Discredited Long Island Rep. George Santos (R-NY) is doubling down on his refusal to resign and now bizarrely insisting that he plans on running for a second term.
Santos told Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) in a podcast on Thursday that he has “lived an honest life” and that he will run for re-election.
This despite being caught in multiple falsehoods about his ethnicity, ancestry, background and work experience.
Responding to mounting calls for his resignation, Santos downplayed the scandals which have plagued him since irregularities about his background began being reported in December.
“I’ve worked my entire life – I’ve lived an honest life,” Santos told Gaetz, referring to claims he lied on his resume.
“I’ve never been accused of any bad doing,” Santos insisted on Steve Bannon’s “The War Room” podcast, which Gaetz was guest hosting.
On Thursday, the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York (JCRC) rescinded its invitation to Santos to appear at their annual Congressional Breakfast on February 5 and also announced that the disgraced rep. was unwelcome at any of their future events.
A spokesperson for the JCRC told The Forward that Santos was originally invited to the event after he was elected but before the New York Times broke the story on December 12 of his false claims relating to his work history, background and personal life, including lying about having Jewish ancestry.
Earlier in the week, Republican Party officials in Santos’ Long Island district called on the serial fabricator to quit, citing among other lies his claims to Jewish and Holocaust heritage.
He now faces investigations by three levels of government related to questions about the funding of his House campaign, and reportedly also faces scrutiny for check fraud in Brazil.
Santos said during his interview with Gaetz that regardless of the multitude of accusations being levelled against him, he plans to press ahead for a run at a second House term in 2024.
“I came here to serve the people, not politicians and party leaders,” Santos said. “I was elected by 142,000 people – until those same 142,000 people tell me they don’t want me … we’ll find out in two years.”
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)