Disgraced Long Island congressman George Santos not only refuses to resign, but vows to run again – overtly claiming to have “lived an honest life” despite being caught in a string of lies.
The brand new lawmaker under fire made a misleading claim Thursday in a podcast chat with fellow scandal-stricken rep Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), wherein Santos addressed quite a few calls for his resignation.
“I’ve worked all my life – I’ve lived truthfully,” Santos, 34, told Gaetz, who downplayed the way his fellow Republican “embellished his resume”, describing it as something most lawmakers do.
“I even have never been accused of any wrongdoing,” added Santos, who’s under investigation at the local, state and federal level for funding his House of Representatives campaign – and in Brazil for alleged check fraud.
Santos has also promised to run for a second term in 2024, despite demands that he step down from fellow Recent York Republicans and former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who told CNN Thursday night that Santos’ “fraudulent candidacy” she had “deceived her voters”.
“I got here here to serve the people, not politicians and party leaders,” Santos told Gaetz guest host on “The War Room” by Steve Bannon podcast.
“I used to be elected by 142,000 people – until those self same 142,000 people tell me they don’t need me … we’ll know in two years,” he said.
Santos first admitted to The Post on December 26 that he lied during his campaign about graduating from Baruch College and NYU and dealing for top investment firms Goldman Sachs and Citigroup.
He also made false statements about his personal life during the campaign, including that he was a “proud American Jew” whose grandparents had fled Nazi persecution in Europe.
Gaetz repeatedly rejected Santos’s admitted lies, saying at one point, “Beautiful your resume is just not against the law, to be honest, that is how many individuals get into Congress.”
“I might propose that if we didn’t see people on committees embellishing their resumes for congressional candidates, we probably would not give you the chance to get a quorum on any of those committees,” the Florida resident added with a chuckle.
When asked about reports that he donated greater than $700,000 to his own campaign, Santos turned it into an attack on President Biden and his disgraced son Hunter.
“I’ll let you know where.” [his campaign cash] it wasn’t—it wasn’t from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. What do you say,’ he said with a smirk, referring to the shady interests of his first son.
“He wasn’t from Burisma, he wasn’t from Ukraine, Russia, China, unlike some people everyone knows get their money from these sources,” he repeated knowingly.
For now, Santos has pledged to “deliver 110%” of his guarantees to voters.
“I’m going to overwork every considered one of the experts and talking heads who say I should resign, that I’m unfit for office,” he said.
“All the individuals who call me to quit – I beat them twice because I overwork all of them.”
Gaetz used the chat to make light of his own scandals, including a federal sex trafficking investigation.
“One thing I find out about this city, they’re coming for the militants,” a Florida legislator told Santos with a smile.
“I’d ask you what it’s like to be a congressman in combat, but I do know a little bit about the scene.”
Gaetz told listeners and viewers that he was hosting the chat because Bannon was “on project”.
He didn’t mention, nevertheless, that the former strategist of then-President Donald Trump was in a Manhattan court on Thursday for the final hearing in his fraud trial over the “We’re constructing a wall” fundraising scam.