George Santos Admits to Lying About College and Work History - The New York Times

Representative-elect George Santos admitted connected Monday to misrepresenting his nonrecreational acquisition and acquisition past to voters, but said it would not deter him from taking bureau successful January.

Mr. Santos, a New York Republican who was elected successful November to correspond parts of bluish Long Island and northeast Queens, confirmed immoderate of the key findings of a New York Times investigation into his background, but sought to minimize the falsehoods successful his archetypal remarks since The Times published its findings past week.

“My sins present are embellishing my résumé,” Mr. Santos told The New York Post successful 1 of 2 interviews helium granted connected Monday to conservative-owned media outlets.

“I americium not a criminal,” Mr. Santos said, adding that helium would inactive beryllium an effectual legislator. In a abstracted interrogation with WABC-AM radio, helium said helium inactive intended to beryllium sworn successful astatine the commencement of the adjacent Congress.

The admissions by Mr. Santos served arsenic a capstone to 1 of the much astonishing examples of an incoming congressman falsifying cardinal biographical elements of his inheritance — with Mr. Santos maintaining the falsehoods done 2 consecutive bids for Congress.

Yet adjacent arsenic Mr. Santos, whose triumph helped Republicans unafraid a constrictive bulk successful the adjacent House of Representatives, admitted to immoderate fabrication, his actions volition inactive not forestall him, successful each likelihood, from being seated successful Congress.

Democrats — including the outgoing House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and the adjacent House Democratic leader, Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York — person accused Mr. Santos of being unfit to service successful Congress. Top House Republican leaders, including Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, person mostly remained silent.

The House tin lone forestall candidates from taking bureau if they interruption the Constitution’s age, citizenship and authorities residency requirements. Once helium has been seated, however, Mr. Santos could look morals investigations, ineligible experts person said.

Mr. Santos, done representatives, has declined aggregate requests to talk with The Times. His interviews did not afloat code the scope of The Times’s reporting, which besides included omissions connected his fiscal disclosure forms and a foundation helium claimed to person founded and registered with the I.R.S.

He besides firmly rejected having been charged criminally anyplace successful the world, but did not look to explicate the beingness of records identifying him arsenic being charged with cheque fraud successful Brazil.

Over the people of his campaigns, Mr. Santos claimed to person graduated from Baruch College successful 2010 earlier moving astatine Citigroup and, eventually, Goldman Sachs. A biography connected the National Republican Congressional Committee website said helium had attended some Baruch and New York University and received degrees successful concern and economics.

But the colleges and companies could not find records to verify his claims erstwhile contacted by The Times.

In Monday’s interview, Mr. Santos admitted to The Post that helium had not graduated “from immoderate instauration of higher learning.” He besides admitted that helium ne'er worked straight for Goldman Sachs oregon Citigroup, blaming a “poor prime of words” for creating the content that helium had.

Past statements of Mr. Santos are comparatively wide however: An archived version of Mr. Santos’s erstwhile run website preserved by the Wayback Machine says that helium “began moving astatine Citigroup arsenic an subordinate and rapidly precocious to go an subordinate plus manager successful the existent plus part of the firm.”

Instead, helium told The Post, helium dealt with some firms done his enactment astatine different company, LinkBridge Investors, which connects investors with imaginable clients.

Mr. Santos told The Post that LinkBridge had “limited partnerships” with the 2 Wall Street companies.

The Times was capable to corroborate Mr. Santos’s employment astatine LinkBridge. But successful a version of his run biography posted arsenic precocious arsenic April, Mr. Santos suggested that helium had started his vocation connected Wall Street astatine Citigroup and that helium was astatine Goldman Sachs concisely earlier his clip astatine LinkBridge.

A spokeswoman for Citigroup declined to comment. Representatives for Goldman Sachs and LinkBridge did not instantly respond to a petition for much information.

Mr. Santos has not afloat accounted for his employment during the years that helium had claimed, until recently, that helium was advancing connected Wall Street. In his interrogation with WABC radio, helium confirmed reporting by The Times that helium had worked astatine a telephone halfway successful Queens successful precocious 2011 and aboriginal 2012.

The WABC interrogation itself was thing of a governmental sideshow curiosity. Mr. Santos was interviewed by John Catsimatidis, a supermarket magnate and a large Republican donor, and Anthony Weiner, the erstwhile Democratic congressman who resigned successful disgrace successful 2011.

Mr. Weiner asked Mr. Santos astir his claim, made successful an interrogation past period soon aft his election, that a institution helium had worked for “lost 4 employees” astatine the Pulse nightclub shooting successful Orlando successful June 2016. The Times reviewed quality sum and obituaries and recovered nary grounds that could enactment the claim.

On Monday, Mr. Santos told WABC that those 4 radical were not yet employees but alternatively were successful the process of being hired.

“We did suffer 4 radical that were going to beryllium coming to enactment for the institution that I was starting up successful Orlando,” helium said.

Mr. Santos did not sanction the institution oregon supply further accusation to enactment his statement. Public records amusement Mr. Santos was surviving successful the Orlando country astatine the clip of the shooting and that helium was registered to ballot determination during the 2016 election.