos backed McCarthy through 15 rounds of voting for speaker as the far right of the party rebelled. Since then, McCarthy and other party leaders have repeatedly said Santos should not resign.Santos has admitted “embellishing” his résumé but repeatedly denied wrongdoing, bemoaned the tone of media coverage and said he will not step down.News of his decision to step back from committee assignments came out of a closed-door party meeting on Capitol Hill on Tuesday morning.Multiple news outlets cited an unnamed source as saying the New Yorker told fellow Republicans he had become “a distraction”.McCarthy told reporters: “I met with George Santos yesterday and I think it was an appropriate decision that until he could clear everything up, he’s off committees right now … We had a discussion and he asked me if he could do that.”In a statement, Santos’s office said: “He is recusing himself until he is cleared. Please note that his seat will be reserved until the congressman has been cleared of both campaign and personal financial investigations.”In a subsequent personal statement, Santos said: “With the ongoing attention surrounding both my personal and campaign financial investigations, I have submitted a request to Speaker McCarthy that I be temporarily recused from my committee assignments until I am cleared.“This was a decision that I take very seriously. The business of the 118th Congress must continue without media fanfare. It is important that I primarily focus on serving the constituents of New York’s third congressional district and providing federal level representation without distraction.”Santos also thanked McCarthy “for meeting with me to discuss the matter and allowing me to take time to properly clear my name”.Republicans greeted Santos’s withdrawals.Marc Molinaro, another freshman from New York, told Politico: “The decision to not serve on committees is in his and our best interest. As I said, I think he should resign and focus on his defense. But I do welcome this decision.”Don Bacon of Nebraska, a Republican moderate, told the same outlet Santos “apologised and said he was going to recuse himself … for now. He just said he recused himself for a while and then he’ll come back”.‘We don’t know his real name’: George Santos’s unravelling web of liesRead moreMarjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, both a leading rightwing extremist and a solid McCarthy ally, told reporters Santos “asked that we all support him when everything settles down for him to serve on committees”.Pete Aguilar of California, the Democratic caucus chair, told reporters he was “struck by the chaos, confusion, dysfunction of the Republican conference.“They defended putting him on committees and now they’re announcing that he’s not going to serve on a committee, so I don’t understand what the play of the day is. We have said from the beginning that George Santos is not fit to serve on any committees.”Republicans, he said, were defending “someone who only has a passing relation to the truth”.Among media responses to Santos’s withdrawal, Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, plumped for satire.“George Santos has stepped aside (with a push or two),” Sabato wrote. “… Is that any way to treat the founder of Walmart and the inventor of the iPhone?”TopicsHouse of RepresentativesRepublicansGeorge SantosUS politicsKevin McCarthynewsReuse this content More

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      Democrats urge McCarthy to deny George Santos access to classified data

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      Democrats urge McCarthy to deny George Santos access to classified dataCongressman, under intense scrutiny for largely fabricated résumé, a ‘significant risk’ to national security, letter says Two House Democrats have written to Republican speaker Kevin McCarthy demanding he deny New York congressman George Santos any opportunity to access classified information because he might be a “significant risk” to US national security.“We urge you to act swiftly to prevent George Santos from abusing his position and endangering our nation,” the two New York congressmen said.‘We don’t know his real name’: George Santos’s unravelling web of liesRead moreJoe Morelle and Gregory Meeks, published their letter to McCarthy on Wednesday.They wrote: “It is clear that Congressman George Santos has violated the public’s trust on various occasions and his unfettered access to our nation’s secrets presents a significant risk to the national security of this country.”Morelle and Meeks said “numerous concerning allegations” about Santos’s “behaviour over decades put his character into question and suggest he cannot be trusted with confidential and classified information that could threaten the United States’ national security”.McCarthy, they said, should therefore “limit to the greatest degree possible Congressman George Santos’s ability to access classified materials, including preventing him from attending any confidential or classified briefings for the foreseeable future”.McCarthy, however, said he would not take immediate action against Santos.The speaker has already named Santos to two committees, small business and science, space and technology. They are not prestigious panels but access to classified information is a hot topic in Washington, amid revelations that records were