Fact check: George Santos tells new lies in interview about his old lies

Rep. George Santos, the New York Republican who fabricated a big portion of his biography, sat down for an prolonged interview with Piers Morgan – and lied about his lies.

Morgan obtained Santos to explicitly concede that he has “been a horrible liar” on sure “topics.” However whereas Santos shortly admitted to a few of his false claims, like his “very silly” fiction about having graduated from faculty, he was misleading and evasive when Morgan confronted him on different false claims.

Here’s a reality examine of a number of the issues Santos mentioned within the interview, which was posted on-line on Monday. This isn’t meant to be a complete record; Santos made varied statements to Morgan that can’t be instantly confirmed or disproven.

Morgan informed Santos, “You claimed to be Jewish, however you’re not Jewish.” Santos responded, “I by no means claimed to be Jewish.” He insisted that, reasonably, he had “all the time made a celebration favor joke” that he was “Jew-ish.”

Details First: Santos’ assertion that he “by no means claimed to be Jewish” is fake. Santos repeatedly claimed to be Jewish, as Morgan shortly reminded him.

Listed here are 4 examples of Santos claiming to be Jewish.

Santos mentioned in a radio interview through the 2022 marketing campaign: “I’m a Latino Jew.” Showing on the identical present later within the yr, Santos mentioned whereas criticizing Democrats: “I’m a Latino Jew. Which makes them shake of their pants. As a result of the fact is: I obtained all of it, child.”

Ready paper the Santos marketing campaign produced through the 2022 marketing campaign, which the Jewish publication The Ahead reported was distributed by his marketing campaign to Jewish teams, Santos wrote, “As a proud American Jew, I’ve been to Israel quite a few instances from academic, enterprise, and leisurely journeys.” And in a speech to the Republican Jewish Coalition in November, after he was elected to serve New York’s third District, Santos asserted that he could be the third Jewish Republican at the moment serving in Congress, saying, “So now we’re going to be three. We’ve tripled it – we’ve nearly tripled it there.”

Santos additionally publicly claimed final yr to have maternal Jewish grandparents who survived the Holocaust by fleeing Europe for Brazil. A number of genealogists have informed CNN that there isn’t a proof for any of this story, and data record these grandparents as having been born in Brazil. (Santos informed Morgan that he stands by his claims, that his grandparents “falsified numerous their paperwork” whereas in Brazil to make it seem like they have been born there, and that he has ordered “DNA check kits, and I’ve performed 4 of them up to now, and I’m simply ready for his or her return.”)

Santos’ narrative about his identification has typically diverse. The Ahead discovered one 2022 interview the place he known as himself “an excellent outdated Catholic, proper, however with a Jewish mom” and mentioned he was “half Jewish, half Catholic.” In a 2020 interview, he spoke of his supposed Jewish ancestry however mentioned “I’m Catholic” and that he was “not attempting to assert Jewish heritage or something” – but additionally mentioned, “I consider we’re all Jewish on the finish, as a result of Jesus Christ was Jewish.”

Regardless, his declare that he “by no means claimed to be Jewish” is simply not true. He has made the declare publicly and unequivocally.

Santos insisted that “everyone’s all the time laughed” at his supposed “joke” about how, having been raised Catholic however having Jewish grandparents, he’s “Jew-ish.” He cited his November speech to the Republican Jewish Coalition.

“Individuals have been hysterically laughing,” he mentioned. “It was humorous to them. They liked it.” When Morgan mentioned he doesn’t suppose Jewish folks discover this humorous, Santos protested: “They have been Jewish!”

Details First: This story is fictional. Santos didn’t make a joke about being “Jew-ish” in his speech to the Republican Jewish Coalition; reasonably, he merely claimed to be Jewish. Whereas Santos chuckled throughout his comment about his election victory having “nearly tripled” the variety of Jewish Republicans in Congress, and whereas it appeared like some viewers members laughed right here too, there was no signal that he was joking about his identification itself. The Republican Jewish Coalition has disavowed him.

On Monday, after a CNBC reporter tweeted a debunking of Santos’ declare to Morgan – telling Santos that he had not known as himself “Jew-ish” within the speech and had really “urged to the group you have been an incoming Jewish lawmaker” – coalition chief govt officer Matt Brooks tweeted in help of the debunking: “Truth examine: TRUE!” Brooks said in a press release in December: “We’re very upset in Congressman-elect Santos. He deceived us and misrepresented his heritage. In public feedback and to us personally he beforehand claimed to be Jewish.”

Morgan reminded Santos that he had claimed he attended Horace Mann, an elite personal preparatory college in New York Metropolis, earlier than having to depart in his senior yr as a result of his household confronted monetary difficulties – however that Horace Mann informed CNN that it has no report of him attending.

