A New York prosecutor’s office on Wednesday announced it was probing the conduct of George Santos, a Republican who fabricated much of his credentials and life story as part of his November election to the U.S. House of Representatives.
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Anne Donnelly, the district attorney for Nassau County, described the many allegations that have surfaced in recent days regarding Santos as complex and layered.
“The numerous fabrications and inconsistencies associated with Congressman-Elect Santos are nothing short of stunning,” Donnelly, a Republican, said in the statement.
“The residents of Nassau County and other parts of the third district must have an honest and accountable representative in Congress,” she noted. “No one is above the law and if a crime was committed in this county, we will prosecute it.”
Santos’ campaign and last month’s election drew national attention as both major candidates self-identified as gay. Santos made history as the first non-incumbent Republican who identifies as a member of the LGBTQ community to win a seat in the U.S. House.
However, reporting by the New York Times and other outlets in recent weeks raised questions about almost every aspect of Santos’ purported life story.
Santos claimed he obtained degrees from both New York University and Baruch College, but enrollment files show no record of attendance. He also claimed to have worked professionally for Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, with neither having evidence of his employment.
He also spread familial lies, falsely claiming that he was Jewish and that his grandparents escaped the Nazis during World War Two, also failing to disclose that he was married to a woman as recently as 2019.
In recent discussions, Santos has defended aspects of the way he represented himself but did apologize for “embellishing” his resume and background.
For instance, when discussing his heritage, he has since described himself as “Jew-ish” rather than “Jewish,” telling the media that he described himself that way because his “maternal family had a Jewish background.”
The district he is set to represent is heavily Jewish and spans parts of Long Island and Queens.
Several congressional members, both Democrat and Republican, have called on Santos to resign. Some republican leaders, including top House Republican Kevin McCarthy, have remained silent on the issue, however.
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