Incoming New York Republican Rep.-elect Mike Lawler on Wednesday joined a growing number of GOP voices demanding answers from Rep.-elect George Santos (R-N.Y.) after he confessed to fabricating part of his professional profile on the campaign trail.
“George Santos owes the people of his district the complete and total truth about his personal and professional background, and a sincere apology for his behavior. Attempts to blame others or minimize his actions are only making things worse and a complete distraction from the task at hand,” Lawler said on Twitter.
“With multiple federal, state, and local investigations seemingly underway, Mr. Santos should cooperate fully if he is to regain the trust of his constituents and colleagues,” Lawler added.
Santos admitted earlier this week to falsely claiming that he had earned a college degree and misrepresenting his employment history, saying he’d graduated from New York’s Baruch College and worked at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup.
The incoming lawmaker, who flipped a House seat for the GOP during the midterms to represent parts of Long Island and Queens, had also said on the campaign trail that he was “a proud American Jew” but countered Monday that he “never claimed to be Jewish.”
A number of Democrats quickly called for Santos to resign from his elected position or for the House GOP to take action against him.
Now, some Republicans have also joined the chorus.
Another New York Republican congressman-elect, Nick LaLota, called Tuesday for a House Ethics Committee investigation into Santos, saying on Twitter that “New Yorkers deserve the truth and House Republicans deserve an opportunity to govern without this distraction.”
Nassau County Republican Committee Chairman Joseph Cairo said Santos “has broken the public trust” with his résumé fabrications.
Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas), a former chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, told the Washington Examiner in an interview published Wednesday that he doesn’t support Santos and that the House GOP conference should look into the matter.
“You cannot come into our conference as a known liar. The way I read it, he admitted he fabricated it,” Sessions said in the interview.