improperly retained by Donald Trump, Mike Pence and Joe Biden.Santos, 34, won election in Queens and Long Island in November but has come under enormous scrutiny over his largely made-up résumé, bizarre past conduct and suspect campaign finance filings.Amid a stream of reports and revelations, Santos has been revealed to be under investigation at local, state and federal levels and even in Brazil – where is alleged to have competed as a drag queen – over the use of a stolen chequebook.The scandal has grown so bizarre and labyrinthine that when asked to discuss precedents, the Princeton historian Sean Wilentz told Vox it would be better to look to literature, whether The Confidence-Man by Herman Melville or to the “kind of nothing man that drips all through the novels” of John Le Carré.On Wednesday a former roommate, Yasser Rabello, told Curbed about his experiences living in a small apartment with Santos, his mother, his sister, his boyfriend and a friend in 2013 and 2014. Santos was then known as Anthony Devolder, an identity now the subject of extensive reporting.Rabello said Santos/Devolder “said he was a reporter at Globo in Brazil” but “was home all day on his computer, just browsing the web, probably chatting with people”.He also said Santos claimed to be a model who “worked at New York Fashion Week and that he met all the Victoria’s Secret models and would be in Vogue magazine”.Amid ceaseless reporting and delighted mockery on national late-night TV, Republicans in Santos’s district and from other New York seats have joined Democrats in calling for Santos to resign.But though he has admitted “embellishing” his résumé, the congressman has denied wrongdoing and said he will not quit.Republican leaders continue to stand by their man.Santos backed McCarthy through 15 votes for speaker, a role McCarthy must now perform with a slim majority and under constant threat from rightwing rebels.On Wednesday, McCarthy said that was not why he had refused to tell Santos to go.“No,” he told reporters at the Capitol. “You know why I’m standing by him? Because his constituents voted for him. I do not have the power simply because if I disagree with somebody or what they have said that I remove them from elected office.”McCarthy and other House Republican leaders have repeatedly said allegations against Santos are a matter for the House ethics committee, even as they continue to attempt to gut the ethics process.McCarthy said on Wednesday: “If for some way when we go through ethics [it is found] that he has broken the law, then we will remove him, but it’s not my role. I believe in the rule of law. A person’s innocent until proven guilty.”Daniel Goldman and Ritchie Torres, two New York Democrats, have led calls for an investigation of Santos’s campaign finance filings, calls echoed by outside watchdog groups amid questions over the sources of Santos’s wealth and reports of links to a Russian oligarch and a company found to be a Ponzi scheme.TopicsRepublicansUS politicsKevin McCarthyGeorge SantosnewsReuse this content More

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      George Santos admits ‘personal’ loans to campaign were not from personal funds

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      George Santos admits ‘personal’ loans to campaign were not from personal fundsNew campaign finance filings reported by Daily Beast do not shed light on real source of $600,000 in funding In a new twist to one of the most bizarre American political scandals in decades, the New York Republican congressman George Santos appeared to admit on Tuesday that more than $600,000 in loans to his campaign did not come from personal funds, as was originally claimed.‘We don’t know his real name’: George Santos’s unravelling web of liesRead moreBut new campaign finance filings first reported by the Daily Beast did not shed light on where the funds actually came from.One expert said he had “never been this confused” by a campaign finance form.Santos, 34, won election to Congress last year in New York’s third district, which covers parts of Long Island and Queens.But he swiftly came under pressure over a résumé which has been shown to be largely made-up; local, state, federal and international investigations; and increasingly picaresque allegations and revelations including an alleged past as a drag queen in Brazil.Republican House leaders have stood by him, however, not least because he supported Kevin McCarthy through 15 rounds of voting for speaker earlier this month, a process which installed the Californian atop a slim GOP majority prey to hard-right rebels. Last week, Santos was installed on two House committees.As well as joining New York Republicans in calling for Santos to quit, Democrats have demanded investigation of Santos’s campaign finance filings.This week, the saga continued at a familiar pitch as Santos complained about impersonations on late-night TV – a sure sign of fame, or infamy, in the American public square.“I have now been enshrined in late-night TV history with all these impersonations,” the congressman tweeted on Monday, “but they are all TERRIBLE so far.