Scandal-plagued congressman George Santos is facing further criticism from members of his own party, with fellow New York Republican Nick LaLota branding him a “sociopath”.
On Wednesday, Mr LaLota weighed in on the spat between Mr Santos and Senator Mitt Romney after the two men had a heated exchange at Tuesday night’s State of the Union.
Mr Romney told Mr Santos “you don’t belong here” and criticised him for “trying to shake hands” with the president given “he’s under an ethics investigation”.
Mr Santos fired back saying the senator’s snub was “not very Mormon of him”.
Mr LaLota sided with Mr Romney and agreed Mr Santos “does not deserve to be in Congress.”
“He’s a sociopath, George Santos. He looks for that attention. Even the negative attention drives him. It’s become an embarrassment and a distraction to the Republicans in the House,” he told CNN.
At the SOTU, Mr Santos also sparked fury from the 9/11 community for taking a volunteer firefighter as his guest – after he was accused of lying about his mother dying in the attacks.
John Feal, 9/11 activist, told The Independent Mr Santos is “using the 9/11 community for his redemption tour”.