Despite growing calls for an investigation into Rep. George Santos and calls for his resignation, House Republican leadership on Tuesday gave the first-term New York congressman a small business boost, according to a person familiar with the matter. Seat assignments on committees and committees on science, space and technology.
The committee’s arrangement is the clearest indication of the restraint Republican leaders have shown toward Trump. Last month The New York Times reported on Santos’ lies on the campaign trail and the growing controversy over his fundraising and spending.
Two committees that are neither Mr. nor Santos are seen as ideal seats for lawmakers looking to boost their image on Capitol Hill, and they are not as highly regarded as the committees he initially sought: the House Financial Services Committee or the Foreign Affairs Committee. People with knowledge of its mission said Mr. Santos had asked Republican leaders for those posts.
But Mr. Santos’ chances of getting those positions dwindled after Santos admitted to misrepresenting his work in finance and after reports questioned aspects of his background, including claims of Jewish ancestry.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy has the support of a narrow majority, including a faction that threatens his leadership, and some of his delegation have joined Democrats in calling for Trump to step down. Santos resigned. But sir. McCarthy’s bid to run for Speaker has been backed by Trump. Santos has declined to publicly criticize him.
Last week, he said he would not push Mr. Santos resigned despite pleas from members of the Nassau County Republican Party and Mr. Santos. McCarthy’s own meeting.
gentlemen. McCarthy suggested that any potential wrongdoing would need to be investigated by the House ethics committee, which has been criticized by watchdog groups for being slow to act. Two Democratic members of Congress formally called for such an investigation last week, involving Mr. Santos’ financial disclosure form.
More on the George Santos controversy
- Behind the Times investigation: Times reporters Michael Gold and Grace Ashford discuss how Rep. George Santos was elected to Congress and how they found out he was a liar.
- split view: New York Republicans are poised to get rid of the newly elected representative after his pattern of deceit was revealed. But House Republican leaders desperately need his votes.
- Face query: Federal and local prosecutors are investigating whether Mr. Santos committed crimes involving his finances or made misleading statements, while Brazilian authorities say they will reopen a 2008 fraud case against him.
- alternate identity: A newly emerged video shows Mr. Santos used one of his alternate identities in 2019 and urged members of the LGBTQ community to embrace the Republican Party. This clip offers insight into Mr. Santos forayed into public political life early.
Federal and local prosecutors also said they were investigating whether Mr. Santos committed any crimes involving him admitting to fabricating his background, finances or campaign spending.
Monday, sir. McCarthy told CNN he “always has a few questions” about Mr. Santos background. He also said he had spoken to Mr. Regarding the incident in which an aide to Santos was caught impersonating Mr. Santos. McCarthy’s chief of staff while soliciting campaign contributions.
Yet Mr McCarthy defended putting Mr aside. Santos is on committee, nothing his constituents elected him to.
gentlemen. In an interview last week on the conservative podcast “Bannon’s War Room,” Santos appeared to abandon his original ambitions and set out for more modest goals.
“I came to DC with no real preconceived notions of which committees to serve on,” Mr. Santos said. He added, “Whatever committee I get, whether it’s, I don’t know, science and technology, education and labor or whatever committee gives me, I’ll give 110 percent.”
gentlemen. Santos’ communications director did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on Tuesday.
It is unclear how Mr. Santos will be entertained by his committee members; last week, Nassau County Republican leaders said he would no longer be welcome, and that they would exclude him from the day-to-day operations of local government, banning him from local meetings and events.
gentlemen. Santos will sit on the Small Business Council as he faces questions about his own company, the Devolder Organization, which he said in financial disclosures paid him $700,000 and a dividend of between $1 million and $5 million. between.
The company has no public-facing presence, and Mr. Santos provided little information about his business, saying only that he provided “deal building” and “professional advice” to a network of wealthy clients. gentlemen. Santos did not list any clients on a financial disclosure form it filed last September, despite asking for any compensation in excess of $5,000 from a single source.
When Mr. Santos first expressed interest in running for Congress, he provided party officials with a résumé that included stints at Citigroup and Goldman Sachs. Both companies told The Times they had no record of him having worked there.
Two early resumes posted on Indeed.com in 2017 and 2019 show that Mr. Santos claimed this background even earlier. Both documents use the name George Devolder, a name he has used professionally in other contexts, and describe a similar trajectory to Mr. Santos claimed on the campaign trail.
The 2017 resume says, Mr. Santos worked as a bilingual customer service representative for Citigroup in 2011 and 2012, when he actually worked in Dish Network’s call center while also working as a financial advisor. In a 2019 resume, Santos said he was an “assistant asset manager” at the firm, which sold its asset management business in 2005.
Even Republican leaders have shown little willingness to rebuke Trump. Santos’ 10 Republican representatives, including six first-term members of Congress from New York, have urged him to step down.
Other representatives condemned Mr. Santos’ actions did not call for his resignation. On Sunday, Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said he had been avoiding talking to Trump. Santos’ fabrications about him.
“I don’t approve of the way he got into Congress, and I didn’t even introduce myself to him because the lies he told were so despicable,” Comer said on CNN.
Still Mr. Santos wasn’t completely ostracized. Even on his first day in the House, when he was largely viewed as an outcast by other lawmakers, he spoke warmly with Texas Rep. Pat Fallon.
gentlemen. Fallon, a Republican, said in an interview that he told Mr. Santos said he must be more honest with future voters.
“One of the things I said was, ‘George, you have to be open with people, you can’t do that anymore, you have to make the most of the situation at this time,'” Mr. Fallon said. He declined to describe how Mr. Santos responded.
Emily Cochran reports from Washington, and Jay Root from Albany, NY