More Republicans call for scandal-plagued Congressman George Santos to resign

Geoff Bennett:

A growing chorus of Republican lawmakers is calling for New York Congressman George Santos to resign just days after the scandal-plagued freshman was sworn into the House of Representatives.

Santos is under investigation by state and federal authorities after he admitted to lying about key parts of his resume and background. Today, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy stood by Santos, emphasizing that he's now a duly elected member of Congress.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA):

He's got a long way to go to earn trust. But the one thing I do know is that you apply the Constitution equal to all Americans.

The voters of his district have elected him. He is seated. He is part of the Republican Conference. There are concerns with it, so he will go before Ethics. If anything is found to be — have — wrong, he will be held accountable, exactly as anybody else in this body would be.

Geoff Bennett:

Nassau County executive Bruce Blakeman joins us. He's a Republican who shares constituents with George Santos and has called for him to step down.

Welcome to the "NewsHour."

And I want to start with your reaction to what we heard from the House speaker, that George Santos was elected by the people of New York in his district, he's now a member of Congress, and any issues will be handled by the House Ethics Committee.

Bruce Blakeman (R), Nassau County, New York, Executive: Well, I can understand how the speaker feels, but, in my opinion, due process has already been served.

George Santos, he basically confessed to everything that was false in his resume. He has said that he did not attend college after he told everybody that he got a degree from Baruch College. He did not work for the financial institution that he said he did. He's not Jewish. That's ridiculous and funny.

But one of the things that's most troubling to me is that he would say that his parents were survivors of the Holocaust. That indicates to me that he has no understanding of the gravity of the Holocaust, and he's trivializing it. We have a lot of Jewish residents in Nassau County, probably close to 300,000. Many of them are survivors or family of survivors.

These are families that were decimated. These are people that were gassed to death, shot to death, starved to death. And for him to say that his parents went through this, when, in fact, they were living in Brazil, I think is just tragic. And he doesn't understand the gravity of the situation and the gravity of his lies.

So he's built a campaign, he's built a life upon lies. And, as an elected official, I can no longer trust him. I'm not going to do business with him. I'm not going to deal with him, because how can I have a conversation with him when I don't know whether he's telling me the truth or not?

So I have made a decision that enough is enough, and he should resign. And I'm not going to deal with him so long as he's in elective office.

Geoff Bennett:

In speaking with a couple of your Republican colleagues on Long Island, what becomes clear is that nobody really knew who George Santos was before a few years ago. He's a guy who seemingly popped up out of nowhere, and many of his stories, I'm told, never really seemed to connect.

Why wasn't he vetted by you and your colleagues, Long Island Republicans, well before Election Day?

Bruce Blakeman:

Well, Geoff, that's a good question.

He was vetted, but, certainly, we could have done a better job in the Republican Party. But you have to understand we have had this process for over 40 years, and this is the first time that this has happened. What happens usually is, you fill out a disclosure form, where they ask you where you work, what school you went to, where you were raised, et cetera.

And you submit a resume, and you attend an interview where questions are asked. And, obviously, he was untruthful in all three steps in the process. But I think what is a more interesting question is, where was the other party? They're supposed to do opposition research. They should have vetted George Santos, the same way that each party vets the other side's candidate.

So, I just don't understand why they weren't able to uncover all of these untruths. But, look, we both have egg on our faces, the Republicans and the Democrats. The fact of the matter is, going forward, our chairman, Joe Cairo, has said they he's going to tighten the process, they're going to do more digging, and they're going to make sure that people are more properly vetted.

And I'm sure the Democrats will do the same.

Geoff Bennett:

Well, looking ahead, George Santos has so far been defiant. He says he's not going to resign.

In fact, here he is appearing on Steve Bannon's podcast today.

Rep. George Santos (R-NY):

You know, I wish well all of their opinions, but I was elected by 142,000 people.

Until those same 142,000 people tell me they don't want me, we will find out in two years.

Geoff Bennett:

So, if he doesn't resign — and it sounds like he's not going to — then what? Is there any way that he could fulfill his responsibilities as a member of Congress, as you see it?

Bruce Blakeman:

Well, here's my message to George Santos.

I represent virtually everybody in his congressional district. His congressional district is about half the size of Nassau County. And I'm not going to deal with him. We're going to serve the people of the Third Congressional District without dealing with George Santos on federal matters.

I am going to put a mechanism in place where we make sure that their voices are heard in Washington, D.C. How can I talk to him about sensitive issues? How can I talk to him about policy? How can I talk to him about constituent complaints, where it's completely certain on my part that he has no credibility with me or the community?

He's deluding himself if he thinks that he would win reelection, based on all of the statements that have — made. And he even said that he wouldn't seek reelection. Well, why wouldn't you seek reelection if he thinks everything is OK? He's just deluding himself. He's avoiding the inevitable.

And he's really doing a service to the people of the Third Congressional District. And he's a stain on the House of Representatives. And he should go.

Geoff Bennett:

Bruce Blakeman is the Nassau County executive.

Thanks for your time.

Bruce Blakeman:

Thanks, Geoff.