Representative-elect George Santos admits he lied about background amid controversial Holocaust story

Long Island Representative-elect George Santos admitted to lying on his resume about his education and work experience after facing criticism for fabricating his life story. However, he claims that we still intends to serve in Congress.

“I am not a criminal,” Santos said. “This [controversy] will not deter me from having good legislative success. I will be effective. I will be good.”

Earlier this month, Santos’ resume and life story were called into question after the New York Times reported major discrepancies in several aspects of his career. 

During his campaign, Santos portrayed himself as growing up in a working-class, immigrant family in Queens and getting a high school equivalency diploma. However, the colleges where he allegedly obtained his degrees did not have any records that he had attended, including Baruch College and New York University. Similarly, several companies where he allegedly worked have no record of him as an employee, including Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and Metglobal.

“My sins here are embellishing my resume. I’m sorry,” Santos told The New York Post on Monday.

Santos admitted that he “never worked directly” for Goldman Sachs and Citigroup. Instead, he worked as a vice president for a company called Link Bridge, which did business with the two companies. 

“I will be clearer about that. It was stated poorly,” Santos said of the lie. 

Santos also admitted that he never graduated from any college. 

“I didn’t graduate from any institution of higher learning. I’m embarrassed and sorry for having embellished my resume,” he said. “I own up to that … We do stupid things in life.”

Additionally, Santos, who has called himself “half Jewish” and a “Latino Jew” in the media, claimed that his grandparents “survived the Holocaust” as Ukrainian Jewish refugees from Belgium and changed their last name to survive. However, family trees, records on Jewish refugees, and interviews with genealogists contradict his claims.

Santos now claims to be “clearly Catholic,” but added that his grandmother would tell him stories about being Jewish and how she converted later. 

“I never claimed to be Jewish,” Santos said. “I am Catholic. Because I learned my maternal family had a Jewish background I said I was ‘Jew-ish.'”

Santos was the first openly gay Republican to win a House seat. He is scheduled to be sworn into Congress next Tuesday. However, many incoming lawmakers have condemned Santos’ false statements and at least one incoming member of the GOP has called for an investigation by the House Ethics Committee.