A published report that claims newly elected Rep. George Santos lied about his career and other parts of his life is a “smear” campaign, Santos’ lawyer said Monday.
The New York Times reported that Santos, a Republican who will represent parts of Nassau and Queens counties after his election win in November, made false claims about his college education, finance career, his residency and statements that four of his employees were killed in the 2016 mass shooting at Orlando's Pulse, a gay nightclub, that left 49 people dead.
The Times is "attempting to smear his good name with these defamatory allegations," Santos lawyer Joseph Murray said in a statement.
"George Santos represents the kind of progress that the Left is so threatened by - a gay, Latino, first generation American and Republican who won a Biden district in overwhelming fashion," Murray said. "It is no surprise that Congressman-elect Santos has enemies at the New York Times."
The Times report was dismissed by Santos’ allies.
“All noise. Don’t miss the signal. The signal is that the New York Democrats and the Democratic Party all over America is rabid to take this seat back,” the New York Young Republican Club’s executive secretary Viswanag Burra said Monday. “They are zeroing in on Santos and trying to wage total war on him.”
“We don’t care what The New York Times has to say. It’s war. And we’re going to bring it,” Burra added.
Santos is among a group of sitting politicians and soon-to-be lawmakers who are dues-paying members of the club that welcomed white nationalists and far-right European politicians at a gala earlier this month.
He also has donated thousands to the New York Young Republican Club, the group’s president said Monday.
“The House Majority ran through Long Island to the Hudson Valley to the North Country sweeping many members of this club into Congress itself, including longtime member Congressman George Santos,” club president Gavin Wax said in his remarks at a Dec. 10 gala in Manhattan that featured Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene as the keynote speaker.
Wax told NY1 that Santos had been a member since at least 2019. Federal campaign finance records show Santos’ campaign donated $2,750 to the club on Aug. 9, 2021 and $500 on Nov. 11, 2021.