On Tuesday evening, congressman-elect George Santos (R-N.Y.) made a brief appearance on Fox News' Tucker Carlson Tonight in an attempt to further triage the fallout from a recent New York Times investigation into what appears to be his largely fictionalized personal and professional history.
"I think humans are flawed, and we all make mistakes," Santos insisted to former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (I-Hawaii), who is guest hosting Carlson's eponymous program while he is away. "I think we can all look at ourselves in the mirror and admit that once in our life we made a mistake. I'm having to admit this on national television for the whole country to see. And I have the courage to do so because I believe that in order to move past this and move forward and be an effective member of Congress, I have to face my mistakes, and I'm facing them."
Among the "mistakes" Santos is accused of making are lies about where he went to college, his alleged employment at high-powered financial institutions, and his repeated claim that he is Jewish — all of which have been determined to be false.
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"You don't really seem to be taking this seriously," Gabbard told Santos in one of the interview's more heated exchanges. "You apologized, you said you've made mistakes, but you've outright lied. A lie is not an embellishment on a résumé."
After insisting his résumé was merely "debatable" rather than a straightforward fabrication, Santos justified his bogus biography — and in particular his murky finances and disproven claims of employment with Goldman Sachs — by telling Gabbard that "I can sit down and explain to you what you can do in private equity, in capital intro, via servicing limited partners and general partners, and we can have this discussion that's going to go way above the American people's head, but that's not what I campaigned on."
"Wow," a shocked-seeming Gabbard replied.
You can watch the entire interview below:
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