Rep. George Santos claimed he was targeted for assassination
NEW YORK - Abdullah Hassan, 23, says he volunteered to help get now-Congressman George Santos to the Hill when he first ran in 2020.
"I met him multiple times," Hassan said. "I had lunch with him I thought it was normal. I guess during the campaign. I thought every politician makes up these small white lies and you know fake ads."
Since then, Santos’ list of lies has grown even longer.
In a newly resurfaced interview on a Brazilian podcast - Santos claimed he was the target of an assassination attempt. He also said he was mugged on Fifth Avenue in the summer of 2021.
Santos’ office didn’t respond to our interview request and the NYPD said it would need more information to look into these claims.
On Wednesday, Santos brought Chick-fil-A sandwiches for journalists staked outside his office in DC. In Douglaston, St. Leg. Josh Lafazan introduced a three-pronged package. He says it is meant to safeguard someone like Santos from getting elected in the first place.
"I’m announcing the initiative called the G.E.O.R.G.E. PACKAGE - Get Egregious Officials Removed from Government Elections," Lafazan said. "It requires all candidates running for office submit themselves to background checks, it bars any candidate who has an open foreign arrest warrant in their name from running for office and lastly it’s a misdemeanor for lying about your income, employment, education history and your address."
The source of Santos’ income is still under scrutiny. On Tuesday, amended campaign finance reports with the FEC show hundreds of thousands of dollars previously marked as personal loans were no longer from personal funds of the candidate as Santos once claimed.
"The larger issue is that he didn’t provide much information as to where the money actually came from," said Saurav Ghosh who is the Director of Federal Campaign Finance Reform at Campaign Legal Center.
The awning outside Santos’ Douglaston district office still hasn’t been changed however there’s a new list of policies on his door including no video or audio recording and no weapons allowed.