George Santos claims he’s learned his lesson and vowed “everything is always fine” as he faces demands for his resignation from Congress and multiple legal investigations.
“I’ve learned my lesson. I can guarantee you that from now on everything will always be fine. It was mostly always overboard. I’m just going to take it one extra step now to double-check,” he told One American News Network’s Caitlin Sinclair.
In the extraordinary new interview, Santos, 34, vacillated between defensive and combative when asked about the lies he’d told about his professional and personal life. He also played the victim, accusing the media of putting him through a “trial by fire”.
“People should be judged by their actions and not by the media’s trial by fire, which is what I’ve witnessed over the past few weeks,” he said.
George Santos claims he’s learned his lesson and vowed ‘everything will always go overboard’
The Republican congressman from New York, who resigned from his committee duties on Tuesday, argued he had already apologized for his lies, which he claims only concern his educational background.
He also spoke about the humiliation he has endured since the untruths were exposed, saying he doesn’t believe “lying is ever excusable, period”.
“I have sincerely apologized several times. I said earlier that I sincerely apologize for lying about my education, and the résumé beautification made that very, very clear. I don’t know what else other people can say in a meeting. Is there anything more humiliating and humiliating than admitting that on national television?” he asked.
But he got defensive when the interviewer asked him if he shouldn’t be sorry, hissing at her: “I don’t know how it looks to you when you apologize.”
“I’ve said many times that I’m sorry. I pretended to be sorry. If you want to compare emotions, people show emotions differently,” he said. ‘I’m sorry. I am deeply sorry.’
“I don’t know what’s being asked of me right now when you say, ‘Oh, you haven’t shown any remorse and you don’t seem sorry.’ I don’t know how apologetic it looks to you, Caitlin,” he told OAN’s Sinclair.
Santos has been in the midst of a firestorm since the New York Times reported on his falsified resume and biography, which the newspaper could not verify.
He faces multiple investigations from prosecutors into his personal finances and campaign finances.
He was followed by members of the press all over Capitol Hill. He was combative at times, firing back when it was alleged he stole money to pay for life-saving surgery for the service dog of a disabled veteran who died because he didn’t receive treatment. Other times he was cheerful, like when he left coffee and donuts outside his office for the hordes of journalists who follow him.
In the interview with OAN, he claimed to be a victim of growing up as a poor member of the minority who “shouldn’t do big things in life” because “it disrupts the system”.
“I come from humble beginnings. I’ve always said I grew up in absolute poverty in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York City. People like me shouldn’t do big things in life. And when we do that, it disrupts the system,” he said.
“And I know a lot of people want to create this narrative that I faked my way to Congress, which is absolutely categorically wrong. I’ve worked hard, built like a career, through experience and through knowledge and through self-education,” he noted.
He added: “And you know, I find it amazing that I have to sit here and get beaten up by the media on a regular basis. I mean I look DC’s theatrical. There is a lot of theater going on in this place: 24 hours a day, all year round.”
He specifically cited the vote for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in early January, which took 15 ballots to seal the deal.
“It was made for TV,” he said. “It’s all sad because it’s all at the expense of the American taxpayer.”
George Santos claimed to have been burned by the media – the above reporters are following him on Capitol Hill
He argued that he only lied about his education and that he did it to get elected to Congress.
“I have never presented anything other than my resources allow. So I’ve never had to fabricate or present untruths regarding my own finances. I’m the first to say I can’t afford not to do that,” he said.
He said he lied about having a college degree because “I felt the need to do it because I thought that without a degree I would be looked down on.”
He seemed upset when asked if he was sorry, but said, “I’m not angry at all.”
When asked what he would change, he said: “I wouldn’t have lied about the education. I would have just fought like hell to get that nomination.
Among the lies Santos told:
- He said he received an economics and finance degree from Baruch College in 2010, but a Baruch representative told the New York Times there was no record of Santos being in the Class of 2010.
- He said he worked at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, but the companies had no record of his employment.
- How he earned his money is unclear. He worked at an investment firm called Harbor City Capital, which the SEC said was a Ponzi scheme (Santos has not been charged with any wrongdoing). While living in Brazil, he was accused of stealing the checkbook of a man his mother was caring for.
- He said his mother was working in the South Tower of the World Trade Center on September 11, but records show she was not in New York at the time.
- He said his grandparents survived the Holocaust, but genealogical records show his family is Brazilian and Catholic.
- There were reports that he was a drag queen in Brazil based on pictures of him dressed in drag, but he said he was just having fun at a festival.
- A monitoring group claimed he had committed multiple campaign finance violations and filed a complaint with the FEC, specifically with questions about whether he lent his campaign more than $700,000 when he only has $55,000 in earned income.
Santos announced Thursday morning at a GOP conference session that he would be stepping down from his duties on the science and small business committees, and reportedly told colleagues he felt like a “distraction.”
Newsday and Siena College polls showed that 78 percent of Santos voters in New York now believe he should resign.
He is being investigated by the District Attorney’s Office in Nassau County, NY, where his congressional district is being tried. And the authorities in Brazil are also trying to revive a fraud case against him from 2008.