Kevin McCarthy, Speaker of the US House of Representatives, said Republican Representative George Santos, the son of Brazilian migrants, should be investigated by the House Ethics Committee after being caught in a spiral of lies about his resume and personal trajectory.
Initially, he told the American TV channel CNN that the deputy was under investigation, but later backed off and said that Santos is the target of complaints in the agency. “The Ethics Committee is moving forward and, if it finds something, it will react,” said the Republican leader. “For the time being, we are not allowing him to sit on legislative committee posts because of the issues that have arisen.”
Although he said that the party did not authorize Santos’ participation in House panels, McCarthy had previously stated that this decision came from the deputy involved in the scandals. The idea, according to the mayor, was seen as appropriate “until he can clarify everything” and considered by the media the first show of weakness since he became the target of investigations.
Santos had been assigned to two committees: Science, Space and Technology and Small Business, which oversees one of the government’s biggest initiatives, the Wage Protection Program, with an estimated budget of nearly US$ 1 trillion (R$ 5 .1 trillion).
Santos’ participation in these spaces was criticized. After his election in November, the American newspaper The New York Times showed that the deputy lied about various aspects of his life to attract voters – from academic and professional curriculum to sources of income and family origins.
The politician was unable to explain in detail the origin of the donation of at least US$ 600,000 that he made to his own campaign. According to him, the money came from a firm that opened in Florida, where the law requires company owners to be domiciled in the state. An analysis of data by Dun & Bradstreet estimates that, until July of last year, Santos’ company had revenues of only US$ 43,688.
So far, McCarthy has not asked the supporter to resign. In early January, he told the press that this was the voters’ decision. “I try to stick to the Constitution. The voters chose him,” he said. “He will have to earn the trust of the people here, he will have the opportunity to do that. Are there any charges against him? In the US you are innocent until proven guilty.”
On the same day, Santos took to Twitter to deny an eventual resignation. “I was elected to serve the people of New York, not the party and politicians. I regret that local officials refuse to work in my office to deliver results, keep our community safe and lower the cost of living.”
After the hoaxes were revealed, he confessed to lying when he said he went to college and worked on Wall Street. Now, he has also admitted that he is not Jewish. He used to tell a far-fetched narrative about grandparents who emigrated from Ukraine to Brazil fleeing Nazism, but both were born in Rio.
With a wealth of experience honed over 4+ years in journalism, I bring a seasoned voice to the world of news. Currently, I work as a freelance writer and editor, always seeking new opportunities to tell compelling stories in the field of world news.
