Politics

GOP calls on Santos to resign from House of Representatives

New York, Jan 11 (EFE).- The Republican Party on Wednesday formally called upon Congressman George Santos to resign his seat in the House of Representatives given that it has emerged that he used a huge number of “lies and falsehoods” in his campaign to get elected in the November balloting.

It was the Republican Committee in New York’s Nassau County, which Santos was elected to represent in the House of Representatives, that took the step of calling for his immediate resignation a month after The New York Times discovered that the young US-born congressman had lied about his origins, his educational background, his professional career and even his ancestors.

In calling for Santos’ “immediate resignation, the president of the Nassau County Republican Committee, Joseph Cairo, surrounded by the top leaders of the party and federal, state and local elected officials said at a Wednesday press conference that the newly sworn-in congressman’s lies were “not mere fibs,” but rather were a disgrace to the House that had harmed many groups, specifically “the families that were touched by the horrors of the Holocaust.”

Cairo said that because of Santos’ “deceit, lies and fabrication” there is no place for him in the GOP and he is not welcome at either meetings or political rallies.

After Cairo spoke, a number of other Republican officials emphasized the “stain” that Santos has placed on the GOP with the scandal, although so far the congressman has given no sign that he is prepared to step down even as his position becomes ever more critical and, perhaps, untenable.

One of the GOP officials who spoke at the press conference noted that the sizable Jewish community living in Nassau County felt they had been “betrayed” by Santos’ lies when he invented the claim that his family was descended from survivors of the Holocaust and he himself was a “proud American Jew,” when in reality they are Catholics from Brazil.

If Santos ultimately does resign, as seems increasingly likely, it would be necessary to hold a new election in Nassau County to fill the then-vacant seat and, in doing so, the GOP would be risking losing one of the 222 House seats that give it a slim majority over the Democratic opposition.

The 34-year-old Santos, who has enjoyed a meteoric career and who has presented himself as one of the first Republican lawmakers to be openly gay, has admitted only “embellishing” his resume, stating for example that he graduated from a prestigious university that shows no record that he ever attended classes there.

The congressman is facing several investigations by federal and local authorities for potential criminal activities during his two campaigns for Congress involving his campaign financing and his deceitful statements.

In addition, according to The New york Times, Brazilian law enforcement authorities are intending to resurrect fraud charges against him stemming from a 2008 incident involving writing fraudulent checks.

EFE –/bp

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