Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) informed his House GOP colleagues on Tuesday that he has decided to step down from his committee assignments.
Santos has in recent weeks faced a lot of criticism over the revelation that he had fabricated a lot of information about his personal and professional history. There are also investigations into his personal and campaign finances currently underway.
Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) said that Santos had told the Congress that he would be “temporarily” stepping down until everything has been “settled.” According to one source, Santos also dubbed himself a “distraction.”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) also informed reporters that Santos had asked whether they would support him to sit in a committee again after everything is cleared.
The House GOP Steering Committee, the panel that decides on the committee assignments for the Republican party had previously assigned Santos to the Small Business Committee and the Science, Space, and Technology Committee.
On Tuesday morning, Santos refused to provide any comments for reporters saying that everything that “happens in conference stays in the conference.”
One day earlier Santos had a private meeting with Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). Following the closed-door conference hearing, McCarthy said that he had spoken with Santos the previous day and he thought that the decision the Representative had made was appropriate. He further noted that Santos had sought his advice on whether he could do that the previous day.
The Speaker said that initially the seats that Santos would have sat on will “temporarily” be filled until he is in a position to come back to the committees.
