WESTBURY, N.Y. (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) -- The Nassau County GOP and other Long Island Republican officials on Wednesday called for the immediate resignation of embattled U.S. Rep. George Santos—but he said he “will NOT” step down.
Nassau County Republican Committee Chairman Joseph Cairo was among about 30 leaders who called for Santos’ resignation, saying the newly sworn-in congressman has “disgraced the House of Representatives.”
“He has no place in the Nassau County Republican Committee, nor should he serve in public service, nor as an elected official,” Cairo said. “He is not welcome here at Republican headquarters for meetings or for any of our events.”
One by one at the press conference in Westbury, officials stepped up to the podium to denounce Santos and call for his resignation. They called him a “fraud,” a “joke” and a “pathological liar” who is “not a normal person” and “needs help.” They said they’d been “duped” by Santos during the vetting process, including when he told them he was a “star” on a championship volleyball team at Baruch College, a school it turns out he didn’t attend.
Rep. Anthony D'Esposito, another Republican newly elected to represent Long Island, said via video from Washington, “George Santos does not have the ability to serve here in the House of Representatives and should resign.”
D'Esposito said he wouldn’t “associate” with Santos in Congress and will encourage other representatives to “join me in rejecting him.”
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who is a Republican, said his office would no longer work with Santos’ office and that he would redirect any of Santos' constituents seeking help to the office of D'Esposito in the neighboring congressional district.
Blakeman said he and other members of the sizeable Jewish population in the area take their religion and heritage seriously. He said it was “ridiculous” for Santos to call himself a Jew but it was “beyond the pale,” “outrageous” and “disgusting” for Santos to have said in an interview that his grandparents survived the Holocaust.
“He cannot serve anymore. He does not deserve that right,” Blakeman said. “He is a stain on the House of Representatives. He is a stain on the 3rd congressional district.”
Hempstead Town Supervisor Don Clavin called Santos “a national joke” who has “got to go.”
Long Island officials have no power to force Santos, 34, to resign.
Asked by a swarm of reporters outside his Capitol Hill office a short time later if he will resign, Santos responded, “I will not. I will not.”
Later he took to Twitter, writing, “I was elected to serve the people of #NY03 not the party & politicians, I remain committed to doing that and regret to hear that local officials refuse to work with my office to deliver results to keep our community safe and lower the cost of living. I will NOT resign!”
Santos also responded to a tweet from CNN commentator Adam Kinzinger, a former Republican congressman from Illinois, urging him to “resign now.” “Go on @CNN and cry about it,” Santos tweeted along with a photo of Kinzinger crying.
Long Island officials had teased a “major” announcement and their “strongest statement yet” on Santos, who faces a storm of scandal surrounding past lies he made about his career and personal life.
Nassau GOP leaders, and national leaders in the party, had previously stopped short of calling on Santos to step down. D'Esposito is the only Republican congressperson to call for him to resign.
On Tuesday, two Democratic New York congressmen—Reps. Dan Goldman and Ritchie Torres—filed a complaint with the House Ethics Committee seeking an investigation into Santos, saying he “has failed to uphold the integrity expected of members of the House of Representatives.”
Santos is unlikely to face expulsion from Congress if the committee finds he violated the internal rules of the House.
Santos has all but admitted he lied about his background and resume but said he hasn’t done anything unethical or criminal. He was sworn in on Saturday to represent New York's 3rd congressional district, which includes parts of Nassau County and Queens.
Santos’ communications director didn’t respond when asked if the congressman plans to open a district office on Long Island. Meanwhile, his office in Douglaston, Queens, has not yet opened.
The congressman faces a spiral of investigations from federal and local prosecutors into his campaign spending and lies about his family history, resume and education. He has declined to respond to questions from reporters about the controversy.
Initially, the victory by Santos, an openly gay Republican who flipped a House seat held by Democrats for a decade, was seen as one of his party’s bright spots in an otherwise underwhelming 2022 midterm election.
But as reports began to emerge that he had lied about having Jewish ancestry, a career at top Wall Street firms and a college degree, Santos turned into a distraction and embarrassment to the party as it took control of the House.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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