The deceived American congressman came under investigation: he pawed the applicant

A bipartisan panel will review the alleged misconduct of a Republican congressman who admitted to lying about his resume, reports The Guardian.

The House Ethics Committee has launched an investigation into George Santos, a Republican lawmaker who admitted to lying about his resume while campaigning for the right to represent part of New York’s suburbs in the lower house of Congress.

Santos, a rookie member of the House of Representatives, came under fire shortly before taking office in January as a result of a series of media reports that showed he had lied about details of his professional, personal and educational experiences.

According to The Washington Post, after months of scrutiny of seemingly every aspect of his biography — from his education and work history to his heritage and religious affiliations — Congressman George Santos admitted he was a “terrible liar.”

In an interview with Piers Morgan Uncensored recently, the 34-year-old Republican from New York was quick to admit dishonesty in some aspects of his record.

Santos was elected in November for New York’s 3rd congressional district, but the biography he presented to voters soon turned out to be fictional in many ways. Reporters found inconsistencies or apparent lies in his accounts of his work and educational accomplishments, as well as his claims of Jewish identity and his account that his mother was in one of the towers of the World Trade Center when they were attacked on September 11 2001.

“Well, I’ve been a terrible liar on these topics, and what I’ve been trying to get across to the American people is that I’ve made mistakes,” Santos said self-critically.

The politician called lying about his higher education “one of my biggest regrets in my life.” He lied about graduating from Baruch College with a 3.89 despite never attending the school. Describing the decision as “foolish,” he argued that it stemmed from “the political apparatus and political culture of New York State.”

Asked why he didn’t think his lies would be exposed, Santos replied, “I ran in 2020 for the exact same seat in Congress, and then I got away with it.”

Santos was also interrogated about other aspects of his campaign background, including his claims that he attended a prestigious private preparatory school — which said they didn’t know anything about him — and his claims that he worked for firms with Wall Street Citigroup and Goldman Sachs.

With regard to his two most controversial statements, regarding the whereabouts of his mother on September 11, 2001, and his alleged Jewish origin, he stuck to his previous statements.

When asked about his claims that his mother was present at the World Trade Center during the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Santos said he remained “convinced it was true.” But immigration records show that Santos’ mother was not in the United States at the time of the attacks.

“I will not discuss my mother’s life as she has passed away,” the politician continued. Santos previously said his mother survived the World Trade Center attack and “passed away a few years later.” She died in December 2016.

Santos also claimed that he would “fight to the grave” for his claim to Jewish heritage. He said he had ordered a DNA test and was waiting for the results. Santos’ company website previously reported that his grandparents “fled persecution of Jews in Ukraine” and “fled persecution during World War II,” wording that changed after the New York Times and Jewish Insider published articles that questioning this biography. He later told the New York Post, “I never claimed to be Jewish. I am Catholic”.

In an interview on Monday, Santos also reiterated his claim that he never identified himself as Jewish. “I would always say I was raised Catholic, but I come from a Jewish family, so that makes me Jewish.”

Santos faces multiple investigations into his campaign finances.

In a bipartisan statement, Republican committee chairman Michael Guest and senior Democratic Party member Susan Wilde said the commission voted to form a subcommittee to investigate Santos’ alleged wrongdoings.

They specified that they would be investigating “whether Representative George Santos: was engaged in illegal activities in connection with his 2022 Congressional campaign; failed to properly disclose the required information in applications submitted to the House of Representatives; whether he violated federal conflict of interest laws in connection with his role in a financial firm; and/or sexually harassed a job seeker in his congressional office.”

With regards to the latter, it concerns an investigation into possible sexual harassment by Santos in connection with a complaint filed last month by a man named Derek Myers. He claims the legislator groped him when Myers was exploring the possibility of a job in the state of Santos. The politician himself denies these allegations.

Republican Dave Joyce will chair the subcommittee along with senior Democratic Party member Susan Wilde. They will be joined by Republican John Rutherford and Democrat Glenn Ivey.

George Santos has already removed himself from his committee duties, but has otherwise rejected calls from Republicans in New York to step down. “The Committee notes that the mere fact that a subcommittee of inquiry has been established does not indicate that any wrongdoing has taken place,” the statement said.

On Tuesday, Santos introduced his first bill, which is an attempt to repeal part of Donald Trump’s tax plan that capped the amount homeowners could deduct from state and local property taxes, The New York Times reported.