U.S. Congressman Ritchie Torres (NY-15), who represents parts of Bronx Community District 7, including Norwood, has called for a federal elections commission investigation into the campaign finances of U.S. Rep. George Santos (NY-03), the newly elected, controversial lawmaker who represents part of northern Nassau County on Long Island and northeast Queens, who has reportedly admitted to lying about his education and work experience.

 

Torres made the announcement during a news conference on Long Island on Tuesday, Jan. 17, and called on the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to launch an investigation into potential illegal activity and alleged irregularities with Santos’ campaign finances.

HAPPENING NOW: Kicking off the press conference with the bipartisan "Concerned Citizens of NY-3" group.

The Congressional seat does not belong to George Santos. It belongs to the people he defrauded and deceived.

George Santos must RESIGN. pic.twitter.com/FtverluXpD

— Ritchie Torres (@RitchieTorres) January 17, 2023

“Given what we know through public reporting, it is outrageous to me that Mr. Santos was even allowed to be sworn in officially as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives,” said Torres, referring to the recent convening of the new 118th Congress in Washington D.C. which follows the November 2022 general elections. “But now, there are serious questions that need to be answered surrounding the way in which he supposedly financed his illegitimate campaign for elected office that was built on a web of deception encompassing nearly every facet of his professional and personal life.”

 

The Bronx congressman said the American people and the people of New York’s third congressional district deserved to be represented by someone who served them with honesty, transparency, and integrity. He said Santos had proven himself to be not only “a habitual liar, who’s supremely unqualified to be serving in Congress,” but someone who “desperately” needed to be held accountable for allegedly breaking the public’s trust and potentially breaking the law.

 

In a letter sent to the chair of the FEC, Rep. Torres requested an investigation into what was described as the questionable relationship between Santos’s campaign and RedStone Strategies, described as an unregistered fundraising entity, whose apparent practices on behalf of the Santos campaign may have contributed to multiple violations of the Federal Election Campaigns Act (FECA), as reported recently by The New York Times.

 

Torres was joined at the press conference and in his calls for the FEC investigation by members of Concerned Citizens of NY-03, a new nonpartisan group of residents. They were described by Torres’ office as a group organized around the sole mission of upholding congressional integrity and having Santos removed from office. “We are delighted that Rep. Ritchie Torres accepted our invitation to visit NY-03 so we can thank him for his leadership and encourage the FEC to take action to hold Rep. Santos accountable,” said Jody Kass Finkel, founder of the group.

 

She continued, “It’s a shame that Speaker Kevin McCarthy thinks it is okay for the more than 700,000 people who live in this district to have no legitimate representation.  Rep. Torres understands how insulting it is for us to be told to ‘Live with it. Get over it. Your voice does not
matter.’ We will not be silent and deserve to have a representative who tells us the truth.”

Pete, I know you see yourself in George Santos. Like Santos, you attempted to cheat your way into Congress through lying and law-breaking, only you failed.

Now you’ve been reduced to little more than a white nationalist puppet of Nick Fuentes.

Thanks for the kind words. https://t.co/JLgsn1xL6g

— Ritchie Torres (@RitchieTorres) January 19, 2023

McCarthy was recently elected to the position of House speaker on the 15th vote. According to historians, it has been over 100 years since the House failed to choose a speaker on the first ballot. The delay was due to an ongoing fissure among Republican Party members with the extreme right-wing of the party refusing to back McCarthy initially.

 

The Guardian reported, “The spectacle concluded in stunning fashion during the tense, late-night session on the House floor that erupted in shouting and finger pointing. A Republican lawmaker had to be physically restrained by a colleague.”

 

Meanwhile, Kass Finkel said Concerned Citizens of NY-03 look forward to their ongoing collaboration with Torres “to deliver accountability for the people of our district and to finally get Santos, the squatter, evicted from office once and for all.”

 

The call for an FEC investigation is just the latest action Torres has taken to hold Santos accountable for what he called his growing web of deception, a web which is currently the subject of multiple law enforcement investigations. The Bronx congressman said he previously filed an official complaint against Santos with the House Ethics Committee and is continuing to demand that Republican House leadership publicly explain what they knew, and when, about what was described as “Santos’s seemingly never-ending trail of lies.”

 

"…mother died twice"
"…ancestors survived the holocaust"
"…millionaire overnight"
–@RitchieTorres summarizes the many lies and allegations of Cong. George Santos from memory, while calling for the FEC to investigate his finances.@PIX11News at 5pm @NewsNation at 5:30pm. pic.twitter.com/ADAVN2ZSmX

— Henry Rosoff (@HenryRosoff) January 17, 2023

 

Torres is also sponsoring new legislation that would punish candidates for federal office who knowingly lie to voters about their background.

 

As reported by CNN, despite the controversy surrounding his election and widespread calls for his resignation, Santos has been appointed to serve on two congressional committees, including the Committee on Small Business and the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.

 

Norwood News reached out for comment from Santos to the New York number listed on his website. Our call was answered by a staffer for the office of Republican Congressman Nick LaLota (NY-01) who also represents parts of eastern Long Island. LaLota’s staffer said he had been getting calls for Santos all morning. The staffer said Santos has been forwarding his calls to LaLota’s office.

 

 

When we tried to NY number a second time on Jan. 19, a representative for LaLota said in reference to our previous placed call to the New York number, “You may have spoken to someone in our office, because it seems that everyone who is looking for Congressman Santos is winding up here.” Asked if the congressman’s office was on Northern Boulevard, the staffer replied, “We are in Huntington, and don’t have anything to do with Santos’ office.”

 

When told the phone number called was listed on Santos’ website, the staffer replied, “Yeah, so the thing is that it’s that 718 phone number, right? Yeah, so that is not our phone number, but he is having calls forwarded from that number to here. Umm, I’m not really sure why other than just to avoid people, but unfortunately it’s something we’ve been trying to resolve for a couple of days now, and obviously we haven’t had success yet.”

 

Asked why, in the staffer’s opinion, the congressman would have picked LaLota’s office to forward calls, the staffer replied, “We’re next door, I guess. I don’t know. We’re the next district on the island.”

 

Asked if the LaLota office had put out any press release referencing Santos, the staffer said, “Yeah, Congressman LaLota was actually the first elected member of Congress on the Republican side to call for an investigation, and his [Santos’] resignation so that’s where we stand on the whole thing.”

 

In response to some recent allegations that GoFundMe blocked him after he allegedly pocketed thousands from a fundraiser for a dying service dog, Santos tweeted the following on Jan. 19, “The reports that I would let a dog die is shocking & insane. My work in animal advocacy was the labor of love & hard work. Over the past 24hr I have received pictures of dogs I helped rescue throughout the years along with supportive messages. These distractions won’t stop me!”

 

He also responded to reports that he allegedly previously performed as a drag queen, saying, “The most recent obsession from the media claiming that I am a drag Queen or “performed” as a drag Queen is categorically false. The media continues to make outrageous claims about my life while I am working to deliver results. I will not be distracted nor fazed by this.”