George Santos volunteer Teodora Choolfaian outraged by his fabrications now urging him to resign: "This is a fake... a charlatan"
DOUGLASTON, N.Y. - There were calls Friday to expel George Santos from Congress as the embattled congressman has made it clear he will not resign.
Now, one of his Long Island campaign volunteers is answering his dare after he said he would resign if his own voters call for it.
She's one of many Republicans now urging him to resign after a myriad of fabrications.
"I went door to door. I knocked on every door," said Teodora Choolfaian.
Choolfaian, a conservative activist, campaigned for Santos because she believed he'd fight against mask mandates for young children.
She trusted he's been vetted, and dismissed the New York Times revelations as a smear campaign until he admitted his resumé was largely fiction.
She texted his staff: "Did you know about these lies? So how do you feel now? He did not even go to college? ... This is not the person who I thought I am campaigning for."
"'Yes, they're true, but I'm going to fight for you in Congress.' And so, at that moment, I was done with him," Choolfaian said.
Feeling betrayed, she went to Washington to urge him to resign.
"This is not resumé embellishment. This is a fake. Personally, it's someone who is a charlatan who is very comfortable being a charlatan, and I believe he committed crimes," Choolfaian said.
Even after a unified call from his own party, he dug his heels in Thursday.
"I was elected by 142,000 people. Until those 142,000 people tell me they don't want me, we will find out in two years," Santos said.
"This guy is a phoney. He is crooked from head to toe," said the dean of New York's Republican party, former Sen. Al D'Amato. "The gall to say I won't resign, I owe it to the 140,000 people who voted for me.' It was 140,000 people you deceived."
In yet another protest outside his district office, voters urged Congress to expel him.
"It does not require an indictment or a conviction. He is a stain on this district. He is a stain on this country, and we need Congress to act," said Jodi Kass Finkel of Concerned Citizens of New York's 3d District.
Now, there's a new tactic, along with a social media campaign: "Where's George?"
He has yet to be seen in his district office.
"We need someone to represent us in Congress, and clearly George Santos is not going to be able to do it for us," said 3d District voter Jonathan Rudes.
Santos's office did finally appear to be up and running Friday. Staffers say it's now open for constituent business, which his critics say has been woefully neglected.