第118届国会议员将于周二宣誓就职，众议院共和党领导人拒绝对此发表评论乔治·桑托斯即将上任的议员已经承认撒谎还是添油加醋他的工作经历、教育历史和犹太血统的细节。
他面临着对其背景其他部分的审查，包括2020年至2022年的财务记录显示他的财富突然增加。检察官说他们也在调查他，尽管没有人指控他有不当行为。
桑托斯赢得了纽约第三国会选区的席位，该选区以前由民主党众议员汤姆·索兹(Tom Suozzi)代表。他表示，他不会辞职，而是将努力在国会有效地服务。
他把自己过去的陈述说成是例行的夸大其词，并说他工作经历的细节是“有争议的”。
“我相信，为了克服这一点，向前迈进...我必须面对我的错误，我正在面对它们，”桑托斯说对福克斯新闻频道的采访上周。
“我不是骗子。我不是假的，”他补充道。
私下里，桑托斯告诉当地领导据在桑托斯选区的拿骚县共和党主席小约瑟夫·g·开罗(Joseph G. Cairo Jr .)说，他不会在2024年寻求连任。
周一，美国广播公司新闻记者在国会山看到，桑托斯未来的办公室旁边已经挂上了铭牌，尽管国会山的一名工作人员表示，新生代表要到周二才能进入他们的办公室。
在纽约时报的报道之后上个月质疑桑托斯传记的重要部分——也被由当地一家报纸调查-出现了进一步的差异。
桑托斯现在表示，他关于进入巴鲁克学院并直接为高盛和花旗工作的说法是不正确的。在后一种情况下，他说他声称雇佣他的一家公司与那两家公司有业务往来。
霍瑞斯·曼纽约市一所精英私立学校的发言人，反驳桑托斯的说法参加这个机构。国税局的记录削弱了他过去经营一家慈善机构的说法，他对他母亲的死说了一些相互矛盾的话，他将母亲的死与9/11联系在一起。
桑托斯告诉纽约邮报上周，尽管他表明了自己的身份，但他实际上并没有任何财产在推特上去年作为“房东”
《纽约时报》进一步报道周日，桑托斯的母亲法蒂玛·德沃尔(Fatima Devolder)被他的朋友称为厨师和房屋清洁工，这与桑托斯声称她是一名财务主管的说法相反。
桑托斯的律师约瑟夫·默里最初反驳了关于他背景的问题，称这是“诽谤”，声称这是一种有偏见的诽谤。默里后来将美国广播公司新闻转给了桑托斯的新闻团队，后者没有回应多次置评请求。
共和党领导人凯文·麦卡锡、伊莉斯·斯特凡尼克和史蒂夫·斯卡利斯对桑多斯和没有回应ABC新闻的询问。
然而，众议院共和党周日发布的一揽子规则将要求道德委员会建立“一个直接接受公众投诉的程序。”在桑托斯的情况下，这可能是值得注意的:如果共和党领导人不亲自将他提交给委员会，公众可能会对他提出投诉。
共和党领导层也在努力应对周二选举下一任众议院议长的投票。共和党人将控制拥有222个席位的众议院，加利福尼亚州的凯文·麦卡锡需要218票才能赢得拍卖。桑托斯的投票可能会有所不同。
桑托斯已经被辩护了一些未来的同事，如众议员马乔里泰勒格林，R-Ga。但是其他著名的共和党人批评了他。
即将退休的得克萨斯州众议员凯文·布拉迪在“福克斯新闻频道周日”节目中说，他认为桑多斯“将不得不考虑辞职”
“他在这里有两个选择...第一，他可以尝试在政治上安然度过。我们已经在华盛顿特区看到了这种情况，或者他可以做出更艰难的选择，我认为，你看，承认他犯下的每一个谎言，并向所有人道歉，无论需要多久，”布雷迪说。
桑托斯的纽约当选众议员尼克·拉洛塔发表声明，要求道德委员会进行调查。
“像我一样的众议院共和党人人渴望宣誓就职，并专注于我们对美国和我们各自选区的承诺。然而，在过去的几周里，我从无数长岛居民那里听说，围绕乔治·桑托斯的头条新闻让他们深感不安，”拉洛塔上周说。
他说:“作为一名为恢复我们政府的责任和诚信而奋斗的海军，我认为众议院道德委员会进行全面调查，如果必要的话，执法部门也是必要的。”。
即将离任的阿肯色州州长阿萨·哈钦森本人也是前众议院议员，告诉美国广播公司的“本周”周日，联合主持人乔纳森·卡尔表示，桑托斯的所作所为“是不可接受的”
哈钦森说:“我不知道你是否能走得更远，不让他入座，但道德委员会肯定应该处理这件事，他必须为此负责。”。
众议院议员可能会被开除，这需要三分之二的投票。民主党领导人表示，这一举措将取决于麦卡锡。大多数代表也可以谴责桑托斯，或者共和党人可以让他离开委员会-立法权的主要来源。
在周五的一份声明中，共和党犹太联盟批评桑托斯夸大了他的犹太血统。
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他的竞选团队表示，他的外祖父母在二战期间逃离迫害，并在巴西定居，尽管家谱记录显示否则显示。桑托斯是天主教徒，告诉纽约邮报上周，他的意思是通过他母亲的家庭，他是“犹太人”。
“他欺骗了我们，歪曲了他的遗产。在公开评论中和对我们个人来说，他以前自称是犹太人。他在国会的任期一开始就犯了一个非常错误的错误。他在未来的任何RJC活动中都不会受到欢迎，”该组织写道。
Congressman-elect George Santos is ready to be sworn in amid controversy
As the 118th Congress prepares to be sworn in after members convene on Tuesday, Republican leaders in the House have declined to comment on George Santos, an incoming lawmaker who has acknowledged lying or embellishing details of his work experience, educational history and his Jewish ancestry.