“Jon Lovitz is supposed to be one of the greatest comedians of all time and that was embarrassing – for him not me! These comedians need to step their game up.”Lovitz, who impersonated Santos on NBC’s The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, responded: “Thanks the review and advice! You’re right! I do need to step my game up! My pathological liar character can’t hold a candle to you!”It was also reported on Monday that Santos once claimed to be the target of an assassination attempt, and that in a 2020 interview he claimed to have met Jeffrey Epstein, while suggesting the financier and sex offender did not kill himself in jail but was murdered or even alive.On Tuesday morning, Santos promised a surprise to reporters staking out his office in Congress – then served them coffee and donuts.Later, the Beast reported on weightier matters, spotting that on new campaign finance filings, a $500,000 loan was no longer listed as “personal funds of the candidate”, as was another for $125,000.The Beast said no indication was given as to where the loans actually came from.Amid questions about his apparent wealth, Santos has been linked to a Russian oligarch. It has also been reported that he was once hired by a Florida-based investment firm that was accused by the Securities and Exchange Commission of being a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme.Santos previously told a New York radio host the loans were “the money I paid myself” through his company, the Devolder Organization.Santos’s activities under the name Anthony Devolder are also the subject of intense scrutiny.He has admitted “embellishing” his résumé but denied wrongdoing. He has said he will not resign.Speaking to the New York Times, a lawyer for Santos, Joe Murray, said it “would be inappropriate” to comment on the new filings, because of pending investigations.Jordan Libowitz, a spokesman for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington or Crew, a watchdog group, told the Times: “I have never been this confused looking at an [Federal Election Commission] filing.”Brendan Fischer, deputy executive director of Documented, another watchdog, told the Beast: “I don’t know what they think they are doing.“Santos’ campaign might have unchecked the ‘personal funds of candidate’ box, but it is still reporting that the $500,000 came from Santos himself.“If the ‘loan from candidate’ didn’t actually come from the candidate, then Santos should come clean and disclose where the money really came from. Santos can’t uncheck a box and make his legal problems go away.”TopicsGeorge SantosUS politicsUS political financingRepublicansUS CongressHouse of RepresentativesNew YorknewsReuse this content More

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      ‘We don’t know his real name’: George Santos’s unravelling web of lies

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      ‘We don’t know his real name’: George Santos’s unravelling web of lies ‘Nobody even knows who this guy is,’ critics say, but he was still awarded with House panel assignments – showing the party ‘stands for nothing’“He didn’t just steal from a service dog. He didn’t just steal from a dying service dog. He stole from a disabled homeless veteran’s dying service dog. Oh my God. You evil and stupid!”That was how Leslie Jones, guest host of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, summed up just one of this week’s revelations about George Santos, a US congressman whose shameless fabulism has stunned Washington, a capital that thought it had smelt every flavour of mendacity from politicians.Serial liar George Santos is the politician Americans deserve | Moira DoneganRead more“What does this man have to do get thrown out of Congress?” Jones asked, echoing the thoughts of many. “He’s a fucking liar.”Yet the answer is that, far from being expelled from the House of Representatives, Santos, 34, was rewarded with assignments on two of its committees. The vote of confidence appeared to be an expedient calculation by the House speaker, Kevin McCarthy, aware Republicans have such a slim majority that even losing one seat would make it much harder to pass legislation.But it was also a decision, critics said, that showed the party of Abraham Lincoln and Dwight Eisenhower has lost its moral compass. Stuart Stevens, a political consultant and author of It Was All a Lie: How the Republican Party Became Donald Trump, said: “Santos is a perfect example of the collapse of the Republican party.“It shows that the party stands for nothing. It seems like a million years ago but there was a time when we said character was destiny. Nobody even knows who this guy is. We literally don’t know his real name.”Indeed, as recently as four years ago, Santos was introducing himself publicly as “Anthony Devolder” – a combination of his middle name and his mother’s maiden name. It is just one strand in a web of deceit that makes the protagonists of Catch Me If You Can, The Talented Mr Ripley and Pinocchio look as honest as the day is long.That web went mostly unnoticed during Santos’s election campaign in New York last year but has unravelled with dizzying speed in the past few weeks, forcing him to run a daily gauntlet of reporters on Capitol Hill and to admit lying about his family heritage, college education and job experience.For instance, Santos made the false and offensive claim that his maternal grandparents escaped from the Holocaust. In fact, they were born in Brazil, and he has now been forced to acknowledge that he was raised Catholic.But when Santos was caught falsely claiming to be Jewish, he told