Santos continued to insist he had attended Horace Mann. He mentioned, “I problem to see what identify they’re wanting beneath. Should you have a look at my whole historical past of schooling, it was not beneath the identify George Santos.” He mentioned he may need been listed beneath one in all two different names he has used, George Devolder or Anthony Devolder. When Morgan mentioned he believed the college had checked these names, too, and had discovered no signal of him, Santos mentioned, “I used to be there for six months of ninth grade.”

Details First: Horace Mann “checked all of the data and all of the names, and he didn’t attend,” a spokesperson for the college, Ed Adler, informed CNN on Tuesday.

It’s additionally value noting that Santos’ declare that “I used to be there for six months of ninth grade” is a big discrepancy from a declare he made on a YouTube present through the 2020 marketing campaign, when he mentioned he solely left the college “4 months to commencement.”

Morgan reminded Santos that he had claimed to have earned a grasp’s diploma in enterprise from New York College and to have scored a robust 710 on the GMAT examination that’s taken by candidates to graduate enterprise packages. Santos conceded he had made up the declare concerning the NYU diploma however mentioned, “The fact is, I don’t know the place that ‘GMAT’ comes from. I by no means put that out on my web site or my bio.”

When Morgan accurately mentioned the declare concerning the GMAT rating was on his resume, Santos mentioned, “Which – the resume was by no means furnished or provided by me.” When Morgan requested who provided it, Santos mentioned, “I do not know the place that got here from.” He added, “I didn’t provide it, and no person related to me provided it. That got here from the GOP, and I’m nonetheless attempting to grasp the place that got here from.”

Details First: Santos “personally introduced” this resume to the Nassau County Republican Committee at an in-person assembly whereas he was in search of the committee’s help within the 2020 election, committee spokesperson Mike Deery informed CNN on Tuesday.

New York Instances printed the resume in January and reported that Santos had offered it to the committee as he pursued his unsuccessful 2020 run. County Republican committee chairman Joseph Cairo mentioned at a January press convention that, whereas in search of the committee’s endorsement in 2020, Santos “submitted a resume which is completely untruthful.”

After falsely claiming Santos had a grasp’s in enterprise from NYU, the resume mentioned “GMAT 710.” It went on to say he graduated within the high 1% of his class from Baruch School, a college he didn’t attend. It additionally mentioned he had labored at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, claims he now admits are inaccurate.

Morgan requested Santos about an allegation from a navy veteran, Wealthy Osthoff, that Santos raised cash on-line for Osthoff’s dying canine, whereas Osthoff was homeless in 2016, however by no means handed over the money from the GoFundMe fundraiser. The FBI has interviewed Osthoff concerning the allegation.

Santos mentioned, “I’ve by no means met this man.” Requested concerning the GoFundMe web page, Santos mentioned he has arrange “quite a few” GoFundMe pages through the years for animals in want, however “a lot of them” have been “managed by different folks,” simply arrange beneath his identify as a result of “I used to be the primary account holder on the Fb web page.” He mentioned Osthoff’s canine would have obtained the surgical procedure if Osthoff had ever met Santos. And he mentioned quickly after: “If there’s a GoFundMe web page, and in the event that they’re going to current me with one, I’m not gonna deny that. However I’ve by no means met him, I’ve by no means took on this case, and I by no means took the cash from his canine.”

Details First: Santos deceptively minimized his involvement within the fundraiser for Osthoff’s canine. Santos communicated with Osthoff at size concerning the fundraiser – in quite a few textual content messages that Osthoff has offered to CNN and, in line with Santos’ personal feedback within the textual content chat, by telephone as effectively. As well as, the GoFundMe web page for Osthoff’s canine was created beneath one of many names Santos has used, Anthony Devolder, and Santos (beneath the identify George Devolder) promoted the GoFundMe web page with a submit on his personal Fb web page.

Osthoff mentioned in a Tuesday message to CNN: “He spoke with me on the telephone quite a few instances, his NAME was within the title of the GoFundMe, and I’ve offered the press and legislation enforcement with dozens of textual content messages between Devolder and myself.” He mentioned Santos “is aware of what occurred.”

GoFundMe mentioned in a January assertion to CNN: “Once we obtained a report of a problem with this fundraiser in late 2016, our belief and security group sought proof of the supply of funds from the organizer. The organizer failed to reply, which led to the fundraiser being eliminated and the e-mail related to that account prohibited from additional use on our platform.”

Santos mentioned in a January assertion to CNN in response to Osthoff’s claims: “I’ve no clue what he’s speaking about, and the loopy half is that anybody that is aware of me, is aware of I’d go to hell and again for a canine and particularly a veteran.” He described the story, first reported by Patch.com, as “simply extra of the pile on impact.”