Rep.-elect George Santos (R-NY), who is under investigation for extensively lying to voters about his resume, may have also made possible false statements about being half-Black and his mother dying in connection to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.
Roger Sollenberger, a political reporter for The Daily Beast, uncovered tweets Santos published on July 3, 2020 from his official congressional campaign’s Twitter account in which he identified as bi-racial, writing, “[Martin Luther King Jr.] did not die for us to go back to segregation. As a biracial person I stand tall against segregation of any kind. This so-called ‘black anthem’ is the most divisive thing I’ve ever seen.”
Sidestepping the fact that the August 2017 Unite the Right white supremacist rally was likely the most divisive thing that most Americans have ever seen, Santos’ tweet likely refers to “Lift Every Voice”, an early 20th century song which has been recognized as a Black National Anthem. Following the nationwide protests against the May 2020 police murder of Black Minneapolis resident George Floyd, the NFL and NASCAR briefly incorporated the song into their pre-game musical performances.
When a Twitter user asked Santos to clarify what he meant by identifying as “biracial,” Santos responded, “Caucasian and Black.”
It’s unclear whether this claim is actually a falsehood. Robert Mackey, a reporter for The Intercept found a picture of Santos embracing a dark-skinned man along with the caption, “Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there.” But it’s unclear whether the man in the photo is his father or someone else’s dad.
Also under scrutiny is Santos’ claims about his Jewish heritage. In a February 2020 interview, he claimed that his grandfather fled Nazi persecution in Ukraine, married a woman he met in Belgium, and then moved to Brazil.
“Santos said his mother’s family’s historical Jewish name was ‘Zabrovsky,’ and later appeared to operate a GoFundMe campaign for a pet charity (which he falsely claimed was a 501(c)(3) nonprofit) under that alias,” CNN reported. “Genealogists CNN previously spoke with found no evidence of Jewish or Ukrainian heritage in his family tree.”
Santos also previously said, “My mother fled socialism in Europe,” but genealogical records show that his mother was born in Brazil.
Regarding his mother, in a July 12, 2021 tweet, Santos wrote, “9/11 claimed my mother’s life.” He had previously said that his mother was working in the World Trade Center on the day of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
The now-deleted bio on his campaign website said, “She survived the horrific events of that day, but unfortunately passed away a few years later.”
Apparently, “a few years later” meant 15 years later, and it’s unclear if her death had any connection whatsoever to the attacks.
Santos also seemingly lied about having attended the Horace Mann preparatory school in the Bronx, New York.
“We’ve searched the records and there is no evidence that George Santos (or any alias) attended Horace Mann,” Ed Adler, a spokesman for the school, told CNN.