U.S. Congressman George Santos announced Tuesday that he will temporarily recuse himself from congressional committees amid pressure within the Republican Party calling for his resignation, all after the lawmaker admitted he had lied about key aspects of his resume.
The New York Republican-elect has told his party colleagues of the decision, claiming that his participation in these committees «is a distraction», at least while he is being investigated by the House Ethics Committee for making up his biography, as reported by the newspaper ‘The New York Times’.
Days before, the president of the U.S. House of Representatives, Republican Kevin McCarthy, met with Santos, who told him that leaving the committees was «an appropriate decision until everything could be clarified».
In that meeting, Santos and McCarthy discussed several scenarios, according to people familiar with the conversation consulted by ‘The Washington Post’. Specifically, the New York congressman reportedly asked if his seats on the committee could be held in reserve until the investigation against him was concluded.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives reportedly expressed his support for the idea and told the New York congressman that he appreciated it.
Santos has admitted making up details about his education, job, religion and heritage since his election as congressman in the last mid-term congressional elections held last November 8.
More specifically, the congressman has exaggerated or outright lied about both his professional and personal resume, with a false Jewish heritage linked to the Holocaust and a mother who supposedly died in the September 11, 2001 attacks, among other lies that have come to light.
After this, many voices within the Republican Party have called for Santos’ resignation, appealing to the fact that he has met «the highest standards of honesty and reliability» or that «it is not right to invent or lie for political interests», as reported in mid-January by the website Cleveland.
However, the announcement comes on the same day that a Newsday-Siena College poll, conducted in his district, has shown that the vast majority of voters think Santos should resign.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
