Rep. Santos debunked on Ukrainian/Jewish origin, admits to lying

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
27 Dec 2022 08:41

New York Representative-elect George Santos, says he is "not a criminal," despite implicitly admitting that he lied about his qualifications throughout his elections campaign.

Republican NY representative-elect George Santos (Getty Images)

Republican George Santos, the Representative-elect for the House of Representatives, confessed on Monday that he had lied about his education and job history during the campaign. The representative-elect declared that it wouldn't prevent him from serving his two-year tenure in congress.

Santos played a role in securing a slim majority for Republicans in the House of Representatives. However, following an investigative report that exposed Santos' fabrications about his employment background, it became clear that Santos created an image of himself as the "full embodiment of the American dream" as an openly gay man who is the son of Brazilian immigrants and who became a "seasoned Wall Street financier and investor."

It is worth noting that as questions about Santos' campaign piled, the representative-elect, on his Twitter page, told New Yorkers, on December 22nd, that he will address questions about him.

To the people of #NY03 I have my story to tell and it will be told next week. I want to assure everyone that I will address your questions and that I remain committed to deliver the results I campaigned on; Public safety, Inflation, Education & more.

Happy Holidays to all!
— George Santos (@Santos4Congress) December 22, 2022

According to the New York Times report, Santos never worked for Citigroup or Goldman Sachs. Furthermore, he claimed to have graduated from Baruch College in 2010, however, according to the school's administration, neither his name nor his birthdate was among the class of that year's graduates.

In an interview on Monday, Santos declared, "I am not a criminal," adding that “this [controversy] will not deter me from having good legislative success. I will be effective. I will be good.”

In his confessions, Santos stated that “to get down to the nit and gritty, I’m not a fraud. I’m not a criminal who defrauded the entire country and made up this fictional character and ran for Congress. I’ve been around a long time. I mean, a lot of people know me. They know who I am. They’ve done business dealings with me."

Moreover, he said he will not "make excuses for this" and noted that " a lot of people overstate in their resumes, or twist a little bit." However, he continued by insisting that he is "not guilty of that."

In fact, the representative-elect argued that “I didn’t graduate from any institution of higher learning. I’m embarrassed and sorry for having embellished my resume.”

During the interview, he explained that he had worked at Link Bridge where he assisted in making “capital introductions” between clients and investors including Goldman Sachs and Citigroup.

Not Ukrainian refugees nor descendants of Holocaust survivors

US media last week stated that Santos' claims to be a Holocaust survivor's descendent may also have been made up. Santos said that his ancestors arrived in Belgium as Ukrainian refugees after his grandparents fled the Holocaust.

From his end, however, Santos explained “I never claimed to be Jewish,” adding that “I am Catholic. Because I learned my maternal family had a Jewish background I said I was ‘Jew-ish.’”

Last month, Santos appeared in a Jewish News Syndicate where he stated, according to CNN, that he was “very proud” of his Jewish heritage.

Moreover, in May of this year he said that his “grandparents survived the Holocaust, so these regimes of socialism, Marxism, they don’t work, and they’re followed up by a lot of hurts, and we’re seeing that currently and what’s happening in Ukraine with the Russians.”

Megan Smolenyak, an author and professional genealogist debunked Santo's claim and stated “There’s no sign of Jewish and/or Ukrainian heritage and no indication of name changes along the way.”

According to CNN, which consulted "multiple genealogists," neither the Holocaust Museum nor the International Center for Nazi Persecution, which maintains records of Jewish refugees, had any information on Santo's ancestors.