Rep.-elect George Santos, R-N.Y., admitted Monday that he lied about his job experience and college education during his successful campaign for a seat in the U.S. House.
In an interview with the New York Post, Santos said: “My sins here are embellishing my resume. I’m sorry.”
He also told the newspaper: “I campaigned talking about the people’s concerns, not my resume” and added, “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 had said he had obtained a degree from Baruch College in New York, but the school said that couldn’t be confirmed.
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 had also said he had worked for Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, but neither company could find any records verifying that.
Santos told the Post he had “never worked directly” for either financial firm, 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.
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.”
“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.'”
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.
2 thoughts on “NY Rep.-elect Santos admits lying about career, college – Associated Press”
Sad but true. However a number of Democrats in New England states have also lied about their resumes of ancestry, military service and college degrees. The Prez has been lying about his education and his association with racists earlier in his political career of 50 years.
We should be judging our elected officials on the basis of adherence to the constitution they swore to uphold.
We all had better become more involved in politics. Our country is out of control fiscally and morally.
Me. Steele,
Good morning, I have a different take on this. You are correct, candidates for all parties have been known to embellish their stories. But, I think you have to admit, this fellow really went over the top. Mr. Santos lied about his family history (no, they were not persecuted Jews, or even Jews, his educational history (he said he had multiple degrees, he has none), his work history (he never worked on Wall St), his business history (he purported to own multiple businesses, he owned none). So now, what to do? Here is what should happen, he should get no committee assignments, no perks, and no help getting re-elected. He should be asked by leadership to resign, he won’t, He should be primaried with a candidate that the party will support.
Mr. Santos clearly committed a fraud here, the only way to prevent these from happening in the future is for the parties to do better due diligence, and the benefits of being elected being kept to a minimum.
Mr. Steele, you wrote “The Prez has been lying about his education”, I was not aware of this, could you help me here?
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