While guest hosting Steve Bannon's podcast, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) defends Rep. George Santos' (R-NY) false claims

Gaetz: “Embellishing one's resume isn't a crime”

Written by Media Matters Staff

Published

From the January 12, 2023, edition of Real America's Voice's War Room

REP. MATT GAETZ (GUEST HOST): You have admitted embellishing your resume, you've acknowledged it, you've apologized for it, some have said that you shouldn't be seated on committees for it. I would offer that if we didn't seat people on committees who embellish their resume running for Congress, we probably wouldn't be able to make quorum in any of those committees. Do you now have a sense of the committees you want to serve on, the type of work you want to do?

REP. GEORGE SANTOS (GUEST): I came to D.C. without really any preconceived notions of what committees to serve, but whether what I can give to the American people. Whatever committee I'm given, whether it's, I don't know, Science and Technology, or Education and Labor, or whatever committee is thrown my way, I will deliver 110% because that is what I know how to do. I am going to outwork any of the pundits and talking heads that are out there saying that I should resign, that I'm unfit for office. The reality is and the case and point here being is, I'm a work horse, I've worked my whole life, I'm the kid who came from a basement apartment.

...

GAETZ: Embellishing one's resume isn't a crime. It's, frankly, how a lot of people get to Congress and we want everyone to be honest and, again, you've acknowledged that, and you're working forward going forward. One of the principal critiques I've heard is that a lot of money was donated to your campaign by you -- $700,000, I believe. Where did it come from?

SANTOS: Well, I'll tell you where it didn't come from. It didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. How about that?

GAETZ: Well, that is an answer. I mean, I also put money into my campaign when I ran. I had to sell some of the property that I'd acquired in my life in order to fund something that I really believed in.