Embattled U.S. Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., admitted in an interview that aired Monday that he’s been a “terrible liar” on certain subjects, in part citing societal expectations as his motivation.

In an hourlong interview with the British TV show “Piers Morgan Uncensored,” Santos acknowledged some lies he’s told but doubled down on other dubious assertions. He also disputed some reported mistruths, accusing “desperate” journalists of fabricating stories to advance their careers. 

After an avalanche of stories exposed lies Santos told, the freshman congressman confessed to misrepresenting major aspects of his biography, including his education and work history. He has defied calls to resign, including from his own constituents. 

“I’ve been a terrible liar on those subjects, and what I tried to convey to the American people is I made mistakes,” Santos told Morgan, the show’s host.

Morgan asked Santos to respond point-by-point to many of the questionable claims he has made or the reports about his allegedly dishonest statements or behavior.

Santos admitted he never attended Baruch College in New York, calling it “one of my biggest regrets in life.”

Asked why he lied about it, the congressman said: “Expectation on society. The pressure. Couldn't afford it. Decided I wanted to run for office. Although I had built a very credible business career, and I just didn't have that part of my biography that I could not give anything.

“I just went with it. I mean, if you're going to make up a lie, are you thinking at all? I just think it was a stupid decision on my part,” Santos added.

But he insisted he has “the chops and the backing without the education,” adding, “This stems more deeper into the political apparatus and the political culture of New York state.”

Santos also acknowledged he never attended graduate school at New York University or worked directly for Goldman Sachs and Citi Group, as he had previously claimed. He said he worked for “subsidiary groups outside of those companies” that assisted the investment banks in areas such as conference organizing, fundraising and marketing.

The 34-year-old lawmaker, however, stood by his story that he attended the prestigious Horace Mann prep school in New York but was forced to leave when his family was hit hard financially by what later turned out to be the 2008 recession. A spokesman for the school told CNN in December that it “searched the records and there is no evidence that George Santos (or any alias) attended Horace Mann.”

Santos insisted to Morgan that he attended the school “for six months of ninth grade” in 2004. That story, however, was inconsistent with what he told the “Police Off the Cuff” YouTube show in October 2020 during his first run for Congress. In that interview, Santos said his parents sent him to Horace Mann after eighth grade and that he left the school with four months left in his senior year.

He also defended himself on past claims he made about his family.

Santos has said that his mother was working in the South Tower of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, and tweeted in July 2021 that the terror attacks “claimed my mother’s life.” His campaign website said Fatima Devolder, who died in 2016, “survived the tragic events on September 11th, but she passed away a few years later when she lost her battle to cancer.”

A New York Times review of immigration documents found that Santos’ mother, who was living in Brazil, applied for a visa in 2003 to enter the United States and claimed in two separate forms filed two years apart that she had not been in the U.S. since 1999.

“I won't debate my mother's life, as she's passed in ’16, and I think it's quite unsensitive for everybody to want to rehash my mother's legacy,” Santos said.

Asked if he could have gotten his mother’s story wrong, Santos, who was 13 on 9/11, responded: “Are you telling me that I got wrong what my mother told me?”

“Is it possible she misled you?” Morgan asked.

“I don't believe so,” Santos said. “She wasn't one to mislead me.”

The Republican congressman also maintained that his maternal grandparents were Jewish Holocaust survivors who fled Belgium for Brazil during World War II. The Jewish publication The Forward and CNN found evidence that Santos’ grandfather and grandmother were born in Brazil, and a genealogist whom CNN interviewed said, “There’s no sign of Jewish and/or Ukrainian heritage.”

Santos told Morgan his grandparents falsified documents to make it appear they were born in Brazil. “We're talking about a time in history where this was a very common occurrence in the name of survival,” the congressman said.

He also said he’s awaiting the results from DNA test kits to answer whether he has Jewish or Ukrainian ancestry.

Santos said he never claimed to be Jewish. He said he only made a “party favor joke” that he was raised Catholic and from a Jewish family, making him “Jew-ish.” But Santos claimed to be “a proud American Jew” in his 2022 campaign position paper, and the Republican Jewish Coalition said in a December statement that Santos told the group he was Jewish.

Santos also maintained that four of the people killed in the 2016 Pulse Nightclub mass shooting in Orlando worked for him, but there is no evidence to support the claim. 

He said he dressed in drag once but was not a drag performer. The Republican denied that he ever edited a Wikipedia page to say he had a successful drag career and acted on the TV series “Hannah Montana.” He said he never claimed to donors that he was a producer for the disastrous Broadway musical “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.” And Santos said he never met the disabled Navy veteran who has accused of him of stealing $3,000 donated through a GoFundMe page to pay for lifesaving surgery for his service dog.

The veteran, Richard Osthoff, said the FBI has recently interview him about the alleged incident.

Despite the inconsistencies in his statements during the interview, Santos said his lying “stopped a long time ago.”

“I understand and, look, that's a position I've put myself in, right?” he said. “My credibility is what what I'm going to have a hard time [with] and a long road to recover. And I stand clear, and I stand certain that I'll be able to do that.”

He also said: “The Americans who voted for me will get to judge me in two years.” But he added that he doesn’t yet know if he’ll run for reelection.

A poll published by Siena College found that 78% of voters in Santos’ district — including 71% of Republicans — want him to step down.

Federal and local prosecutors are investigating whether Santos committed any crimes involving his finances or lies on the campaign trail, according to multiple reports and the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office. 

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said earlier this month that Santos is the subject of ethics complaints that the House Ethics Committee might look into.

Also earlier this month, a former prospective aide to Santos sent a letter to the Ethics Committee requesting an investigation into Santos for allegedly sexual harassing him and improperly having him work as a volunteer for days while being promised future employment. Derek Myers also said he filed a report with U.S. Capitol Police. 

In January, a nonpartisan watchdog group filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission alleging Santos violated multiple campaign finance laws.

And prosecutors in Brazil announced last month they intend to revive a 15-year-old check fraud case against Santos. The case had been suspended because police there were unable to locate him.

Santos told Morgan he has not been notified about any formal investigations involving him.