Pressed by reporters in the hallways at the U.S. Capitol, Santos said he would not resign.
Cairo was joined at the county GOP’s Long Island headquarters by several local Republican officials who echoed his call for their fellow party member to resign just days after he was sworn in.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman (R) said, “When he called himself a Jew, that was ridiculous.” State Sen. Jack M. Martins (R) said, “These aren’t embellishments. These are lies,” and called on Santos to be removed “one way or another.”
Nassau County legislator Richard J. Nicolello said Santos’s lies “have done violence to the public trust.” Mayor Pamela D. Panzenbeck of Glen Cove said, “We were all duped.”
Santos was elected in November to represent the 3rd District of New York, flipping a crucial seat for the Republican Party. A firestorm ensued last month after the New York Times and others outlined apparent fabrications in Santos’s work and educational background and personal history.
“If I disappointed anyone by my résumé embellishment, I’m sorry,” Santos, who has denied any criminal wrongdoing in the United States or elsewhere, told WABC radio in New York.
In June 2020, Santos wrote on Twitter that he is the “grandson of Holocaust refugees.” This month, Jewish Insider cast doubt on that claim, noting that the dates Santos cited for his grandparents departure from Belgium to Brazil do not line up, nor do immigration records support his version of his family’s history. The Republican Jewish Coalition, which featured Santos as part of its annual November conference in Las Vegas, denounced his false claims about his heritage and said that “he will not be welcome at any future RJC event.”
In March, Santos said in a podcast interview that he was “raised Catholic, born to a Jewish family — very, very confusing religious background.” More recently, he told the New York Post: “I never claimed to be Jewish.”
Democrats have demanded his resignation, and two Democratic New York colleagues, Reps. Ritchie Torres and Daniel S. Goldman, filed an ethics complaint on Tuesday. Republican leaders, including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), have said the Santos matter will be dealt with internally.
A complaint filed Monday with the Federal Election Commission accused Santos of wide-ranging campaign finance violations. The alleged wrongdoing includes masking the true source of his campaign’s funding, misrepresenting his campaign’s spending and using campaign resources to cover personal expenses.
The complaint, filed by the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center, could propel a formal investigation into Santos by the federal regulator, the latest chapter in a saga testing the boundaries of political falsehood.
At the Nassau County event Wednesday. Cairo said he had not spoken to McCarthy about Santos. Cairo said Santos had submitted a resume, answered the organization’s questions and noted “he was recommended from Queens County” though he noted it was “not enthusiastically.” Cairo also said the organization will change how it vets candidates, adding, “We have to really investigate backgrounds.”
