Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., who has been under fire for multiple misrepresentations on his resume and in his personal life, tells Newsmax that he owns up to his "mistakes" and wants to move forward.
Many in Washington aren't quite ready to do that, however, Santos lamented during an appearance Thursday on "Greg Kelly Reports."
"I'm human; I've made mistakes," Santos told Kelly via satellite from the House Rotunda. "I've made peace with those mistakes, and I've come clean on those mistakes. I thought we were the nation of repent and ask for forgiveness and move forward. The problem is the media fanfare around me continues to spiral."
It's not just the media that has been focusing on the multiple tall tales Santos has told. A group of House Democrats on Thursday put forth a measure to have him expelled over his deceitfulness. But that's likely to go nowhere as Republicans now control the House and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., says he won't interfere with the wishes of the Long Island voters of District 3 who elected him.
Likewise, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., doesn't want to bring it up either, saying Republicans should take care of their own.
GOP Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah chimed in when the two crossed paths ahead of Tuesday's State of the Union address, telling Santos he didn't belong in Congress.
Meanwhile, Santos said he is focusing on his work, taking constituent calls, attending meetings and sponsoring bills.
"You betcha we're getting things done, and I'm pretty proud of the work we're putting forward," he told host Greg Kelly.
He will focus, Santos said, on the conservative agenda he was elected on, "and you can expect to see nothing but conservative policy coming out of my office while the media spirals out of control."
But even Kelly admitted his skepticism, noting that President Joe Biden has lied about his resume for years, and like Biden, anyone who will lie about small things will lie about big things.
"How can you allay my concerns?" Kelly asked.
"I want to be judged based on my actions," Santos replied. "If you look at my report card, I stand right now as one of the most conservative members of Congress, keeping to my word that I will vote conservatively for the people of New York's 3rd Congressional District."
Biden, by contrast, has spent 47 years making false promises on the campaign trail and then reneging on them, he added.
Asked by Kelly what motivated him to lie, Santos said the overarching thing was not having finished college.
"I would have never gotten the nomination from Nassau County GOP if I had not concluded college," he said. He blamed the county GOP for not allowing anyone to get the nomination who didn't have a degree.
"To say that I deceived, and [ran] a campaign of deception is just not fair. That's just a political spin that the Nassau County GOP wants to create on this narrative," he added.
One of the big issues critics have had with Santos is the millions he claims to have loaned his campaign, though records show him never having made more than $50,000 a year.
Santos told Kelly that he started his own company two decades ago after two years of working for others and will be happy "to supply anything that is asked of us, and I stand strong and I have no doubt in my mind all my funds came through legitimate reasons and channels, and I have no fear to say that I will [not] suffer any ethics issue with that."
He said that his business finally started yielding fruit, and he was able to distribute the dividends to himself, which he then lent to his campaign.
And as for that Romney exchange, Santos told Kelly that he did respond, and he is certain that Romney heard him.
What he told Romney, however, Santos said: "I'll put it this way, it's not meant for television."
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