This is the first time that
Santos admitted that he lied
about key details in his resume.
He said in an interview
with the New York Post
and a local radio station
that he did not actually work
for Citigroup. Corp.
or for Goldman Sachs,
even though
previously on the campaign trail,
he said he did.
Now, Santos is saying
that he only worked for them
through his company,
and so he called it
a poor choice of words to suggest
that he worked directly for those firms.
But Santos also admitted
that he never graduated
from any college or university
after previously claiming
that he received degrees from both
NYU and Baruch College.
Now, he said he was embarrassed
and that essentially
he just chalked it up
to embellishing his resume
and that everyone did it.
So essentially,
he was trying to downplay
this entire controversy.
And he said
while he is
guilty of twisting the truth,
he is not guilty of committing
any crimes. Take a listen.
I'm not a criminal, not here,
not abroad
in any jurisdiction in the world.
Have I ever committed any crimes
to get down to the Nitty-Gritty?
I'm not a fraud.
I'm not a criminal
who defrauded the entire country
and made up this fictitious
character and ran for Congress.
I've been around a long time.
I mean, a lot of people know me.
They know who I am.
They've been business dealings with me.
And I'm not going to
make excuses for this.
But my a lot of people overstate
in their resumes or
twist a little bit or in grandeur
themselves.
I'm not saying I'm not guilty of that.
Now, Santos did not answer questions
about his charity's
claims
that he made
about his heritage
and questions
about his financial disclosures
and whether he followed proper protocols.
And so there's still a lot there
that we don't know
that is unanswered for.
I suspect
this will not quell
the calls
for him to not serve in Congress.
So far, however,
Palm GOP leaders are silent.
Well,
we'll have to wait
and see if it stays that way
after this interview.
Did he say why
he made those statements
in the first place?
What was his reasoning,
for example, saying
that he graduated from
these had degrees from these colleges
and yet he never had a college degree?
Yeah,
he didn't really give the reasoning.
Other than trying to suggest that it's
a common trait to lie on your resume
or to embellish embellish a little bit.
But this is a big deal.
He is about to serve
as a member of Congress.
He misrepresented who he was.
In normal circumstances,
if someone lied on their resume,
they probably would be fired.
But in this case, it's
up to the voters to decide.
And if he chooses to stick around,
there's not much
anyone can do
unless Congress decides not to seat him.
But that is decision
up to GOP leader Kevin McCarthy.
And as a right now,
like I said, he's silent
and he probably needs every speaker vote
he can get next week.
Yeah, he does
wonder if that's a factor in all of this.
Melanie, as an owner, thank you so much.
Perspective now
from CNN political commentator Scott
Jennings, former special assistant
to President George W Bush.
Also CNN political
analyst and Axios managing
editor Margaret Talev.
All right,
Margaret, starting with you here.
So Congressman elect Santos
has admitted to essentially
fabricating his entire resume
top to bottom.
He downplayed it as resumé embellishment,
something we all do all
we all embellish our resumes.
Is that all this is
it?
You literally can't believe anything
he says.
It's not just not that
any of this is okay.
It's not just his job.
History is not
just his educational history.
Even down to his claim
that that one of his companies
had lost four employees
in the Pulse nightclub shooting
six years ago.
Turns out that's not actually true.
There are people who
maybe we're going to go to work for,
like your questions
about his background in Brazil.
But there are a myriad of questions.
But the bottom line is,
here's the question.
What could block him from being seated?
Probably nothing.
There are age requirements
and citizenship requirements
to be seated in Congress.
As far as we know, he's still 34
and he's old enough to serve in that job.
So and then and of course, remember,
Kevin McCarthy does need his vote
coming forth
and needs every vote
in the Republican caucus
to send him speakership just about.
So this really may be an instance
where the question is, is
he going to face
ethics investigations in Congress?
And again,
the answer to that question right now
may well be no.
The attorney general in New York
has said that her office is
going to look into
investigating his background.
But again, this really may be an issue
for voters. Two years from now.
It's an astonishing story.
And the congressional district
is one of the wealthiest in the country.
He's a very,
very one who engaged voters
where they should be.
Right.
I mean, they were voting for
someone based on a resume
that was that was false. Right.
Santos Scott has vowed to be sworn
in to Congress and serve his term.
Now, as Margaret laid out.
There's really not a whole lot
you can do to prevent
that from happening.
But do you think he should bow out
or do you think that
he should still move forward
as he has said he will do?
You know, honestly,
if he hadn't a shred of self integrity,
you know,
he would
he would bow out
because he made up a whole story,
sold it to the voters,
and he got elected.
And so if he really meant
what he said in his interviews today,
he would resign
and then run on his actual resume.
And see what the voters
had to say at that point.
I mean, that would be sort of the honest
and honorable way to handle it.
He's obviously not going to do that.
I mean,
you don't want to play golf
or cards with this guy.
I do say
I do think you want to see this guy
put before the Ethics Committee.
It strikes me that he may have financial
disclosure issues
and it
also has the smell
the whiff of other shoes
that are about to drop.
I don't know anything.
And we've got reporters working on it.
But you just get the feeling,
even after all we learned today,
there could be more so.
Look, it's
obviously not an honorable person.
I doubt he resigns.
And if the voters get a chance to
deal with it in two years,
I'm sure they will.
Yeah.
A reporter is looking at everything.
The financial disclosure is so much more
because he has not addressed other issues
that have come up as Melanie
shot him in the charities
that were listed on his resume.
So House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy
so far hasn't addressed this controversy
as we've laid out.
More could come out
now, but Santos has admitted this.
So Mark. Margaret, what do you think?
I mean, can he continue to ignore this?
I mean,
is there really
going to be ask about this
and Santos, every place
he goes, every corner in town.
What committees
to the person you serve on
if you're a constituent
and you are
trying to engage with them, like
how much money
can you put in his response?
I think this is a real
credibility problem.
But in terms of what's going to happen,
it certainly seems like
he is going to be seated
in Congress again.
All right, Margaret, Scott,
great to see you.
Thanks for coming on tonight.