Another day, another twist in the tale of Congressman George Santos. The latest claims that have surfaced: Santos previously said he was the target of an assassination attempt, and that he was mugged on Fifth Avenue during the middle of the day.
So now the Long Island Republican is facing a familiar question: Did those things really happen? Or is it more falsehoods (or as he has called them, "embellishments")?
It isn't the first wild incident a politician has poised about Fifth Avenue, as former President Donald Trump famously said during his 2016 campaign that "I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters."
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But now it's Rep. Santos in the spotlight. On Rachel Maddow's show Monday night, there was new video of a Brazilian podcast Santos recorded in December. In Portuguese, he first claimed there was an attempt on his life. During the same podcast, he claimed muggers attacked him in Aug. 2021 in the heart of midtown, on Fifth Avenue and 55th Street, in the middle of the day.
Santos said on the podcast that the robbers took his watch, briefcase and shoes.
Not only do a majority of New Yorkers likely not believe the claims (polls show they don't trust Santos and want him to resign), the NYPD said it has no record of any mugging or attempt on the now-congressman's life. Santos has previously admitted embellishments on his resume, but said that an ethics investigation won’t deter him from serving in office.
The embattled Republican didn't answer many questions in D.C. on Tuesday, although he and his staff delivered donuts and coffee as the “surprise” he had promised for journalists who have been hounding him for answers. Perhaps less surprising, the freshman congressman skipped the new member meet-and-greet with President Biden.
"I’m not attending, didn’t have the time. Not on my schedule, sorry," Santos said, adding that he will be doing "constituent services" instead. He did not explain what services prevented him from attending an event with the president, and his communications director did not respond to emails or calls requesting comment.
It comes after a poll, about half of which was made up of Republicans, showed that a strong majority of New Yorkers want Santos to resign amid the ongoing scandal tied to his history of lying, according to a new poll released Monday.
The Siena College poll, released Monday, found that 59% of voters are calling on him to resign, against 17% who said he should stay in office. (The rest did not know or had no opinion.)
Almost half of Republicans, 49% in total, called for him to go, as well as 54% of those who identified themselves as politically conservative. More than 7 out of every 10 suburban voters said he should leave office - a tough result for Santos, whose 3rd District is mostly suburban Nassau County.
To the extent Santos had any "support" at all in the poll, it was among Latino voters, of whom only 33% said he should definitely resign, against 24% who said he should not. (Nearly half of Latino voters surveyed said they didn't know or had no opinion, which was by far larger than any other demographic polled.)
Separately, Siena also asked voters if they had a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Santos. At -40, he had by far the worst net rating in the poll, even lower than Donald Trump's -33.
"It's a soap opera, in effect," said Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, one of the New York Republicans urging Santos, whom he called "somewhat delusional," to step aside. "It's very clear to me that he has emotional issues and he needs to get help. And if he wants to rehabilitate his life, it starts with resigning from Congress."
While he has been parodied on "Saturday Night Live" and a the late-night comedy shows (Santos offered his criticism of the performances, saying in a tweet that Jon Lovitz's impression was "embarrassing — for him not me"), the embattled Republican's position on two committees in D.C. is no laughing matter for those who wish to see him out of office.
