New York Republicans Call on George Santos to Resign: 'He Deceived Voters'

Alejandra Villa Loarca/Newsday RM via Getty George Santos

Less than a week after he was officially sworn in to office, a group of Nassau County, New York Republicans are calling on controversial Rep. George Santos to resign.

"Today, on behalf of the Nassau County Republican Committee, I am calling for his immediate resignation," Nassau County GOP chairman Joseph Cairo told reporters in a press conference Wednesday morning. "George Santos' campaign last year, 2022, was a campaign of deceit, lies, fabrication."

Cairo continued: "He deceived voters. His lies were not mere fibs. He disgraced the House of Representatives … He's not welcome here at Republican headquarters."

A spokesperson for Santos did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment, though the congressman himself told reporters on Capitol Hill that he "will not" resign, Fox News reports.

Santos, who was elected in November to represent New York's 3rd Congressional District, has in recent weeks been the subject of numerous headlines and both federal and state-level investigations after admitting to lying about large portions of his past.

Many of Santos' lies were uncovered during an investigation reported by The New York Times on Dec. 19, in which the outlet found that there were significant parts of his life that could not be verified.

RELATED: Incoming Rep. George Santos Apologizes for 'Embellishing My Resume': 'I Said I Was Jew-ish'

In an interview given days later to the New York Post, the new congressman admitted he lied about some things, such as working at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, as he had previously asserted (he never worked at either), and attending Baruch College or New York University (he attended neither).

Santos didn't open up about everything in his past, though. While he previously laid claim to Jewish heritage on his campaign website and throughout his campaign, Santos told the Post that he "never claimed to be Jewish. I am Catholic. Because I learned my maternal family had a Jewish background I said I was 'Jew-ish.' "

Many questions regarding Santos' finances also remain unanswered.

In 2020, when Santos launched his first run for the House, he stated in a financial disclosure that he had no assets and no earned income. But his financial situation appeared to have markedly improved by the time he decided to launch a second run for the House in 2022, with Federal Election Commission filings showing he lent at least $580,000 to his campaign, and $27,000 to his political action committee.

RELATED: U.S. Rep.-Elect George Santos Now Under Federal Investigation for Financial Disclosures: Report

In financial disclosure documents, Santos said he earned millions of dollars in 2021 and 2022 from a business he started in May 2021.

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Santos is currently under federal investigation over questions about his finances, and the Nassau County District Attorney's Office in New York recently announced that it, too, is investigating the incoming lawmaker.

Earlier this week, New York Reps. Daniel Goldman and Ritchie Torres — both Democrats — filed an official complaint with the House Committee on Ethics, calling for them to launch an investigation into whether Santos broke the law by leaving some details out of his financial disclosures.

A separate complaint — filed Monday by the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center — argues that "unknown individuals or corporations may have illegally funneled money" into the Santos campaign, and alleges that the lawmaker lied "about how his campaign raised and spent money" in addition to lying about "virtually every aspect of his life."