Rep.-elect George Santos (R-NY), who ran as “openly gay,” divorced his wife just two weeks before he filed paperwork to run for office in 2020, according to a new report.
Santos, who has been repeatedly accused of misrepresenting himself on the campaign trail, did not disclose his previous marriage to a woman or the later divorce, according to the Daily Beast.
New York court records show that an individual with the name George Devolder Santos finalized an uncontested divorce with Uadla Santos Vieira Santos in 2019, according to the outlet. The person in question also had a second initial of “A.”
Santos’ middle name is Anthony, the Daily Beast noted, but he also occasionally uses Devolder, which is his mother’s maiden name. His financial company is also called the Devolder Organization.
Santos’ campaign biography does not mention any past marriage to a woman but notes that he lives with his husband and their four dogs on Long Island.
The alleged undisclosed marriage to and divorce of a woman comes after multiple assertions made by Santos have come under scrutiny.
The GOP congressman-elect previously claimed that his male fiancé was fired from his job as a pharmacist after he attended a New Year’s Eve party at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.
As The Daily Wire previously reported, Santos said he earned degrees in finance and economics at Baruch College and New York University. However, NYU and Baruch both told CNN and The New York Times that they could find no records of Santos attending either school.
Santos also declared in his campaign biography that he worked at the Wall Street firms Citigroup and Goldman Sachs. Both companies told CNN and the Times that they have no record of him working there.
In yet another unconfirmed aspect of the congressman’s past, Santos said that he founded and ran a charity called “Friends of Pets United.” CNN reported that a search showed that there appears to be no record of the non-profit organization, according to the IRS.
Another recent question mark concerning Santos involves his claimed Jewish ancestry. The Forward reported on Wednesday that the congressman lied when he said that his grandparents fled anti-Jewish persecution during World War II. Instead, a genealogical search showed his mother’s parents were born in Brazil instead of Ukraine or Belgium, as his campaign website asserted, according to The Forward.
On Monday, Santos addressed the report by the Times as an attempt by the political left to attack his recent victory. Santos lost to Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) in 2020, but he defeated Democratic candidate Robert Zimmerman during the 2022 midterm elections.
“After four years in the public eye, and on the verge of being sworn in as a member of the Republican led 118th Congress, the New York Times launches this shotgun blast of attacks,” a statement posted to his Twitter account read. “It is no surprise that Congressman-elect Santos has enemies at the New York Times who are attempting to smear his good name with these defamatory allegations.”
— George Santos (@Santos4Congress) December 19, 2022
Joseph Cairo Jr., the Nassau County Republican Committee chairman, argued that Santos should be given the opportunity to address the accusations.
“While issues that have been raised in a December 19th New York Times article are serious, I believe that George Santos deserves an opportunity to address the claims detailed in the article, which have been repeated by other news sources,” Cairo said in a statement.
“Every person deserves an opportunity to ‘clear’ his/her name in the face of accusations. I am committed to this principle, and I look forward to the Congressman-Elect’s responses to the news reports,” he added.
Cairo made the statement prior to the latest information related to news of the congressman’s divorce.