Early Saturday morning, I proudly took the oath of office alongside my new colleagues as I started my first term in the U.S. House of Representatives.
It is a sacred oath that you’ve undoubtedly heard before — I pledged to defend the Constitution and the United States against enemies foreign and domestic and to well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office.
While I take that oath seriously, it’s become increasingly clear that another newly-elected member from New York cannot be trusted to faithfully discharge the duties of his office because of the egregious pattern of lies he told to get elected. That person is George Santos from a nearby district covering parts of Long Island and Queens.
Since the New York Times broke a story about a series of lies that Santos used to deceive voters in his district, public reporting — as well as Santos’ own admissions — indicates that he has fabricated nearly every aspect of his life: his name, his ethnicity, his religion, his residence, his education, his professional history, his charitable work, and his finances.
Several bodies have initiated investigations into Santos’ web of deception, including federal prosecutors in the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of New York.
As an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, I spent a decade prosecuting fraudsters cut from the same cloth as George Santos, who tried to explain his blatant lies as “embellishments.”
Prosecutors are undoubtedly focusing on Santos’ highly suspect campaign finances, including his own admissions that his financial disclosures included omissions and false statements. In light of his serial lies, as well as his reported fraud case in Brazil in 2008, prosecutors will likely hone in on his contribution of more than $700,000 to his own campaign derived from a sudden, purported financial windfall related to an entity he formed during his campaign.
But Congress has an independent obligation to police itself to ensure that the oath we take — and the trust and responsibility we assume as representatives of the people — actually means something. If those who write our laws do not follow them, then we cannot credibly ask the American people to do so either.
That’s why I, along with my fellow New York Rep. Ritchie Torres, filed a complaint with the House Ethics Committee to ensure that Santos is held accountable for defrauding the voters of New York’s 3rd Congressional District and potentially violating federal law.
Sadly, Santos’ desecration of the concept of free and fair elections does not seem to be an issue for Republican leadership. While some Republicans have spoken out against Santos’ shocking lies — including my fellow newly-minted member from New York, Nick LaLota, who also called for an Ethics Committee investigation — GOP leadership has neither rebuked nor condemned Santos’ conduct.
Perhaps their silence derives from their own complicity in Santos’ scheme to defraud the voters of his district. In true win-at-any-cost fashion, recent reporting confirmed that Republican leadership was well aware of Santos’ blatant lies before the election, and even considered them a “running joke.”
Despite what Republican leadership may believe, our democracy is not a joke. By seating Santos in Congress, House Republicans have confirmed once again that they do not value our democratic ideals, our free and fair elections, or the rule of law as much as they care about their own power. Santos’ shocking conduct is simply a natural outgrowth of the Republican Party’s attack on democracy over the past six years.
Rather than repudiate Santos’ fraudulent conduct, Republican leadership’s silence simply confirms that Santos squarely represents today’s Republican Party. Indeed, Rep. Kevin McCarthy needed Santos’ vote to finally win the speaker’s gavel late Friday night.
It’s therefore clear that we cannot trust House Republican leadership to hold Santos accountable. In fact, they are already making moves to ensure that it will be harder to hold lawmakers like Santos accountable by gutting the Office of Congressional Ethics before an investigation can even begin.
New Yorkers — and Americans at large — deserve leaders who uphold their oath of office, adhere to the truth, and serve with integrity. If we do not police our own, both the institution, and the individual elected officials, will suffer the reputational consequences.
Every member of the House of Representatives — Democrats, Republicans, and Independents alike — should therefore join me and Torres in demanding an immediate ethics investigation into Santos’ misconduct. Anything less is a dereliction of duty.
Goldman represents New York’s 10th Congressional District covering Downtown and Brooklyn. He previously served as lead counsel for the impeachment investigation of President Donald J. Trump and served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York for 10 years.
