George Santos says he plans to be sworn in, despite calls to step aside

WASHINGTON — Incoming Rep. George Santos arrived at his congressional office Wednesday insisting he planned to be sworn in and serve his two-year term despite the growing pressure on him to step aside.

Santos (R-Queens/Nassau), the subject of county, state, and federal probes, answered “yes” to reporters' questions about whether he still planned to be sworn in.

But he ignored all other questions about calls to resign and his ability to serve amid the ongoing investigations.

The embattled politician remained tight-lipped and largely out of sight Wednesday as his nascent office struggled to get organized.

Telephone calls to his congressional office went to a full voicemail box, and his congressional website posted an inaccurate news release that later was removed.

The website offered only vague information about his work history compared with the detailed websites of other incoming first-term House members.

Santos has admitted lying about graduating from Baruch College and New York University and acknowledged he never worked directly for Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, as he once asserted on his campaign website.

The admissions came after a New York Times investigation last month found major holes in statements Santos made about his background on the campaign trail.

Fellow members of the New York congressional delegation on Wednesday continued to raise concerns about serving with Santos, who has admitted fabricating key parts of his biography.

Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-Manhattan) told Newsday he thought other members of the delegation would be reluctant to discuss information about national security and other sensitive issues around Santos.

"I'm not sure if anybody would feel comfortable sharing their points of views within that environment and given what has transpired, whether there's going to be enough trust," Espaillat said.

Incoming Rep. Mike Lawler (R-Suffern), who has been publicly critical of Santos, told Newsday Santos should “cooperate fully with investigators.”

Asked if Santos could serve as an effective member, Lawler said: "His election has been certified. He's seated and he's here voting … we'll see how this proceeds."

Santos, who earlier in the day had told reporters he had spoken with Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and supported his bid to be the next speaker of the House, cast votes for the GOP leader.

But Santos stayed off the House floor between rounds of voting, retreating to the Republican cloakroom, where he remained out of view of television cameras.

Santos and recently elected House members were waiting to be sworn in on the second day of the new congressional session. After McCarthy failed to win in three votes Wednesday, the House adjourned until 8 p.m. but then voted to adjourn again until Thursday without holding any votes.

The oath cannot be administered until a speaker is elected, and McCarthy has struggled to capture the necessary Republican votes for his bid.

Santos also faced scrutiny on social media after his congressional website posted a news release Tuesday night stating he'd already been sworn in.

The inaccurate news release appeared to be a pre-written version of a release provided to first-term lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to launch their congressional websites.

By Wednesday morning the release had been deleted from Santos' website.

The confusion came as Santos continued to piece together a legislative staff, while other incoming lawmakers already had their team of aides assembled.

Santos' office is led by Chief of Staff Charles Lovett, whose Twitter biography says he served as Santos' campaign manager.

Lovett's LinkedIn profile states he worked as a field organizer for the Ohio Republican Party from April 2020 to January 2021, and served as political director for the U.S. Senate campaign of Republican Josh Mandel from March to May of last year.

Constituents looking to reach Santos’ office phone line were directed to an automated voicemail box that said it was full on Tuesday.

Lovett did not respond to an email from Newsday about the voicemail box.

Santos’ congressional website provided only vague statements about his work background compared with the specifics he once touted on his since-scrubbed campaign website.

“George perused (sic) a long path to success, starting in import & export sales, customer service, corporate Hospitality to building an extensive capital markets career covering real estate, bio-tech, M&A, capital introduction for Private Equity firms and managing General Partner and Limited Partner relations,” his website states.

Questions also have arisen about the source of Santos’ income and his ability to loan his campaign $700,000.

He reported receiving a salary of $750,000 in his federal candidate finance disclosure forms for 2022 — a substantial increase from the $5,000 in compensation he reported in 2020.

Former longtime members of the House questioned Santos' ability to work with other lawmakers on issues or legislation.

"I don’t see how he gets anything done. No one will be able to trust him or believe him," said former Rep. Peter King of Seaford.

"It would be risky to share any information with him," particularly about national security or homeland security, King told Newsday.

"This isn’t a question of correcting one mistake or explaining a misconception; everything about him is fraudulent," King said.

Given their slim majority in the House, Republicans may have to learn to live with him.

"With such a small majority, House Republicans can’t afford for Santos to vacate his seat,” Steve Israel, a former Democratic congressman from Huntington, told Newsday.

“That would trigger a special election which will cost millions of dollars and they’re likely to lose," Israel said. "So they have to keep him in his seat until the 2024 election."

with Tom Brune

By Laura Figueroa Hernandez

laura.figueroa@newsday.com@Laura_Figueroa

Laura Figueroa Hernandez is the White House correspondent and previously covered New York City politics and government. She joined Newsday in 2012 after covering state and local politics for The Miami Herald.