Santos 'more bold' after controversial month in Congress
Rep. George Santos (R-Nassau/Queens) faces reporters on Capitol Hill on Jan. 12. Credit: The Washington Post / Jabin Botsford via Getty Images
WASHINGTON — On his first day in Congress, Rep. George Santos (R-Nassau/Queens) peered down a long hallway to see reporters and camera crews camped outside of his office door. He quickly turned around and fled down an adjacent hallway before they could catch up.
A month into office, with the media still capturing his every move on Capitol Hill, the scandal-plagued politician has started to confront the reality of being one of the most closely watched members of Congress.
Santos, the subject of county, state and federal probes into his campaign finances, has gone from outright ignoring reporters’ questions to verbally sparring with them. After sitting quietly in the back row of the House chamber on the first day of the session, he’s now delivering floor speeches and aligning himself with some of the more right-flank members in the chamber, including Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.)
“It seems he has become more bold and more emboldened,” said former Long Island Rep. Pete King, a Seaford Republican who has been critical of Santos and still talks to congressional Republicans.
As more details surface about Santos’ life before politics, the embattled congressman has sought to portray himself as undeterred by the public scrutiny, even as it forced him to step down from the two committees he was appointed to.
“I am getting the job I signed up for done, while you all spiral out of control,” Santos wrote in a tweet from his campaign account that took aim at the media.
Inside his office in the Longworth House Office Building, he has slowly started to fill his team, recently adding a sixth staff member. Santos’ legislative director, Marcus C. Dunn, worked from 1997 to 2004 as a legislative assistant to three congressional Republicans, before moving on to work as a registered lobbyist and a government affairs specialist for two industry groups, according to the legislative research site Legistorm. He also has moonlighted as an actor.
But just as Dunn was coming on, Santos was letting go of a potential staffer, Derek J. Myers, who secretly recorded a conversation with Santos and his chief of staff, Charles Lovett, and released it Thursday to the online outlet Talking Points Memo. In a statement posted to Twitter on Thursday, Myers wrote that he was volunteering for Santos and was waiting on a full-time offer. He lauded the rest of the staff’s work, “even if their boss is arguably distracted.”
Santos’ office declined to comment on Myers’ statement.
Santos has resisted growing calls to resign after a New York Times story published in December found holes in the resume he touted on the campaign trail. Santos since has admitted lying about his education and work background, but he repeatedly has dodged questions about his campaign finances and the source of nearly $700,000 in personal funds to his 2022 campaign.
At the end of January, Santos recused himself from the Small Business and Science Committees, saying in a statement he wanted “to take time to properly clear my name before returning.”
He continues to face loud criticism from constituents in New York’s 3rd Congressional District who contend he is not meeting his obligations. His district office in Queens only recently hired a constituent services director, and several local officials in the district have told Newsday they don’t have a working relationship with Santos.
On Friday, his office was spray-painted with a message that appeared to be obscene, according to the NYPD.
Santos’ communications director, Naysa Woomer, told Newsday in a brief phone interview that his office was “100 percent” open to helping constituents, and has plans of engaging with local leaders.
“We do encourage people to come into the office, anytime, if they need any type of federal assistance that can be provided from the congressional office,” Woomer said. “And the congressman has been trying to reach out to local officials … I can't say specifically who yet, but I know there has been outreach that has started, and I know that he wants to do that with every local mayor or local official within the 3rd Congressional District, and we would be more than happy to work with them on anything that we can do at the federal level for them.”
New York’s newly elected House Republicans have largely avoided engaging with Santos. All six GOP freshmen in the delegation have called for his resignation. But New York’s top ranking House Republican, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-Schuylerville), the House Republican Conference chair, has stopped short of calling for his removal, telling reporters recently that “ultimately, voters make this decision about who they elect to Congress."
Santos has signed on to co-sponsor a bill sponsored by Stefanik to counter New York’s bail reform laws by providing financial incentives to states that give judges more discretion in imposing bail on defendants they deem dangerous. The measure is backed by all of New York’s congressional Republicans.
Other measures Santos has signed on to include legislation to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over border security concerns, a proposal that would ban the use of the social media app TikTok on college campuses due to its ties to China, and a bill that calls for term limits in Congress.
Santos’ first floor speech, on Jan. 25, offered support for a resolution supporting Iranian protesters, noting the “considerable population of Iranian Americans in New York’s 3rd Congressional District.”
His second floor speech was met with widespread condemnation on social media, after Santos commemorated Holocaust Remembrance Day in remarks that avoided mentioning his disproved claims of being the descendant of Holocaust survivors or his claims of being raised Catholic but identifying as “Jew-ish.”
“It is appalling and offensive that someone who has lied about being Jewish and having grandparents who fled the Holocaust would have the chutzpah to ‘honor the survivors’ of the Holocaust,” tweeted Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-Brooklyn), who is Jewish.
Aaron Fritschner, communications director for Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), whose office is next door to Santos, told Newsday that sometimes constituents and groups visiting Beyer are surprised by the number of reporters stationed in the hallway, but otherwise “it doesn't disrupt our lives, other than it is a weird thing.”
“In terms of how his physical presence affects everyone, I think that our view is basically he’s not going to be here very long,” Fritschner said.
WASHINGTON — On his first day in Congress, Rep. George Santos (R-Nassau/Queens) peered down a long hallway to see reporters and camera crews camped outside of his office door. He quickly turned around and fled down an adjacent hallway before they could catch up.
