A lawyer for Rep.-elect George Santos (R-N.Y.) on Monday accused The New York Times of waging a smear campaign against his client after the paper reported Santos misrepresented key aspects of his resume to voters.
In an explosive report earlier Monday, the Times revealed parts of Santos’ claimed background appear to be false, including his education and work record at Citigroup and Goldman Sachs. Neither company had any record of his employment.
Santos’ lawyer, Joseph Murray, did not address the discrepancies and instead attacked the questions as politically motivated.
“After four years in the public eye, and on the verge of being sworn in as a member of the Republican led 118th Congress, the New York Times launches this shotgun blast of attacks,” Murray said in a statement. “It is no surprise that Congressman-elect Santos has enemies at the New York Times who are attempting to smear his good name with these defamatory allegations.”
Santos claimed to have graduated from Baruch College in 2010, but the school said it had no evidence of his graduation. Santos’ profile posted on the National Republican Congressional Committee’s website says he attended New York University, but the school found no record of his attendance.
A company called Devolder Organization, which Santos’ family reportedly owns and appears to be a source of his income, does not appear to have a webpage or exist on LinkedIn. His financial disclosures reviewed by the Times don’t appear to list any clients for the company.
Santos, who won November’s race for Long Island’s 3rd Congressional District defeating Democrat Robert Zimmerman, is the first openly gay GOP candidate to win a House race as a nonincumbent.
Santos, whose parents moved from Brazil to the U.S., unsuccessfully ran for the same seat in 2020.
Santos embraced former President Donald Trump’s election lies and at one point suggested his own defeat in 2020 was a result of voter fraud.