George Santos skips Biden meet-and-greet event for new members of Congress
Embattled Rep. George Santos snubbed President Biden, turning down an invitation from the White House on Tuesday to all first-term lawmakers to meet with the 80-year-old commander-in-chief.
Santos (R-NY) was not on the list of White House attendees at the East Room reception, according to The Hill, and his office told Newsday the disgraced lawmaker would skip the event.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday that Santos, like all new members, was invited to the biennale.
The freshman lawmaker representing New York’s 3rd congressional district has come under fire after a web of lies about his background unfolded in December after he won his midterm election race.
Santos, 34, admitted to the Post last month that he lied about his education, work history, religion and details about his personal life, and he is currently under federal investigation for loan more than $700,000 to his 2022 campaign, despite reporting a salary of just $55,000 as recently as 2020.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Tuesday the Long Island Republican would be fired from Congress if the House Ethics Committee finds he broke the law.
“If somehow we go through ethics and he broke the law, we’ll fire him,” McCarthy told reporters.
Keeping track of all the lies of New York Rep. George Santos
Four other first-term Republican House members skipped the White House event, including another member of the Empire State congressional delegation, Rep. Nick LaLota (R-NY), who boycotted the meeting to protest the White House’s persistent COVID-19 protocols. .
“In protest, I will not be attending President Biden’s freshman rally at the White House this week. Even though four months ago the president told ’60 Minutes’ that the pandemic was over. , the White House is today applying arbitrary, outdated, and unscientific pandemic protocols to members of Congress who have accepted the President’s invitation to meet with him at the White House,” LaLota said in a statement.
The White House required attendees to test negative 24 hours before traveling to the White House and also show proof of vaccination or submit to masking.
The Hill reports that the new GOP House that attended the reception included Reps. Nick Langworthy (NY), Mike Lawler (NY), John James (Mich.), Mark Alford (Mo.), John Duarte (Calif.) , Tom Kean (NJ), Kevin Kiley (Calif.), Nathaniel Moran (Texas), Dale Strong (Alabama) and Rudy Yakym (Ind.).