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Republican George Santos said he took part in “resume embellishment”.Credit:Washington Post

“The numerous fabrications and inconsistencies associated with congressman-elect Santos are nothing short of stunning,” Donnelly said in a statement. “The residents of Nassau County and other parts of the third district must have an honest and accountable representative in Congress. No one is above the law and if a crime was committed in this county,we will prosecute it.”

Joseph Murray,Santos’ lawyer,referred questions to his client’s media representative,who didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

Santos’ lies first came to light in aNew York Times report last week. He addressed them on Monday in an interview with theNew York Post,in which he apologised for misrepresentations but insisted that he would still take office as representative of the state’s third congressional district.

“I didn’t graduate from any institution of higher learning,” Santos told thePost. “I’m embarrassed and sorry for having embellished my resume.”

Republican congressman-elect for New York’s 3rd Congressional District George Santos on the campaign trail.Credit:AP

The controversy comes at a sensitive time for Republicans,who flipped the House by a slimmer-than-expected majority,with wins by Santos and other New York Republicans among the few bright spots in a bruising midterm election for the GOP.

House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy,who is counting every vote in his bid to become Speaker,has so far been silent about Santos’ lies. A Republican Jewish group that boosted Santos during the election has said he is no longer welcome at its events because he misled them about being Jewish.

Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene was one of the few Republicans to come to Santos’ defence.

Santos’ bio on his campaign website no longer includes references to a supposedly high-powered Wall Street career,but it calls him “an experienced businessman,financier and investor,with extensive work in capital introduction,real estate,capital markets,biotech and M&A”.

In his 2022 campaign finance disclosures,Santos claimed $US750,000 in salary and millions of dollars in dividend income from a company he founded. In an interview last week withSemafor,he struggled to explain what the company did,saying it “landed a couple of million-dollar contracts”.

His campaign bio also describes him as an openly gay son of immigrants who moved to the US “in search of the American dream” that is “now under an all-out attack from the radical left”.

Santos previously claimed his maternal grandparents were Ukrainian Jews who fled the Holocaust to Brazil,yet records obtained by several sources showed that his grandparents were born in Brazil and none of his ancestors were Ukrainian or Jewish.

Bloomberg

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