Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) wasn’t pleased with Tulsi Gabbard’s treatment of Rep.-elect George Santos (R-N.Y.) on Fox News.
While guest-hosting for “Tucker Carlson Tonight” on Tuesday, Gabbard held Santos’ feet to the fire over the fabrications he made about his experience to get elected. Santos has characterized the fibs as “embellishing my resumé.” Gabbard said they were blatant lies, and repeatedly asked him: “Do you have no shame?”
This apparently didn’t sit well with Greene, who attacked Gabbard on Wednesday for going too hard on her incoming House colleague.
She complained that Gabbard, who formerly represented Hawaii’s 2nd congressional district as a Democrat, gave Santos “zero grace, while George is admitting and apologizing for lying about his resume, just like her former colleagues are giving George zero grace & even demanding he resign.”
Since his election, Santos has admitted to lying about having Jewish heritage, Wall Street job experience and a college degree. Long Island prosecutors have opened an investigation to determine if he committed a crime in doing so, and other questions about his business dealings still remain unanswered.
In her stunning Fox News takedown, Gabbard torched Santos for misleading his voters and refusing to take full accountability for the depth of his deception.
“A lie is not an embellishment on a resume,” Gabbard said. “These are blatant lies, and it calls into question how your constituents and the American people can believe anything that you may say when you are standing on the floor of the House of Representatives.”
Santos’ apologies were hardly sincere. He repeatedly complained that “everybody wants to nitpick at me” and “push me” and “call me a liar,” and insisted that he “worked really hard” for his achievements and remained committed to serving his constituents.
Greene seemed to miss Gabbard’s point ― that with Santos’ track record, it will be hard for anyone to know where the deception ends when he is sworn in.
“Tulsi says that George’s actions on the House floor are what is most important, but George has not even had the chance to take action for his district on the House floor because he isn’t even sworn in yet,” she wrote.
“Tulsi also says how can his district believe anything he says when he is standing on the House floor fighting for them,” she continued. She didn’t provide a solution, instead hurling whataboutisms about Gabbard’s record in Congress.
Gabbard ran for president as a Democrat in 2020; she has since left the Democratic Party and joined Fox News as a paid contributor and occasional fill-in for Carlson, in keeping with her increasing gravitation toward the political far right.
While Republican leaders ― who badly need Santos’ vote ― have said pretty much nothing about the firestorm, some cracks have appeared in Santos’ partisan support.
Some fellow Republicans have said they are troubled by the revelations. The Republican Jewish Committee said Santos had “deceived us.” His fellow Long Island Republican, Rep.-elect Nick Lalota, called for a full investigation by the House Ethics Committee and, if necessary, law enforcement. Joseph Cairo, chair of the Nassau County Republican Committee (which lies within Santos’ district), said Santos had “broken the public trust.”
In defending Santos, Greene ― a major backer of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s (Calif.) bid for the speakership ― is rallying a potentially key vote for the GOP leader in the incoming Congress. McCarthy has pledged to restore Greene’s committee assignments should he become House speaker.