Embattled Representative George Santos (R., N.Y.) admitted to Piers Morgan during a television interview that aired Monday night: “I’ve been a terrible liar.”
As Morgan listed a series of fibs Santos told on the campaign trail, the anchor insisted: “I don’t characterize these as mistakes. I think they’re part of your process of, cathartic process of redemption, if you’d like. It’s gotta start from, ‘I’ve been a terrible liar.’ I mean, would you be prepared to say that?”
Morgan went on to insist that Santos issue a mea culpa on the show for his misleading statements: “Well, go on then.”
Santos replied: “I’ve been a terrible liar on those subjects.
“What I tried to convey to the American people is I made mistakes of allowing the pressures of what I thought needed to be done in order to — this, this wasn’t about tricking anybody,” Santos said.
"I've been a terrible liar…"
Piers Morgan grills republican George Santos, the man who's been branded the biggest fibber in politics.
Watch it on TalkTV at 8pm.@piersmorgan | @Santos4Congress | @TalkTV | #PMU pic.twitter.com/bNaIDJLlzG
— Piers Morgan Uncensored (@PiersUncensored) February 20, 2023
During another part of the interview, Morgan cornered Santos over claims that his mother died of cancer because she was at the World Trade Center on September 11.
“Respectfully, please, I won’t debate my mother’s life, as she’s passed in ’16, and I think it’s, it’s quite insensitive for everybody to want to rehash my mother’s legacy,” Santos said, seeking to shut down the line of questioning.
However, Morgan did not let up, asking Santos to clarify his mother’s visa status. “Did she lie on her visa application?” Morgan asked.
In recent weeks, Santos has faced calls from both sides of the political aisle to resign, as a series of falsehoods he had told previously were publicized.
During President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address earlier this month, Senator Mitt Romney (R., Utah) confronted the freshman congressman.
“He’s a sick puppy. He shouldn’t be in Congress.” Republican Senator Mitt Romney calls out serial liar George Santos. pic.twitter.com/32Y3bWVfN9
— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) February 8, 2023
At various times, Santos told constituents and journalists that he did not graduate from college and also that he is an alumnus of Baruch College; that he was employed by companies such as Citigroup and Goldman Sachs despite both companies’ showing no record of his employment; and that his grandparents were Jewish Holocaust survivors, although he is “clearly Catholic.”
“I never claimed to be Jewish,” Santos insists. “I am Catholic. Because I learned my maternal family had a Jewish background, I said I was ‘Jew-ish.’”
In late January, Santos stepped down from his House committee assignments. House speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) confirmed in February that Santos will be investigated by the House Ethics Committee.
Despite more than three-quarters of his constituents’ wishing Santos to resign, including 71 percent of local Republicans, he told Morgan that he has no plans to do so.