Embattled Republican Rep. George Santos of Latest York is not going to serve on the 2 House committees to which he was recently assigned until the investigations into his conduct have concluded, his office said Tuesday.
“The congressman is reserving his seats on his assigned committees until he has been properly cleared of each campaign and private financial investigations,” said his spokeswoman, Naysa Woomer.
Santos informed Republican lawmakers during a closed-door conference meeting in Washington, D.C., earlier Tuesday that “he isn’t accepting the committee assignments until things get cleared up,” in response to a longtime GOP lawmaker who was within the room. This person declined to be named to debate private conversations.
Santos’ decision to recuse himself from the 2 panels marks one in all the primary tangible repercussions he has faced since admitting he fabricated key details about his biography.
But he maintains he isn’t about to step down. “No I’m not” considering resigning, Santos told a reporter Tuesday morning as he rushed back to his office.
House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik of Latest York said after the meeting that Santos “has voluntarily removed himself from committees as he goes through this process, but ultimately voters resolve.”
Spokesmen for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., didn’t immediately reply to CNBC’s requests for comment.
Santos was appointed earlier this month to posts on the House Science, Space and Technology Committee and the Small Business Committee. The GOP Steering Committee, led by McCarthy, made those assignments over howls of bipartisan criticism against Santos and calls for his resignation.
The 34-year-old freshman lawmaker has faced intensifying scrutiny since shortly after he won his congressional race, after a bombshell Latest York Times investigation called into query a lot of Santos’ claims about his personal and skilled life, in addition to the sources of his campaign funds.
Days before he was sworn in to the 118th Congress, Santos admitted lying on the campaign trail about his job experience and his college profession. He apologized for “embellishing” his resume, though he denied all other wrongdoing.
But Santos is now reportedly under investigation on the local, state, federal and international levels, and he has mostly avoided answering the throngs of reporters barraging him with questions on his many unsubstantiated claims.
Santos has repeatedly vowed to serve out his full two-year term in office, arguing that the voters of his Long Island-area district must have the ultimate say on whether he stays or goes. McCarthy, who leads a slim and unruly GOP House majority and has few votes to spare, has echoed Santos’ line and defended the choice to offer him committee assignments.
That stance clashes with Republican leaders from near Santos’ own district, who’ve denounced the scandal-plagued congressman and urged him to resign.
And the voters in Santos’ district aren’t keen on keeping him around, either, in response to a recent poll released Tuesday morning.
An awesome 78% of registered voters in Latest York’s third Congressional District — including 71% of Republican respondents — say Santos should resign, the survey from Newsday/Siena College found. Greater than four-out-of-five respondents viewed Santos unfavorably, in response to the poll.
Notably, 71% of the respondents said it was mistaken for McCarthy to seat Santos on multiple committees.
The pollster surveyed 653 voters from Santos’ district between Jan. 23 and last Thursday. The poll has an overall margin of error of 4.4 percentage points.
Because the pressure against Santos mounts, so have the variety of investigations in his orbit.
Most recently, the Federal Election Commission was asked to make a referral into whether Santos’ campaign committed against the law when it listed as its treasurer a one that claims he had previously declined to take the job. The FEC had pressed Santos’ campaign for more information after learning that it “can have failed to incorporate the true, correct, or complete treasurer information” in a recent campaign filing.
The Department of Justice asked the FEC to pause any motion against Santos because it pursues its own criminal probe into the congressman, The Washington Post reported Friday.
Santos also faces a federal ethics probe and an investigation by Nassau County’s Republican prosecutor, Anne Donnelly. Latest York Attorney General Letitia James’ office also said it’s “looking into” Santos-related issues.
Meanwhile, The Latest York Times reported in early January that Brazilian authorities have revived a years-old fraud case against Santos.
Outside of his potential legal peril, Santos has been pelted with a wide range of damning allegations, including that he arrange a fundraiser for a disabled veteran’s ailing dog after which took off with the cash.
Santos has denied that reporting.
