The George Santos House Republican scandal just got even uglier

Days ago the New York Times reported that incoming House Republican George Santos had allegedly faked most of the major details of his life. He didn’t work at the companies he claimed to have worked at. The college he claims he graduated from had never heard of him. Even his animal nonprofit didn’t seem to exist. And this all came amid serious questions about how he’d gone from a renter who was evicted multiple times, to the supposed owner of several rental properties, in just a few years. Now it’s gotten even uglier.

Jewish publication The Forward is now reporting that Santos, who claims his ancestors fled the Holocaust, may not even be Jewish. The accusation is serious enough that even the Republican Jewish Coalition, an obviously pro-Republican group, now says it wants Santos to explain himself.

On Tuesday I wrote that while the House Republican leadership would surely prefer Santos stick around and help protect its tiny majority, it was entirely plausible that Santos could end up quitting in the hope of getting the media to lose interest before it could dig up even more on him. Specifically I said that it might all come down to what other kinds of secrets or lies Santos might be sitting on.

This new allegation, that he may have lied about being Jewish, would certainly point to there being more to come in this scandal. As I said before, if there ends up being a criminal element to this (a fake charity would potentially qualify), then the DOJ is going to keep digging into this whether Santos remains in the public eye or not. But if this is all just an embarrassing series of lies, and Santos thinks he can make it all stop simply by quitting before taking office and disappearing from view, he could indeed end up quitting. It’s impossible to say how this will end, but at this point a special election to replace him is certainly a realistic scenario.