Feb 1, 2023

George Santos Temporarily Steps Down From House Committees Transcript

George Santos Temporarily Steps Down From House Committees Transcript
RevBlogTranscriptsGeorge SantosGeorge Santos Temporarily Steps Down From House Committees Transcript

GOP Rep. George Santos of New York said Tuesday he is recusing himself from serving on House committees until he clears his name. Read the transcript here.

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John (00:00):

After lying about his education, work and religion, Congressman George Santos is now telling House Republicans he is stepping away from serving on committees. The embattled Republican put out a statement Tuesday saying he submitted a request to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to be recused from the assignments. The Congressman says this is just temporary in his words, “until I am cleared.” Santos is facing several investigations over his personal and campaign finances. Caitlin Huey-Burns is on Capitol Hill with more.

Caitlin Huey-Burns (00:32):

With legal scrutiny intensifying, Congressman George Santos told a private meeting of his Republican colleagues that he was sorry for being a distraction and looked forward to clearing his name.

Speaker 3 (00:44):

Are you confident that you will be cleared?

George Santos (00:45):

Yes, I am.

Speaker 3 (00:46):

Why?

Speaker 5 (00:46):

Why are you confident you’ll be cleared?

George Santos (00:47):

I’m confident I’ll be cleared. I have nothing to hide.

Speaker 5 (00:51):

If you have nothing to hide, why do you think you’re under investigation?

Caitlin Huey-Burns (00:53):

Santos informed House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of the decision to temporarily step aside from his new committee assignments last night.

Speaker 6 (01:03):

I think it was the appropriate decision. Going through ethics on some of these concerns will make sure to… The voters have elected him. He’ll have a voice here in Congress and until he answers all those questions, then at that time, he’ll be able to be seated on committees.

Caitlin Huey-Burns (01:19):

With a narrow house majority, Speaker McCarthy has defended Santos’s right to stay in Congress even as a new poll shows 78% of voters in his district say he should resign, including 71% of Republicans.

George Santos (01:33):

I’ve made my sincere apology multiple time.

Caitlin Huey-Burns (01:37):

But Santos, who’s admitted to lying extensively about his background and work experience isn’t giving up his seat.

George Santos (01:44):

I can guarantee you that from now on, anything and everything is always going to be above board. It’s largely always been above board. I’m just going to go the extra step now to double-check, cross-reference everything.

Caitlin Huey-Burns (01:58):

But for two of Santos’s fellow New York Republican Congressman, that’s not enough. They want him to resign altogether and say that this recusal is essentially someone quitting before they were about to get fired, John.

John (02:13):

So Caitlin, what comes next in this? Where does the ball bounce from here and how long might this ethics investigation last?

Caitlin Huey-Burns (02:21):

Yeah, that is the question that we’re all asking up here on Capitol Hill. It seems like every day there is some new revelation, some controversy surrounding the Congressman. But this is an effort today to try to not be a distraction in terms of the work that Congress wants to do in Santos own words. He essentially was acknowledging that everywhere he goes, everything he does hovers over everything and has been a distraction from the work here in Congress. But there have been colleagues that have referred him to the Ethics Committee, and this is a new Congress, so these committees are just getting started.

(02:57)
And the Ethics Committee is very closed doors, they don’t respond to or elaborate on any investigations that they are doing. So there’s that, but it’s really these other investigations, particularly the one into these questions about his campaign finances. Remember we’ve talked about this before, that $700,000 or so, he lent his campaign, then changed his FEC report last week raising a lot of questions about where that money came from. Those investigations are really what’s to watch here because it’s clear McCarthy is not going to kick Santos out of Congress, and so they’re all waiting on what comes of these investigations.

John (03:37):

Great. Caitlin Huey-Burns on Capitol Hill for us. Thank you.

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