Who has never been tempted to inflate their CV? Adding incomplete training, or modifying a few formulations, to get a job, is it so dramatic? “We do stupid things in life”, after all, underlines George Santos. This young elected representative of the American Congress, 34, knows what he is talking about. He simply invented diplomas, professional experience, heritage and religious affiliations to get elected. With success.
The lie, an open secret in Washington, was first revealed by an investigation by the New York Times published on December 19, before the deputy, “first openly gay elected Republican”, in his words, finally attempted a media mea-culpa. While the opposition called for his resignation, George Santos admitted in an interview with New York Post this Monday to have somewhat “embellished” his CV.
George Santos therefore never “graduated from Baruch College”, never worked for “Goldman Sachs and Citigroup”, nor owned “13 properties” and blithely lied to voters, a “sin”, which he confesses to good faith, before taking office in Congress, for the time being maintained. “I intend to keep the promises I made during the campaign – to fight crime, to fight to bring down inflation, to improve education,” he told the New York Postwhile reaffirming that the people had elected him “to fight for him”.
In this mea-culpa, George Santos explains that he “chosen his words poorly” about his professional experiences. He actually worked for a provider of major financial institutions such as Goldman Sachs and Citygroup. He never finished his studies. Far from being the owner, he actually lives with his sister. And his family is not really “Jewish”, as he said… But to certain media which evoked a first marriage, heterosexual, the native of Queens, maintains: “I am really gay. I am in agreement with my sexuality. I’m one of those people who change.”
Is it his political battles, or this fantasized profile of a successful self-made man, homosexual, son of Brazilian immigrants, which allowed candidate Santos to monopolize a seat in a state traditionally won over to the Republicans, and therefore to Joe Biden? “The truth is that Santos totally lied to the voters […] and does not deserve to represent Long Island and Queens”, had decided in particular his Democratic opponent, Robert Zimmerman, after these revelations.
Several elected officials call for the opening of an investigation by the Ethics Committee of the House of Representatives. First relegated to “a few defamatory enemies” by Santos, the investigation of the New York Times also casts doubt on the functioning of an association, “Friends of pet united”, put forward by the former candidate, and also believes that his financial consulting company , the “Devolder Organization”, “is something of a mystery”.
If revelations challenge what George Santos says, it may be what he doesn’t say that could hurt him the most. In his investigation, the New York Times discovered that the elected official had a criminal record in Brazil, for acts of fraud with a stolen checkbook. If the newspaper claims to have consulted the evidence of such a past, George Santos assures that he has “never been a criminal, in the United States, in Brazil, or anywhere else in the world”. And for the rest, take his word for it.
