Newly elected New York congressman George Santos’ deluge of alleged fibs apparently included making up the fact that his Jewish grandparents fled Europe during World War II. As it turns out, his maternal grandparents were both born in Brazil, according to genealogy websites reviewed by Jewish news outlet Forward. On his campaign website, Santos, a Republican who will represent New York’s 3rd congressional district, claimed his Jewish grandparents “fled Jewish persecution in Ukraine, settled in Belgium, and again fled persecution during WWII.” The New York Times recently detailed a plethora of other questionable claims he made on the campaign trail, including saying that four Pulse nightclub shooting victims worked at his company, that his family company owned 13 rental properties, and that he climbed the ranks of the financial world at Citigroup and Goldman Sachs. Neither company had any record of him ever working for them, and he doesn’t appear to own any properties in the U.S. In fact, he was sued as a tenant for failing to pay rent.
