DEMOCRATS WANT PROBE INTO REP.-ELECT’S BIO
Report casts doubt on Santos’ claims in employment record
The chair of New York’s Democratic Party on Monday called for a House ethics investigation into George Santos, a Long Island Republican elected last month, following a report questioning whether he misled voters about key details in his background.
The report in The New York Times cast doubt on Santos’ claims that he worked for Goldman Sachs and Citigroup and the basis of his reported wealth as he loaned his campaign more than $700,000 before notching a surprise win that helped provide Republicans with a slim majority in the House in the next session of Congress.
“This is about one of the biggest messes I’ve ever seen from anyone who is about to become a member of the Congress,” said Jay Jacobs, the New York Democratic Party chair, adding later, “I think that had voters seen this information, understood the ramifications and how egregious it really was, I don’t see how he would have won the race.”
In a statement, Santos’ attorney criticized the Times without addressing the substance of the report.
“It is no surprise that Congressman-elect Santos has enemies at the New York Times who are attempting to smear his good name with these defamatory allegations,” Joseph Murray said in a statement posted to Santos’ Twitter account.
Santos, a staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump who said he attended a rally on the Ellipse on Jan. 6, 2021, defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman in November.
He claimed in an archived version of his campaign website that he “began working at Citigroup as an associate and quickly advanced” and that he “was then offered an exciting opportunity with Goldman Sachs but what he thought would be the pinnacle of his career was not as fulfilling as he had anticipated.”
Representatives for both
Citigroup and Goldman Sachs confirmed to The Washington Post that they had no record that Santos worked for either company. References to Citigroup and Goldman Sachs are not on Santos’ current biography page of the website.
Some Democrats expressed disbelief on Monday that questions about Santos’ background didn’t surface more clearly during the campaign.
Rep. Mondaire Jones, DN.Y., a member of the House Ethics Committee, noted his surprise that the issues hadn’t emerged in prior reporting and opposition research, particularly given that Santos had unsuccessfully run for Congress in 2020.
“As someone who’s had every case I’ve ever worked on vetted by opponents in both cycles, it’s difficult to overstate how many people would’ve had to drop the ball in not even verifying the mere fact of Congressmanelect Santos’ prior employment as he ran to flip a key House seat,” Jones tweeted. Jones’ office did not respond to a request for comment.
Financial disclosure reports reviewed by the Post show that Santos declared no assets or earned income in his 2020 report, and that his only compensation in excess of $5,000 from a single source came from a commission bonus.
By comparison, in his 2022 financial disclosure, Santos declared that he had assets worth between $2.6 million and $11.25 million. It also said he had income from a family business, the Devolder Organization, between $1 million to $5 million and a salary of $750,000. The Times reported that the lack of information about the company’s clients was a “seeming violation” of the requirement to disclose compensation of more than $5,000 from one source.
Among the assets Santos declared in his current financial disclosure were an apartment in Brazil worth more than $500,000; a checking account worth more than $100,000; and a savings account worth between $1 million to $5 million.
Separately, Santos declared that he loaned his campaign $705,000.