"I would have never gotten the nomination from the Nassau County GOP if I had not concluded college. That was really the main driver, because of the way of the nature of their politics over there. It's just plain and simple, right. So I made that bad decision," Santos said.
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"To say I deceived, and there was a campaign of deceit and deception, is just not fair. That's just the political spin that the Nassau County GOP wants to create on this narrative. As you know, New York politics, it's pretty simple. The party bosses run the narrative and everyone follow suit and this is what's going on at the moment," he said.
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"Here's the reality. I'm human and I've made mistakes. I've made peace with those mistakes, and I've come clean on those mistakes," Santos said in the interview.
He also dismissed calls from members of his own party on Long Island to step down. "I know a lot of people think that the sentiment of the six freshmen members of Congress from New York is the sentiment of the entire New York delegation, of the entire Congress, but that's just not true."
But, it's not just representatives from New York that want Santos out. He is also facing a measure from Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) to permanently remove him from the House.
Reps. Ritchie Torres and Dan Goldman, from New York, joined as sponsors of the resolution, which the lawmakers said will be referred to the Ethics Committee.
"He does not have any credibility to walk these halls of Congress, he does not belong here," said Rep. Dan Goldman.
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The resolution is likely the first piece of legislation that will be introduced to expel Santos.
"George Santos has no place in Congress," Garcia said. "He has lied about the horrific Pulse massacre, his connections to the Holocaust and 9/11, his qualifications for office, and faces serious campaign finance violations that he has recently all but admitted to," said Congressman Robert Garcia. "His continued pattern of fraud and deception is especially worrisome to our own LGBTQ+ community, and it's time we act and immediately expel him from Congress."
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The mainly Democratic push for expulsion might be a long shot. Expulsion requires a two-thirds vote of members who are present and voting.