Even as it looks more and more likely that Republicans will control the majority in the House of Representatives by the slimmest of margins, at least one incoming GOP lawmaker is calling on the party to pump the brakes on their wishlist of anti-Biden investigations.
Fresh off flipping a blue New York district Republican, Congressman-elect George Santos appeared on Fox News and chalked up his victory to maintaining focus on “kitchen table issues” and “common sense” priorities while ignoring partisanship.
As a self-described “MAGA candidate” who attended former President Donald Trump’s Jan. 6 rally, Santos’ ties to the ex-president didn’t hurt him during the midterm elections—even as other Trump endorsees in competitive races crashed and burned. And Santos made it clear on Monday that, at least in the short term, he doesn’t want to fight the disgraced former president’s culture wars.
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“Congressman-elect, you talk about priorities and you’re talking about a lot of what mattered most to voters in these last elections,” Fox News anchor Sandra Smith wondered. “You also have some in your party who are already promising to go big time on investigations, House investigations, if indeed the GOP takes back the majority in the House.”
Pointing out that prior to the elections, House Republicans pledged to open probes on President Joe Biden’s family, the FBI’s raid on Mar-a-Lago, “Big Tech censorship,” and the origins of COVID-19—among other concerns that have filled up Fox News airwaves—Smith then asked, “Where do you stand on pushing for these investigations, noting that you just said inflation was the priority for your voters?”
Santos, without skipping a beat, let the America Reports host know he is not all that interested in immediately setting up a bunch of House hearings.
“You know my constituents didn’t send me here to waste time. They sent me here to work,” he said. “Although if parts of our party want to go into these investigations, that’s their prerogative. I’m here to deliver results. I’m here to deliver prosperity. I’m here to defend the American dream. And that’s making Americans' life easier. So I don’t want to waste my time in Washington engaging in hyperpartisan issues. I want to come here to deliver results.”
Hedging a bit, Santos did state that the GOP could “be part of investigations so long as it doesn’t clutter and sway us from the goal,” which he insisted was making Americans’ lives better.
“So just to circle back on that, first, I thought I could characterize it safely, that you see these investigations as a waste of time,” Smith retorted. “But then it sounds like you would support some investigations.”
The incoming lawmaker replied that he’s “not saying they’re a waste of time” but rather that GOP-led investigations “shouldn’t hold priority over the issues at hand,” calling on his soon-to-be colleagues to put a temporary pause on launching new probes.
“What we need to focus on is delivering results,” he concluded. “Then we can start investigating. But I think that for at least the first six months, we should work on making this country energy-independent. We should work on reducing crime across metropolitan areas such as New York City. And then we can start talking about investigations.”
While Fox News and right-wing media had long been giving the GOP marching orders on potential congressional probes, some on the network have warned the party not to go overboard if they took over Congress. Fox hosts Brian Kilmeade and Stuart Varney, for instance, declared that it would be a “rotten idea” to attempt to impeach Biden.
