Rep. Thomas Suozzi (D-NY) slammed his successor GOP Rep.-elect George Santos in a New York Times op-ed on Tuesday, calling him a “con man.”
“Sure, some candidates say and do anything to get into office and then abuse the public trust,” Suozzi writes. “In Mr. Santos, we have someone who abused the public trust even before he got into office; it’s mind-boggling to think what his actions and conversations will be like in Congress on behalf of his constituents.”
He continued: “I know from my experience as a mayor of my hometown, as a county executive and as a member of Congress that you cannot get things done without building trust with your colleagues. How can Mr. Santos be trusted? How could he be effective?”
Santos has admitted to lying about his education and professional history on his résumé, including claims that he graduated from Baruch College and worked at Citigroup and Goldman Sachs.
Santos is under investigation by federal and state prosecutors to determine if his lies broke any laws. Prosecutors in Brazil are also reviving a 2008 criminal fraud case against him.
Democrats have called for Santos’ resignation, but so far he has not given indication that he plans to do so. Republican leadership in the House have remained silent on Santos due to their very slim majority in the chamber.
In his op-ed Suozzi writes that Santos “must be removed by Congress or by prosecutors, because there is no indication that he will be moved by conscience to voluntarily resign.”
Suozzi opted to run for governor of New York instead of seeking reelection to the House. Santos defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman in the November midterm election by 8 points to flip the seat.
[Featured Image by STEFANI REYNOLDS/New York Times]
