GOP’s liar and truther on congress committees

George Santos, who lied to get elected to congress, appointed to committee overseeing fraud; 9/11 ‘truther’ Marjorie Taylor Greene is on the homeland security committee.

George Santos is facing calls to resign after revelations he lied about his life story to get elected last year. Picture: Getty Images via AFP

Democrats responded with outrage yesterday after Republicans appointed disgraced congressman George Santos and former 9/11 “truther” Marjorie Taylor Greene to powerful House committees.

Despite facing calls to resign from his own party after a catalogue of revelations that he lied about his life story to get elected last year, and mounting scrutiny of his ties to an alleged Ponzi scheme, Santos was appointed to the House small business committee on Tuesday night. The appointment gives the 34-year-old New York congressman sway over a multibillion-dollar budget, despite multiple investigations into his own finances, including an outstanding allegation of fraud in Brazil.

Greene, one of the most right wing Republicans, who has previously cast doubt on the 9/11 attacks, endorsed the QAnon conspiracy theory and backed the January 6 riot at the US Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump in 2021, was appointed to the homeland security committee. The decision will give her access to classified intelligence material.

Greene was stripped of her committee memberships after the January 6 attack, when she supported online comments encouraging violence against Democratic officials. She has since backtracked, albeit only partially. Last year, however, Greene appeared at a white nationalist conference at which participants praised Adolf Hitler and chanted in support of Vladimir Putin just days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Marjorie Taylor Greene is a 9/11 ‘Truther’, a Trump devotee and supported the Capitol riots. Picture: Getty Images via AFP

Ritchie Torres, a Democrat congressman from New York and former vice chair of the homeland security committee, said he was horrified at Greene’s appointment. “A QAnon conspiracy theorist and Jan 6 insurrectionist doesn’t belong on a committee that exists to fight extremism,” Torres tweeted.

Greene was also appointed to the House oversight committee, which is poised to launch investigations into President Biden, his family and other government officials. A devoted Trump loyalist, the committee appointments cement her position as one of the most influential politicians in the GOP and underscores the power that the extremist wing of the Republican Party now wields.

The small business committee, of which Santos is now a member, will oversee the Paycheck Protection Programme (PPP), which issued $800 billion in loans to bail out small businesses during the pandemic. Prosecutors are now investigating the theft of up to dollars 80 billion from the fund.

“Can a fraud like George Santos be trusted to root out rampant fraud in the PPP?” Torres asked.

Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has resisted calls for Santos to resign, insisting this week that “the voters elected him to serve”.

Santos has admitted lying about attending university and working for two Wall Street Banks, and falsely claimed that his mother died in the 9/11 attacks, that his grandparents fled the Holocaust and was forced to confess that he was not Jewish, as he had previously claimed. This week it emerged that Santos also went by the name of Anthony Devolder and is accused of conning a disabled military veteran out of thousands of dollars donated to save the man’s dying service dog.

Further allegations are still under investigation. McCarthy has conceded that he “always had a few questions” about Santos’s fabricated resume, and Democrats have called for an investigation into whether Republican leaders knew of the lies he told during the election. The White House this week urged Republicans to “come clean” over McCarthy’s “secret, backroom deals” to win the speaker’s gavel.

The Times