A month into office, with the media still capturing his every move on Capitol Hill, the scandal-plagued politician has started to confront the reality of being one of the most closely watched members of Congress.
Santos, the subject of county, state and federal probes into his campaign finances, has gone from outright ignoring reporters’ questions to verbally sparring with them. After sitting quietly in the back row of the House chamber on the first day of the session, he’s now delivering floor speeches and aligning himself with some of the more right-flank members in the chamber, including Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.)
“It seems he has become more bold and more emboldened,” said former Long Island Rep. Pete King, a Seaford Republican who has been critical of Santos and still talks to congressional Republicans.
WHAT TO KNOW
- Rep. George Santos (R-Queens/Nassau) has been seen fleeing down hallways, away from the media attention, since being sworn in to Congress.
- Lately, though, Santos, the subject of county, state and federal probes into his campaign finances, has gone from outright ignoring reporters' questions to verbally sparring with them.
- After sitting quietly in the back row of the House chamber on the first day of the session, Santos is now delivering floor speeches and aligning himself with some of the more right-flank members in the chamber.
As more details surface about Santos’ life before politics, the embattled congressman has sought to portray himself as undeterred by the public scrutiny, even as it forced him to step down from the two committees he was appointed to.
“I am getting the job I signed up for done, while you all spiral out of control,” Santos wrote in a tweet from his campaign account that took aim at the media.
Staffing up
Inside his office in the Longworth House Office Building, he has slowly started to fill his team, recently adding a sixth staff member. Santos’ legislative director, Marcus C. Dunn, worked from 1997 to 2004 as a legislative assistant to three congressional Republicans, before moving on to work as a registered lobbyist and a government affairs specialist for two industry groups, according to the legislative research site Legistorm. He also has moonlighted as an actor.
But just as Dunn was coming on, Santos was letting go of a potential staffer, Derek J. Myers, who secretly recorded a conversation with Santos and his chief of staff, Charles Lovett, and released it Thursday to the online outlet Talking Points Memo. In a statement posted to Twitter on Thursday, Myers wrote that he was volunteering for Santos and was waiting on a full-time offer. He lauded the rest of the staff’s work, “even if their boss is arguably distracted.”
Santos’ office declined to comment on Myers’ statement.
Santos has resisted growing calls to resign after a New York Times story published in December found holes in the resume he touted on the campaign trail. Santos since has admitted lying about his education and work background, but he repeatedly has dodged questions about his campaign finances and the source of nearly $700,000 in personal funds to his 2022 campaign.
At the end of January, Santos recused himself from the Small Business and Science Committees, saying in a statement he wanted “to take time to properly clear my name before returning.”
He continues to face loud criticism from constituents in New York’s 3rd Congressional District who contend he is not meeting his obligations. His district office in Queens only recently hired a constituent services director, and several local officials in the district have told Newsday they don’t have a working relationship with Santos.
On Friday, his office was spray-painted with a message that appeared to be obscene, according to the NYPD.
Santos’ communications director, Naysa Woomer, told Newsday in a brief phone interview that his office was “100 percent” open to helping constituents, and has plans of engaging with local leaders.
“We do encourage people to come into the office, anytime, if they need any type of federal assistance that can be provided from the congressional office,” Woomer said. “And the congressman has been trying to reach out to local officials … I can't say specifically who yet, but I know there has been outreach that has started, and I know that he wants to do that with every local mayor or local official within the 3rd Congressional District, and we would be more than happy to work with them on anything that we can do at the federal level for them.”
Reaction from colleagues
New York’s newly elected House Republicans have largely avoided engaging with Santos. All six GOP freshmen in the delegation have called for his resignation. But New York’s top ranking House Republican, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-Schuylerville), the House Republican Conference chair, has stopped short of calling for his removal, telling reporters recently that “ultimately, voters make this decision about who they elect to Congress."
Santos has signed on to co-sponsor a bill sponsored by Stefanik to counter New York’s bail reform laws by providing financial incentives to states that give judges more discretion in imposing bail on defendants they deem dangerous. The measure is backed by all of New York’s congressional Republicans.
Other measures Santos has signed on to include legislation to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over border security concerns, a proposal that would ban the use of the social media app TikTok on college campuses due to its ties to China, and a bill that calls for term limits in Congress.
Santos’ first floor speech, on Jan. 25, offered support for a resolution supporting Iranian protesters, noting the “considerable population of Iranian Americans in New York’s 3rd Congressional District.”
His second floor speech was met with widespread condemnation on social media, after Santos commemorated Holocaust Remembrance Day in remarks that avoided mentioning his disproved claims of being the descendant of Holocaust survivors or his claims of being raised Catholic but identifying as “Jew-ish.”
“It is appalling and offensive that someone who has lied about being Jewish and having grandparents who fled the Holocaust would have the chutzpah to ‘honor the survivors’ of the Holocaust,” tweeted Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-Brooklyn), who is Jewish.
Aaron Fritschner, communications director for Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), whose office is next door to Santos, told Newsday that sometimes constituents and groups visiting Beyer are surprised by the number of reporters stationed in the hallway, but otherwise “it doesn't disrupt our lives, other than it is a weird thing.”
“In terms of how his physical presence affects everyone, I think that our view is basically he’s not going to be here very long,” Fritschner said.
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.
