George Santos takes dig at 'career pathological liar' Biden in new interview apology: 'I've learned my lesson'

Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., asserted in a new sit-down interview that even though President Biden is a "40-year career pathological liar," that doesn’t make lying OK, adding that he has "learned my lesson."

Santos, the embattled first-year congressman who has rebuffed calls to resign despite his own local Nassau County GOP demanding he step down for falsely claiming he descended from Holocaust survivors, sat down for an interview with One American News’ Caitlin Sinclair aired Tuesday. 

On a Republican conference call Tuesday morning, Santos, who has also admitted to fabricating details about a college degree and a successful career at two Wall Street firms while running for office, reportedly said he would recuse himself from assignments to the Small Business and Science Committees. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., has said Santos will be removed from Congress if an ongoing House Ethics Committee investigation determines he violated campaign finances laws. 

"Just because the President of the United States is a 40-year career pathological liar doesn’t make it OK for anyone else to go out and do that. And that was a terrible comparison," Santos said after Sinclair confronted him over a past interview days after Christmas when news of the resume lies first broke. 

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"Look Joe Biden is a 40-year long pathological liar who is the President of the United States. That does not make it OK to lie," Santos said this week. "And I’ve learned my lesson. And I can guarantee you that from now on, anything and everything is always going to be above board. It’s largely already been above board. I’m just going to go the extra step to double-check, cross-reference everything." 

"It was a bad decision. Poor judgment. I felt the need to do it because I thought that without a diploma I’d be looked down on as less than," Santos said of him lying about having a college degree. "I don’t think lying is excusable every, period… Especially if you’re legislating for the American people. What I might have done during the campaign does not reflect what is being done in the office." 

The congressman, while admitting to lying on his resume, defended his campaign finances.

"I’ve never presented anything other than what my means allow me to, so I’ve never had to establish or present falsehoods pertaining to my own finances. I’m the first one to say ‘not doing that, can’t afford it.’ I have no issue saying when I can and can’t do things. I have no issues limiting my ability to right a check whether it’s for a charity or a political engagement," he said. "I don’t understand where these allegations come from ‘oh George Santos lives in a fantasy world.’ Whatever it is that they’re trying to allude there because it’s just – people who know me know that that’s just not the case." 

In the interview, Santos lambasted the media and denied he "faked" his way into Congress. 

"I grew up in abject poverty in Jackson Heights, in Queens, New York City. People like me aren’t supposed to do big things in life and when we do, it disrupts the system," he said. "And I know that a lot of people want to create this narrative that I faked my way to Congress, which is absolutely, categorically false. I’ve worked hard. I’ve built ground up a career through experience and through knowledge and through self-education. And you know, I think it’s amazing that I have to sit here and be spoken down to on a regular basis yet again by the media." 

"I think it’s important that America understands, you know, a lot can be said, a lot can be done, but that people should be judged on their actions and not by trial through fire by the media, which is what I’ve experienced for the last couple of weeks. As you noted in your opening, you said that politicians have broken the fabric of trust with the American people, but that trust has been broken through betrayal in elections when they campaign on certain issues and when they go into their offices they behave and act and vote and deliver completely opposite of what they’ve promised during the electoral process.

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In a tense exchange with the reporter, Santos asserted, "I’m not angry at all." 

"I’ve made my sincere apology multiple times. I earlier said it I thoroughly apologize for lying about my education and embellishing my resume," he said. "I’ve made that very, very clear. I don’t know what more can be said other than admitting. Is there anything more humbling or humiliating than admitting that on national television."