the conservative Fox News network that he was not actually lying because he had merely referred to himself as “Jew-ish” – presumably unaware that he was borrowing an old joke from the British polymath Jonathan Miller, who once declared: “I’m not really a Jew; just Jew-ish.”Santos wrote on Twitter that his mother was killed in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on New York but subsequently said she died on 23 December 2016. A review of his mother’s employment record found no evidence of her ever working at or near the World Trade Center, while her immigration history suggests that she was not even on American soil on 9/11.Last October, Santos told the USA Today newspaper: “I am openly gay, have never had an issue with my sexual identity in the past decade, and I can tell you and assure you, I will always be an advocate for LGBTQ+ folks.” It subsequently emerged that he had been married to a woman, whom he divorced in 2019.Santos claimed to have briefly attended Horace Mann, an elite private preparatory school in New York, but the school has no record of him. He said he has academic degrees from New York University and New York’s Baruch College and was even a star player on the Baruch volleyball team – again, there is no record of him having studied at either institution or playing volleyball.Santos also said he had worked for the top Wall Street firms Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, but neither company could find any records verifying this. In an interview with the New York Post newspaper, Santos said: “My sins here are embellishing my résumé. I’m sorry.”Santos portrayed himself as a successful property investor whose family owned several buildings. But court records indicate that Santos was the subject of three eviction proceedings in Queens, New York, between 2014 and 2017 because of unpaid rent.In 2020 Santos was hired by Harbor City Capitol Corp, an investment firm based in Florida. The company ceased operating in 2021 after it was accused by the Securities and Exchange Commission of being a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme.The scandals keep coming. On Wednesday Santos was accused of taking $3,000 from an online fundraiser intended to help save the life of a sick dog owned by Richard Osthoff, a disabled military veteran. Santos called “reports that I would let a dog die … shocking and insane” – but did not directly deny them.On Thursday old acquaintances of Santos said he had competed as a drag queen in Brazilian beauty pageants 15 years ago, opening him to charges of hypocrisy: he has endorsed Florida’s hardline “don’t say gay” bill and aligned himself with far-right Republicans hostile to transgender rights. Again he issued an angry denial, saying the media “continues to make outrageous claims about my life”.And on top of everything, law enforcement authorities in Brazil have said they intend to reinstate fraud charges against Santos relating to a case involving a stolen chequebook in 2008. Eric Swalwell, a Democratic congressman from California, has branded him “a wanted international criminal”.Even seasoned observers are aghast at the outlandishness. Monika McDermott, a political science professor at Fordham University in New York, said: “This goes beyond anything I believe I’ve ever seen. We see a fair share of dissembling or chest beating in various ways but to outright lie about your résumé and continue to do so even once caught in such lies really takes a certain amount of courage – let’s call it that.”Democrats have asked the House ethics committee to investigate Santos. State and local Republican leaders in New York have called on him to resign after lying to the voters who elected him. But the congressman has dug in his heels and refused.McCarthy and Republican leaders in Washington have said they will handle the situation internally. But they know the political stakes. They hold just a 10-seat majority and know that Santos represents a district that could flip to Democrats in a special election.McDermott added: “It’s all in the numbers. I don’t see how they can do anything about this without risking their slim majority in the House and so they’re going to have to stand behind him as much as they can. At this point they’re unlikely to do anything about it.”Notably, while some congressional Republicans have given Santos the cold shoulder, he appears to have found comfort with the House Freedom Caucus and extremist Maga (Make America Great Again) wing.Zac Petkanas, senior adviser to the House Accountability War Room, a rapid-response watchdog, said: “People are rightly focusing on the lies he’s told about his résumé, where he got his money from, where he went to school and all of that but he’s also someone who participated in the January 6 rally.