Republican Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina blasted embattled fellow GOP Representative George Santos of New York and said he should resign.
The South Carolina Republican spoke to The Independent in an exclusive interview.
“I mean, if you look at the allegations about his campaign finance, there are serious issues there,” she said.
Specifically, federal prosecutors are investigating irregularities regarding financial disclosures and loans, according to NBC News. “Nothing he has ever said has turned out to be true.”
“He should resign, but he won't and if you watch the press gaggled up, chase him around Capitol Hill, he's loving the attention,” she said. “He's smiling and giggling and just soaking it up.”
Earlier this week, Mr Santos was seen taking selfies with reporters at Hill Country BBQ, a restaurant in Washington. He’s also left out donuts and Chick-Fil-A for reporters who stake out his office.
Mr Santos flipped New York’s 3rd district last year, which President Joe Biden won in 2020 by 8 points. Since then, he’s faced scrutiny about fabricating mutliple parts of his resume, including being descended from grandparents who fled the Holocaust, where he worked and whether he graduated from Baruch College.
In addition, Mr Santos faced scrutiny for reportedly raising money to pay for the surgery for a service dog that belonged to a veteran and then pocketing the money.
“And this is a guy that pretended to be the descendant of Holocaust survivors used a pretend Jewish name to raise money for veteran and his service dog and they and the guy was fleeced, right?” Ms Mace told The Independent.
Despite these allegations, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has said he would support Mr Santos because voters in New York’s 3rd district elected him. But Ms Mace, who like Mr Santos voted to make Mr McCarthy speaker, disagreed.
“This is a constitutional republic and the voters elect who represents them in Congress, however, the voters were completely lied to there,” she said. “If you want to talk about election fraud. Let's talk about New York 3.”
Ms Mace also criticised the fact that Mr Santos now sits on two committees: The House Small Business Committee and the House Science, Space and Technology Committee.
