'Deceived & Misrepresented His Heritage': Rep.-Elect Santos Under Fire For 'Jew-ish' Roots Claim

The son of Brazilian immigrants, US Representative-elect George Santos (R-NY) successfully flipped a House seat for the GOP in the November midterm elections to represent parts of Long Island and Queens. Throughout his campaign, the 34-year-old often referred to what he said was his Jewish heritage.

Prone to biography "embellishments," New York Republican George Santos has really been taking heat of late. He's been in the media crosshairs after acknowledging on December 26 that he lied about his education and employment history while running for Congress. Now, the US representative-elect is being slammed for "misrepresenting his heritage."

"He deceived us and misrepresented his heritage. In public comments and to us personally, he previously claimed to be Jewish," Matt Brooks, the Republican Jewish Coalition's chief executive, said in a statement.

Furthermore, the coalition said Santos would not be welcome at the RJC's future events.

After it became known that the 34-year-old falsely claimed that he’d graduated from New York’s Baruch College and been employed by some top firms, like Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, his oft-touted Jewish lineage is what landed him in further hot water.

On the campaign trail, where the openly gay politician faced off against Democratic opponent Robert Zimmerman, the son of Brazilian immigrants insisted that he was “a proud American Jew." But after voters elected him in the November midterms to represent parts of Long Island and Queens in Congress, where he aided Republicans in seizing a narrow majority in the House of Representatives, bio discrepancies began to emerge.

'Poor Choice of Words'

On Monday, Santos finally weighed in on the reports of his background inconsistencies, saying he had not gotten a degree from “any institution of higher learning.” He deplored his “poor choice of words” when claiming he had directly worked with Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, while in reality his links to them had been via a company called Link Bridge.

“My sins here are embellishing my resume... I’m embarrassed and sorry for having embellished my resume. I own up to that … We do stupid things in life,” he said in a spate of media interviews.

As for earlier claims that he was “half Jewish” and a “Latino Jew" who professed his mother’s “Jewish background beliefs," Santos shared on Monday that he “never claimed to be Jewish.”

“I am Catholic. Because I learned my maternal family had a Jewish background I said I was ‘Jew-ish,’” George Santos quipped on Monday.

Indeed, an earlier report in a nonprofit Jewish news outlet honed in on Santos' claims that his maternal grandparents were refugees who fled from the Nazis to Brazil. These assertions were reportedly not corroborated by factual evidence. Reports also pointed to records indicating that the incoming lawmaker's grandparents had not fled the Nazis amid anti-Jewish persecution.

A number of lawmakers, such as Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), have since called for George Santos to resign from his House seat.

Screenshot of Twitter account of Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas).

© Photo : Twitter

Others, like rep.-elect Nick LaLota, have called for a House Ethics Committee investigation.

However, George Santos dismissed the recent controversy, claiming he was "not a criminal,” and would not be deterred from "having good legislative success."

"I will be effective. I will be good,” the politician insisted.