Rep. Ritchie Torres calls for deeper dive into every aspect of embattled George Santos' life
GREAT NECK, N.Y. -- There were new calls Tuesday for a deeper look into embattled Congressman George Santos, who has admitted lying about his past.
Those calls came even as Santos was appointed to two Congressional committees: The House Committee on Small Business, and the House Committee on Space, Science and Technology.
Rep. Ritchie Torres joined 3rd Congressional District constituents in Great Neck and called for the Federal Election Commission to immediately launch an investigation of Santos for potential illegal activity and irregularities.
"He has essentially pretended to be a biracial Ukrainian-Belgian-Brazilian volleyball champion and brain cancer survivor," Torres said.
"Look, I sacrificed both my knees and got very nice knee replacements from playing volleyball. That's how serious I took the game," Santos said back in 2020.
At a 2019 event held by the conservative Walk Away Foundation, Santos urged members of the LGBTQ community to embrace Donald Trump, saying, "You can help educate other trans people from not having to follow the narrative that the media and the Democrats put forward."
Grant Lally, the Republican lawyer who runs the GOP-leaning newspaper The North Shore Leader, refused to endorse Santos from the start.
"I met with him in 2020 when he first ran. Right away, again, we thought he was very strange and, frankly, not a serious candidate," Lally said.
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Lally said Santos did nothing but brag about his mansions and fancy cars.
Lally also showed CBS2 documents from police in Brazil. Santos admitted to stealing and forging checks to purchase expensive clothing and shoes in 2008.
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Santos has attracted the attention of federal, state and local investigators after disclosing he earned $55,000 in 2021, but loaned his campaign $705,000 in 2022.
"Where did that money go? Or was it not real?" Lally said.
"Someone bought George Santos. The question is who bought him? It's up to Kevin McCarthy and the Republican leadership in Congress to find out immediately," said Democrat Robert Zimmerman, who Santos defeated in November.
"Even more appalling and alarming than his political and personal deception is his financial deception. Where did all the money come from?" Torres said.
READ MORE: GOP Rep. George Santos faces FEC complaint in first full week in office
"McCarthy says he cares about voter fraud. Well, how about the fraud perpetrated on the 700,000-plus people who live in this district?" said Jody Cass Finkel of the group Concerned Citizens of NY-03.
The concerned citizens group wants to know if Santos has ties to the cousin of a sanctioned Russian oligarch, or a Florida financial company described by the feds as a "Ponzi scheme."
A former roommate reported Santos had "delusions of grandeur."
"Where did all this money come from to finance his campaign?" Gregory Morey-Parker said. "His mother was a housekeeper in Manhattan, and it didn't seem feasible for him to supposedly come from all this generational wealth."
"I famously was able to interject myself into one of the largest mergers and acquisitions of our lifetime, which was the Heinz Group, when they decided to sell to the Japanese-Brazillian company, Yoki," Santos said on a podcast last year.
"I put myself through college and got an MBA from NYU and I have zero debt," Santos said back in 2020, adding, "I hate looking at youth today and see them sitting on their behinds."
McCarthy on Tuesday declined to give any forceful condemnation of Santos' past.
"Well, I raised concerns when he had a staff member who impersonated my chief of staff, and that individual was let go when Mr. Santos found out about it," McCarthy said.
CBS2's calls to Santos have not been returned.
