UNITED STATES: George Santos, the Republican congressman-elect from New York who is the subject of a controversy over his allegedly faked resume, has acknowledged lying about his work history and college degree during his successful bid for the US House.
2020 was Santos’ initial run for Congress. He was chosen in November this year to represent a portion of northeast Queens and northern Long Island.
The New York Times was the first to point out Santos’ exaggerations. The newspaper questioned Santos’ claims that he had worked for two prestigious Wall Street banks, had degrees in finance and economics from two New York colleges, and was Jewish. Four of his company’s employees died in the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida, in June 2016.
The Post quoted Santos, 34, saying he “campaigned talking about the people’s needs, not my résumé. The commitments I made during the campaign will be kept.”
But he also admitted that he didn’t graduate from any higher education institution. “I’m ashamed and remorseful for embellishing my resume,” he added.
Democrats, including Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House, have said that the Republican is unsuitable to serve in Congress. Before taking the seat formally, some have called for him to quit.
The democratic state senator from California, Ted Lieu, wrote on Twitter: “George Santos, who has now admitted his whopping lies, should resign. If he does not, then [Kevin McCarthy, the Republican House leader] should call for a vote to expel.”
The next Democratic House leader, Hakeem Jeffries, has claimed that Santos “appears to be a complete and utter fraud.”
He claimed to have had positions with Citigroup and Goldman Sachs. Neither business could locate any records to support that. Santos claimed to the Post that he had “never worked directly” for either company and that his choice of words had been “poor”. He said both did business with LinkBridge, an investment firm where he served as vice president.
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