While embattled Rep. George Santos received his committee seats Tuesday, there are new calls for a deeper dive into his past.
A fellow New York congressman has called for the Federal Election Commission to investigate potential illegal activity from the Republican's campaign — as House Speaker Kevin McCarthy admitted that he and his team knew there were questions about Santos’ credibility before the election.
Rep. Ritchie Torres of the Bronx visited the voters of Santos’s district on Long Island, telling them he had filed a letter with the FEC to look into the matter. Torres, a Democrat, alleged Santos’s false bio — with made-up details about where he worked and attended schools — combined with unusual financial disclosures may prove illegal.
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"The $700,000 question is: Where did all the money come?" Torres said. "My message to Mr. Santos: This will not end well for you. You should resign."
Just last week, Santos slammed the coverage of his travails as "media nonsense," as he defiantly insisted he had no plans to resign from Congress. He has said that all he did was embellish a resumé, and that an ethics investigation of his biography will not deter him from serving.
McCarthy on Tuesday confirmed that will indeed get committee seats and added responsibilities. He was seated on the Small Business Committee and the Science, Space and Technology Committee, Republican sources told NBC News.
However, McCarthy also admitted that his own team had some suspicions about Santos even before he was elected, due to the actions of a member of his staff.
"My staff raised concerns when he had a staff member who impersonated my chief of staff, and that person was let go," McCarthy said. "I never knew about his resume but I always had a few questions about it."
The newly elected House Speaker said he has no plans to take action against Santos, saying that it's up to voters — not him — to decide Santos' fate. McCarthy's remarks, echoing other recent comments he’s made, drew reaction from one newly elected Democrat from New York.
"We are very concerned about the degree to which Republican leadership was complicit in Santos's scheme to defraud his voters," said freshman Rep. Dan Goldman, a former prosecutor.
Goldman said aides to top Republican Elise Stefanik even helped Santos re-staff his campaign when several others quit. Stefanik could not be reached for comment.
In Brooklyn, after meeting with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said "the Santos situation speaks for itself. And as Leader Schumer indicated, there’s an extreme group of Republicans who want to drive the country over a cliff."
A spokeswoman for Santos — with the embattled congressman expected back in New York over the recess — declined comment.
"I came here to serve the people, not politicians and party leaders, and I'm going to do just that," Santos said in an interview with Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz on Steve Bannon's "War Room" program last week. "I was elected by 142,000 people. Until those same 142,000 people tell me they don't want me, we'll find out in two years."
"I've worked my entire life, I’ve lived an honest life, I’ve never been accused, sued of any bad doings," Santos said - declining to specifically answer Gaetz's repeated questions about the source of $700,000 he lent to his campaign.
"I'll tell you where it didn’t come from: China. Ukraine. How about that?" he said during the mostly friendly interview, before pivoting to say that he's focused on working on the issues that matter to his constituents — like addressing a crime ring of auto thefts in affluent neighborhoods in his congressional district.
His comments came after virtually the entire Republican leadership of New York called on Santos to resign from Congress, saying he was "disgraced" and needed to step aside.
The Jan. 11 call from leadership of his own party was the strongest yet against the embattled freshman, who represents New York's 3rd District, comprising parts of Queens and much of Nassau County. As of last week, six of the other 10 GOP members of the New York congressional delegation have now called for Santos to go.
"George Santos' campaign last year, was a campaign of deceit, lies and fabrication," Nassau County GOP Committee Chairman Joseph Cairo, Jr. said, while joined by roughly three dozen GOP elected officials, calling him a stain on the party and Congress. "He deceived the voters of the 3rd Congressional District. He deceived the members of the Nassau County Republican Committee, elected officials, his colleagues, candidates, his opponents and even some of the media."
In recent weeks, Santos has admitted to lying about his educational background, his work experience and his investments -- and he faces a growing list of alleged fabrications and purported financial misconduct that he has not yet acknowledged or refuted.
"His lies were not mere fibs," Cairo went on to say. "He disgraced the House of Representatives. In particular, his fabrications went too far, many groups were hurt — specifically, I look at those families who were touched by the horrors of the Holocaust." (Santos also allegedly lied about his grandparents surviving the Holocaust.)
Cairo went on to call for Santos' "immediate resignation" saying that the disgraced congressman is not welcomed at GOP headquarters in Nassau County.
"He has no place in the Nassau County Republican Committee, nor should he serve in public service, nor as an elected official," Cairo said. "He is not welcomed here at republican headquarters, for meetings or any other events...we do not consider him one of our congress people. Today, on behalf of the Nassau County Republican Committee, I am calling him for his immediate resignation."
Republican donors say they were "duped" by Santos; Democrats have already filed ethics complaints against him, and a campaign finance watchdog has also lodged a complaint with the Federal Election Commission regarding fundraising irregularities.
Hempstead Town Supervisor Donald X. Clavin, Jr. said Santos has united the country in their opposition towards him.
"He's a national joke. He's an international joke, but this joke's gotta go," Clavin said.
Following the Nassau County GOP leaders' press conference, the Conservative Party of New York State also issued a statement calling on Santos to resign.
"The New York State Conservative Party stands with Nassau County Republicans in calling on newly elected Rep. George Santos to resign. Mr. Santos’s profound use of mistruths as a candidate morally disqualifies him from serving in public office and exposes him to potential legal action, seriously compromising his ability to represent his constituents," the statement reads in part.
Rep. Nick Langworthy, the chairman of the state GOP, also issued a statement calling on Santos to go.
Santos has called the fabrications on his official campaign biography merely resumé embellishments. But questions about his truthfulness have only snowballed. The freshman congressman’s falsehoods include not only details of his education and job history, but also his criminal history in Brazil, his nonprofit charity and about being Jewish.
Were Santos to resign, Gov. Kathy Hochul would have 10 days to call a special election to replace him, which would have to be held between 70 to 80 days from the date of that proclamation.