“He’s not just a random member of Congress; he’s in the Maga contingent that has taken control. He’s in the Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, Lauren Boebert cabal. The lies, the conspiracy theories, the encouragement of political violence is part of the brand of this breed of politicians that is wielding such influence over the new Congress.”Some see Santos not as an outlier or unicorn but the natural culmination of the Republican party’s descent over the past decade. Donald Trump, who burst into political prominence with the racist lie that Barack Obama has been born outside the US, made more than 30,000 false or misleading claims during his presidency, according to the Washington Post.One of his senior advisers, Kellyanne Conway, infamously coined the phrase “alternative facts”. Some 147 Republicans voted to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election; McCarthy was among them. And during last year’s midterm elections, Republican candidates such as Herschel Walker were caught in numerous falsehoods.In this sense Santos represents a difference in degree, not a difference in kind. Kurt Bardella, a Democratic strategist, said: “There isn’t a better living mascot for what the Republican party is turning itself into than George Santos – one that is completely divorced from truth and reality, one that openly embraces conspiracy theory, one that time and again rejects fact and science.“When you have the standard bearer for your party be someone like Donald Trump, who lies about everything from classified documents to the crowd size of his inauguration and everything in between, it’s only a matter of time before people emerge who completely bathe themselves in lies.”Bardella, a former senior adviser for Republicans on the House oversight committee, added: “It’s hardly surprising that someone like Santos has emerged and successfully conned his way into elected office and the Republican party leadership’s refusal to do anything or say anything about it only encourages copycats to follow.”TopicsGeorge SantosRepublicansUS politicsfeaturesReuse this content More

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      George Santos denies reports that he competed as drag queen in Brazil

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      George Santos denies reports that he competed as drag queen in BrazilNew York Republican under pressure over fabrications about his career, past and alleged criminal behaviour George Santos on Thursday tweeted an angry denial that he competed as a drag queen in Brazilian beauty pageants 15 years ago, claims made by acquaintances that have highlighted the contrast between the Republican congressman’s past actions and now staunchly conservative views.Republicans defend George Santos as report details alleged sick dog fraudRead moreThe New Yorker, who says he is gay, dismissed the story as an “obsession” by the media, which he insisted, without irony, “continues to make outrageous claims about my life”.Santos is facing calls from Democrats and his fellow New York Republicans to step down over fabrications about his career and history and amid reports of investigations at local, state and federal level in the US and in Brazil over the use of a stolen checkbook.In another contradiction exposed on Wednesday by a New York Times analysis of immigration records, Santos’s insistence that his mother was in the World Trade Center during the 9/11 terrorist attacks was found to be false.Santos has admitted “embellishing” his résumé but otherwise denied wrongdoing and said he will not resign.The claim that Santos was a drag performer came from a 58-year-old Brazilian who uses the drag name Eula Rochard, Reuters reported.Rochard said she befriended Santos when he was cross-dressing in 2005 at the first Pride parade in Niterói, a suburb of Rio de Janeiro. Three years later, Santos competed in a drag beauty pageant in Rio, she added.Another person from Niterói who knew Santos, but asked not to be named, said he participated in drag queen beauty pageants under the name Kitara Ravache, and aspired to be Miss Gay Rio de Janeiro.Santos is now a hardline conservative on numerous social issues, especially those targeting non-binary communities. Republicans have taken aim at drag shows and performers in several states, claiming they are harmful to children.In Texas, one proposal would brand venues that host such shows as “sexually oriented” businesses.Santos, the first out gay Republican to win a House seat in Congress as a non-incumbent, has supported Florida’s “don’t say gay” law, which marginalizes the LGBTQ+ community and prohibits discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in classrooms.Responding in October to criticism of his support for the Florida bill, Santos told USA Today: “I am openly gay, have never had an issue with my sexual identity in the past decade, and I can tell you and assure you, I will always be an advocate for LGBTQ+ folks.”Republican leaders have so far stood by Santos. He supported the new speaker, Kevin McCarthy, through 15 rounds of voting for that position, and was rewarded with seats on two House committees in a slim Republican majority.But despite McCarthy’s support, increasing numbers of senior party officials have pleaded with Republican leadership to cut him loose. They include several of Santos’s fellow New York congressmen.The Daily Beast reported on Thursday that a “shadow” race was under way in Democratic and Republican circles to replace Santos in New York’s third district, in the expectation that he will eventually be forced out. Republicans, the Beast said, are looking for “a candidate with an immaculate, bulletproof résumé who can patch up the Long Island GOP’s scarred reputation”.Democrats are seeking somebody who can turn the district blue again after Santos’s surprise win in November.As for Santos’s alleged drag show exploits, Rochard said the congressman was a “poor” drag queen in 2005, with a simple black dress, but in 2008 “he came back to Niterói with a lot of money” and a flamboyant pink dress to show for it.Santos competed in a drag beauty pageant that year but lost, Rochard said, adding: “He’s changed a lot but he was always a liar. He was always such a dreamer.”Santos’s tweet on Thursday was his second denial in two days concerning a claim about his past. On Wednesday, he was embroiled in allegations he took money from an online fundraiser intended to help save the life of a sick dog owned by a military veteran.