NEW YORK — Republican U.S. Rep. George Santos claims in a newly surfaced interview that he was mugged in broad daylight a block from Trump Tower in Manhattan — and the crooks even took the shoes off his feet.
Seeking to demonstrate the impact of rising crime, the newly elected Long Island lawmaker told a Brazilian podcast that he was attacked at Fifth Avenue and E. 55th Street on one of the city’s fanciest shopping strips in the summer of 2021.
“They robbed me, took my briefcase, took my shoes and my watch. And that was in broad daylight,” he said, speaking in his native Portuguese. “I was leaving my office, going to the garage, getting my car, and I was mugged.”
The interview, which was done after Santos won election to Congress in November, was unearthed by MSNBC.
The podcast host incredulously asked Santos: “They stole your shoes in the middle of Fifth Avenue?”
“In the middle of Fifth Avenue,” he retorted, pinpointing the spot of the alleged crime just a block from Trump Tower at 725 Fifth Ave.
Santos, who has admitted to lying about everything from his work history to education, also made a curious remark about the muggers’ race.
“They weren’t Black," Santos said, then adding: "They were even white.”
Aside from the mugging, Santos claimed that his Florida home was once burglarized because he “was attending a Republican party” on New Year’s Eve and that he was once the victim of an assassination attempt.
“We have already suffered an attempt on my life, an assassination attempt, a threatening letter, having to have the police, a police escort standing in front of our house,” Santos said.
Santos did not respond to requests for comment about the supposed incidents. Police told MSNBC they couldn’t confirm them without more details.
Santos framed himself as a trailblazing conservative gay immigrant during his successful campaign to flip a Democratic leaning district on the North Shore and a slice of Queens.
He is under pressure to resign from critics on both sides of the aisle for his shocking string of lies. But he insists he’s not going anywhere.
Federal and state officials are also investigating him for possible fraud. It’s unclear where he got $700,000 that he loaned his campaign.
In the past week, he was accused of scamming a homeless veteran out of $3,000 in donations earmarked for his dying dog.
Immigration records debunked his dramatic claim that his late mother was inside the World Trade Center on 9/11.
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