He has faced scrutiny about other parts of his background, including what financial records from 2020 to 2022 show was a sudden increase in his wealth. Prosecutors say they are looking into him as well, though none have accused him of wrongdoing.
Santos, who won the seat in New York's 3rd Congressional District formerly represented by Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi, has said he will not resign and will instead strive to serve effectively in Congress.
He's cast his past statements as more routine exaggerations and said the details of his work history were "debatable."
"I believe that in order to move past this and move forward ... I have to face my mistakes and I'm facing them," Santos said in an interview on Fox News last week.
"I'm not a fraud. I'm not a fake," he added.
Privately, Santos has told local leaders he will not seek reelection in 2024, according to the Nassau County Republican Chairman Joseph G. Cairo Jr., who is in Santos' district.
An ABC News journalist on Capitol Hill on Monday saw that a name plate for Santos has been put up next to his future office, although a Hill worker said that freshman representatives will not be able to access their offices until Tuesday.
After a New York Times report last month questioned significant parts of Santos' biography -- which had also been investigated by a local paper -- further discrepancies have emerged.
Santos has now said he spoke incorrectly about attending Baruch College and working directly for Goldman Sachs and Citigroup. In the latter case, he says that a firm he claimed employed him did business with those two companies.
A spokesperson for an elite private school in New York City, Horace Mann, contradicted Santos' claim of attending the institution. IRS records undercut his past claim of running a charity and he has said conflicting things about his mother's death, which he has linked to 9/11.
Santos told The New York Post last week that he didn't actually own any property, despite identifying himself on Twitter last year as a "landlord."
The New York Times further reported on Sunday that Santos' mother, Fatima Devolder, was known by his friends as a cook and house cleaner, contrary to Santos' claims that she worked as a finance executive.
An attorney for Santos, Joseph Murray, initially pushed back on the questions over his background as "defamatory," claiming it was a biased smear. Murray has since referred ABC News to Santos' press team, who has not responded to multiple requests for comment.
Republican leaders Kevin McCarthy, Elise Stefanik and Steve Scalise have remained silent on Santos and have not responded to ABC News' inquiries.
However, a rules package released by the House GOP on Sunday would require the ethics committee to establish "a process to receive complaints directly from the public." That could be notable in the context of Santos: If Republican leaders do not refer him to the committee themselves, the public could lodge complaints against him.
GOP leadership is also grappling with Tuesday's vote to elect the next speaker of the House. Republicans will control the chamber with 222 seats and Kevin McCarthy of California will need 218 votes to win the gavel. Santos' vote could make a difference.
Santos has been defended by some future colleagues, like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. But other prominent Republicans have criticized him.
Retiring Texas Rep. Kevin Brady said on "Fox News Sunday" that he believes Santos "is going to have to consider resigning."
"He's got really two choices here ... one, he can try to politically ride it out. We've seen that happen in Washington, D.C. Or he can take the tougher choice, which is, I think, look, own every lie that he's made and apologize to everyone and anyone for as long as it takes," Brady said.
Santos' fellow New York congressman-elect Nick LaLota released a statement asking the ethics committee to investigate.
"House Republicans like me are eager to be sworn in and focus on our commitment to America and our respective districts. Yet over the last few weeks, I have heard from countless Long Islanders how deeply troubled they are by the headlines surrounding George Santos," LaLota said last week.
"As a Navy man who campaigned on restoring accountability and integrity to our government, I believe a full investigation by the House Ethics Committee and, if necessary, law enforcement, is required," he said.
Outgoing Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a former House member himself, told ABC's "This Week" co-anchor Jonathan Karl on Sunday that what Santos did "is unacceptable."
"I don't know whether you can go so far as to not seat him but certainly the ethics committee should deal with this, and he has to be held accountable for that," Hutchinson said.
House members may be removed by expulsion, which would require a two-thirds vote. Democratic leaders have suggested such a move would rest with McCarthy. A majority of representatives could also censure Santos, or Republicans could keep him off committees -- a major source of legislative power.
In a statement on Friday, the Republican Jewish Coalition criticized Santos for exaggerating his Jewish ancestry.
His campaign has said his maternal grandparents fled persecution during World War II and resettled in Brazil, though genealogical records show otherwise. Santos, who is Catholic, told The New York Post last week that he meant he was "Jew-ish" through his mother's family.
"He deceived us and misrepresented his heritage. In public comments and to us personally he previously claimed to be Jewish. He has begun his tenure in Congress on a very wrong note. He will not be welcome at any future RJC event," the group wrote.