“The media continues to make outrageous claims about my life while I am working to deliver results,” Santos said. “I will not be distracted or fazed by this.”On Thursday, Santos called “reports that I would let a dog die … shocking and insane”.But the veteran told CNN Santos should “go to hell”.Richard Osthoff added that if he spoke to Santos now, he would ask: “Do you have a heart? Do you have a soul?’“He’d probably lie about that.”TopicsGeorge SantosHouse of RepresentativesUS CongressUS politicsDragBrazilAmericasnewsReuse this content More

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      Republicans defend George Santos as report details alleged sick dog fraud

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      Republicans defend George Santos as report details alleged sick dog fraudSmall business panel chair defends seat for freshman despite claim fabulist congressman bilked veteran out of $3,000 to save dog’s life The chairman of one of two House committees on which George Santos will sit has defended the decision, despite the New York Republican’s résumé having been shown to be largely made up, and amid allegations of deceitful and criminal behaviour now including bilking a disabled veteran out of $3,000 raised to save the life of his dog, and fabricating a story about his mother surviving the 9/11 attacks.George Santos reportedly to be seated on two House committeesRead moreThe disabled veteran, Richard Osthoff, told the news site Patch he was “crying his eyes out remembering Sapphire’s last day”.In Congress, however, Roger Williams of Texas, the chair of the small business committee, told CNN of Santos: “I don’t condone what he said, what he’s done. I don’t think anybody does. But that’s not my role. He was elected.”Santos will also sit on the science, space and technology committee. CNN said requests for seats on panels dealing with the financial sector and foreign policy were rebuffed.Santos won election in New York’s third district in November. Since then, he has been the subject of relentless media scrutiny, calls to resign from his own party and from Democrats, and multiple calls for investigations of his campaign finances.But Williams was following a party line set by the new House speaker, Kevin McCarthy, who Santos supported through 15 votes for the speakership and who must work with a narrow majority.House Democrats led by Daniel Goldman and Ritchie Torres, both from New York, have called for an investigation of what Republican leaders knew about Santos’s deceptions before he won election and was seated.On Monday, McCarthy told reporters: “I never knew about his résumé or not, but I always had a few questions about it.”On Tuesday, Goldman said: “The public has no choice but to believe that McCarthy was complicit in concealing Mr Santos’s lies in order to flip a seat in a win-at-all-costs effort to gain power.”Amid spiraling claims about Santos’s personal and professional life, it was alleged on Tuesday that he stole $3,000 from a fundraising account set up to pay for life-saving surgery for Osthoff’s dog.According to Patch, Santos became involved with Osthoff and his dog, Sapphire, in 2016.Needing to raise money, the report said, Osthoff was told that a man named Anthony Devolder, with a pet charity called Friends of Pets United, could help.As Patch reported, “Anthony Devolder is one of the names Long Island representative George Santos used for years before entering politics in 2020.”Osthoff, who provided text message exchanges he said he had with Devolder, said Santos eventually took the money and disappeared. Osthoff’s dog died.“Little girl never left my side in 10 years,” Osthoff said. “I went through two bouts of seriously considering suicide, but thinking about leaving her without me saved my life. I loved that dog so much, I inhaled her last breaths when I had her euthanised.”Santos did not comment to Patch but did deny the allegation in a message to the news outlet Semafor.“Fake,” Semafor quoted Santos as saying, in a text. “No clue who this is.”Yet another of Santos’ fibs came to light later on Wednesday, when the Washington Post reported that the congressman’s story about his mother surviving the World Trade Center attack during 9/11 did not align with immigration records that said she was not in the US at the time.For now, Santos continues to find his feet in Congress. According to the New York Times, he is showing signs of aligning himself with far-right pro-Trump representatives including Matt Gaetz of Florida and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.Santos has not answered many questions from reporters. In rare comments, he has admitted “embellishing” his résumé but denied wrongdoing and said he will not resign.TopicsGeorge SantosRepublicansHouse of RepresentativesUS politicsnewsReuse this content More