George Santos. Photo: YouTube screenshot

Republican officials in New York’s Nassau County called on Congressman George Santos (R-NY-3) to resign Wednesday over Santos’ false claims that his grandparents were Jewish Holocaust survivors and other fabrications in his personal and professional backstory.

“When George Santos spoke about his college education, what we found out was audacious,” said Nassau County executive Bruce Blakeman. “When he called himself a Jew, that was ridiculous. But what was really tragic is the fact that there are so many people here in Nassau County, who are survivors of the Holocaust, who are children of the Holocaust, grandchildren of the Holocaust, great grandchildren. These are people whose families were decimated, and in many instances wiped out. We’re talking about whole families that were shot to death, that were gassed to death, that were starved to death. And for him to make up this story that his [grand]parents were Holocaust survivors is beyond the pale. It is simply tragic and outrageous and disgusting.”

Santos had asserted for years that his maternal grandparents were Jews who fled persecution in Ukraine, settled in Belgium, and survived the Holocaust by fleeing to Brazil during World War II. Those claims, which have now been deleted from Santos’ biography on his campaign website, all appear to be false, with records indicating that Santos’ grandparents were born in Brazil. Santos has admitted to “embellishing” his background, including that he graduated from CUNY Baruch and that he had worked for Goldman Sachs and Citibank.

All of the officials who spoke at the event called for Santos’ immediate resignation, including Congressman Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY-4), the first Republican in the House of Representatives to do so.

Don Clavin, town supervisor of Hempstead, New York, called Santos a “joke.”

“On behalf of all the board members, and, frankly, the 750,000 residents living in the town of Hempstead, it’s time to go,” Clavin said. “You see a unified voice here. He’s unified the country in their opposition to him. He’s a national joke. He’s an international joke. But this joke’s gotta go.”

Nassau County Republican Party Chairman Joseph Cairo said that Santos would not be welcome at the party’s headquarters or events, while Blakeman said that he would be referring all constituent work to D’Esposito. Fox News reported on Thursday that Santos does not appear to have an office or staff in his district. 

Santos told reporters Wednesday afternoon that he did not intend to resign. Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said Wednesday that Santos would “continue to serve” and that he was “innocent until proven guilty.”

Replying to former Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger’s call for him to resign, Santos told Kinzinger to “Go on CNN and cry about it.”