‘I Will NOT Resign’—As New York GOP Chair Joins Calls For Him To Step Down Amid Lying Scandal

Topline

New York Republican Party Chair Nick Langworthy called on Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) to resign Wednesday, hours after the Nassau County GOP urged him to step down, calling his 2022 bid for Congress “a campaign of deceit, lies and fabrication”—marking the strongest rebukes of Santos’ conduct to date, less than a month after a New York Times report cast serious doubts on a series of claims he made on the campaign trail.

Rep. George Santos (R-NY) speeds past reporters as he departs from a Republican Conference meeting … [+] at the U.S. Capitol Building on Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Key Facts

Langworthy said he supports the Nassau County GOP’s call for Santos’ immediate resignation in a statement issued Wednesday, adding “it’s clear that he cannot be an effective representative and it would be in the best interest of the taxpayers to have new leadership.”

Nassau GOP officials held a press conference Wednesday–four days after Santos was sworn into Congress–to issue their damning condemnation of the first-term congressman, which was attended by a handful of local and state Republican officials.

Santos “has no place in the Nassau County Republican Committee, nor should he serve in public service nor as an elected official official,” Nassau County Republican Party Chairman Joseph Cairo Jr. said, adding that Santos “is not welcome” at Nassau County Republican Committee headquarters.

Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-N.Y.) joined the party’s calls for Santos to resign and said, via video conference from Washington, he “will not associate with him in Congress” and encouraged other members to do the same.

Cairo Jr. said the committee conducted an interview with Santos when he initially sought its endorsement and vowed to revise the committee’s vetting process: “Shame on me for believing people,” Cairo Jr. said.

Santos said Wednesday he “will NOT resign!” he tweeted, adding that he was “was elected to serve the people of #NY03 not the party & politicians” and he “[regrets] to hear local officials refuse to work with my office

Despite widespread condemnation by his peers, Santos is not required to resign, and there is no mechanism by which the party itself can remove him, though the House can expel him with a vote of two-thirds of its members, something that has only happened twice since the Civil War.

What To Watch For

If Santos steps down before the end of his term in 2024, Gov. Kathy Hochul would call a special election to fill his seat. Santos flipped a Long Island seat previously held by Democrat Tom Suozzi to win the midterm election, giving Republicans a slim four-seat majority in the House.

Crucial Quote

Cairo Jr. said Santos’ lies hurt “many groups,” specifically noting “families touched by the horrors of the Holocaust,” referencing Santos’ debunked claims that he is Jewish (he later said he meant he is “Jew-ish”) and that his maternal grandparents fled Ukraine during World War II to escape anti-Jewish persecution (The Foward reported that genealogy records show both of his maternal grandparents were born in Brazil).

Tangent

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told reporters Wednesday Santos would not be appointed to any key committees, but should be allowed to remain in Congress. When asked about Santos’ confession that he fabricated his work and education history, McCarthy said: “So did a lot of people here.”

Key Background

Santos faces a slew of investigations for allegedly lying about nearly his entire resume and embellishing his finances in public disclosure forms, following a New York Times story in December that found evidence contradicting his claims about his education, work, family, residential and financial histories. Among the fabrications: Santos said that he “lost” employees in the 2016 mass shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando (a New York Times review of the victims found none who appeared to have been employed by Santos). He also said 9/11 “claimed [his] mother’s life” (she died in 2016). He later admitted he never graduated college, despite claiming on the campaign trail he received a degree from Baruch College in 2010, and also confessed to embellishing his alleged work history at Citigroup and Goldman Sachs (the firms have said there is no evidence he worked at either). The source of his purported wealth has become the subject of complaints filed by various groups and elected officials with the House Ethics Committee, Office of Congressional Ethics and Federal Election Commission. He claimed he loaned $705,000 to his most recent campaign, but reported having only $55,000 to his name in his 2020 financial disclosure forms.