Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) wants answers from incoming Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) about allegations he fabricated his biography.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Jeffries â who was chosen to be House Democratsâ leader in the next Congress â said, âAt this moment, we need answers from George Santos. He appears to be a complete and utter fraud, his whole life story made up.â
âAnd heâs going to have to answer that question, âDid you perpetrate a fraud on the voters of the third congressional district in New York?â Right now, George Santos appears to be in the witness protection program. No one can find him,â he continued.
Finally, Jeffries said, âWeâll see what happens on Jan. 3. Itâs an open question to me as to whether this is the type of individual that the incoming majority should welcome to Congress.â
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At a separate point in his press conference, Jeffries joked that it seemed Santos was âstarring in the sequel to âCatch Me If You Can.'â
Santos became the first openly gay Republican to win a House seat as a non-incumbent when he flipped a district held by Democrats in the November election.
He sold himself as a successful son of Brazilian immigrants who went to a public college in New York City and went on to become a âseasoned Wall Street financier and investor.â
Santos also claimed he had âan animal rescue charity that saved more than 2,500 dogs and cats.â
However, a review of his background by The New York Times failed to find evidence to back up his story.
The article stated, âCitigroup and Goldman Sachs, the marquee Wall Street firms on Mr. Santosâs campaign biography, told The Times they had no record of his ever working there.â
âOfficials at Baruch College, which Mr. Santos has said he graduated from in 2010, could find no record of anyone matching his name and date of birth graduating that year,â it added.
According to The Times, there is âlittle evidence that his animal rescue group, Friends of Pets United, was, as Mr. Santos claimed, a tax-exempt organization: The Internal Revenue Service could locate no record of a registered charity with that name.â
In a statement, Santosâ lawyer, Joseph Murray, responded to the story, as he said, âAfter four years in the public eye, and on the verge of being sworn in as a member of the Republican led 118th Congress, The New York Times launches this shotgun blast of attacks.â
âIt is no surprise that Congressman-elect Santos has enemies at The New York Times who are attempting to smear his good name with these defamatory allegations. As Winston Churchill famously stated, âYou have enemies? Good. It means that youâve stood up for something, sometime in your life,'â he continued.
NBC News notes the quote is âcommonly misattributedâ to Winston Church and actually âappears in an 1845 essay titled âVillemainâ by Victor Hugo that predates the British leader.â
