George Santos, the freshman GOP Congressman from Long Island’s 3rd District, may soon be an ex-Congressman. He’s under multiple investigations, including having confessed in Brazil to a $700 check forgery. But, as I write this, a bombshell here just broke, which I will get to later, that might make any of Santos’ transgressions look like an overdue library book.
As Speaker McCarthy’s trying to remove three Democrats from committee assignments, he has assigned "Scamtos" to the Small Business and Science Committees. On the latter, Santos will have jurisdiction over portions of the EPA, the Department of Energy, and NASA!
That in mind, I’ve compiled only a few of Santos’ most outrageous "embellishments," as he calls them. For example, Santos has said he attended the private academy Horace Mann High School in the Bronx but left in his senior year because "my parents fell on hard times." (A spokesperson for Horace Mann told CNN he never attended the school.)
In addition to "earning" an MBA from NYU, Santos claims he graduated summa cum laude from Baruch College. But a Baruch representative confirmed there was no such award. Maybe it was a summa cum latte? (Sorry about that as I can already hear the groans.)
Santos brags he "was a star" on the Baruch volleyball team but recently "Vanity Fair" published that he never even attended Baruch. Later, Santos admitted to the New York Post, "I didn’t graduate from any college." (Santos makes Honest Abe look like Pinocchio!)
As for his "drag days," two acquaintances told Reuters that Santos participated in the drag queen circuit in Brazil aspiring to be Miss Gay Rio de Janeiro. Santos labeled the accusations as "categorically false." That is until this past Saturday when he acknowledged he had dressed in drag under the name Kitara Ravache, adding angrily, "So sue me for having a life."
Other Santos aliases, include Anthony Devolder which is how he introduced himself in 2019 at a New York City LGBT event. And he used Anthony Zabrovsky for a Go Fund Me page for a homeless veteran whose dog was dying, saying, "Jews will give us more with that name." The fund raised $3,000 for the surgery but Santos disappeared with the cash and the dog died.
House Speaker McCarthy desperately needs Santos’ vote but sheepishly admitted "I did have some questions about his resume." And yet he insists "the voters elected him and I’m not going to override the constitution."
Finally, now the bombshell. When Santos first filed for the election he checked the box that the $700,000 donation was a personal loan, legal only if the money was his. But when he just amended his filing, he suspiciously unchecked that box. And worse, he listed as his treasurer Thomas Datwyler, a veteran campaign treasurer, except Datwyler says Scamtos did so without his consent!
So where did the $700k come from? Fox News of all outlets, reports Santos has business ties to the cousin of a sanctioned Russian oligarch, meaning the GOP likely has a pathological liar and confessed forger in a position of leadership. (John McCain must be spinning in his grave.)
As for the Dems, I’m reminded of Will Rogers’ quote, "I’m not a member of any organized political party...I’m a Democrat!" Clearly the Dems dropped the opposition research ball as many of Santos’ fraudster fiascoes were on the Internet.
I also fault myself for enjoying the humiliation McCarthy suffered through the 15 ballots it took to elect him speaker. This sounds naive, but what if the Dems had offered McCarthy the votes he needed in return for his not putting the likes of anti-Semite Marjorie Taylor Greene in positions of power?
Currently we are facing the debt ceiling crisis. The GOP will likely take it to the wire and possibly cause a recession. And if they shut down the government, it would devastate veterans, federal workers and those who depend on Medicare and Social Security. (The most popular two government programs in our history.)
To summarize Santos’ past: Check forger; lies he worked for Goldman Sachs and Citigroup; his mother died in 9/11 when she died in 2016; his grandparents survived the holocaust, except they lived in Brazil. He said he was Jewish but meant "Jew-ish"; he survived an assassination attempt and also a mugging that included robbing his wallet, watch and shoes but didn’t file a police report; and claims he will donate his Congressional salary to charity. (How about buying the homeless vet a new dog?)
There are an estimated 170 House GOP election deniers including Santos and his newfound influence over NASA on space and science where he has zero experience. Then again, assuming he’s not in jail or extradited to Brazil, maybe George Anthony Devolder Ravache Santos will claim he was once an astronaut. (That is if he hasn’t already.)
