The Washington Post outed Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla), who said she was raised as a Messianic Jew, among other claims, but failed to mention that her paternal grandfather, Heinrich Mayerhofer, who died in 2003, reportedly served in the armed forces of Nazi Germany.

Speaking to Fox News, Luna slammed the Post report but made no mention of her grandfather’s Nazi past.

She said he has photos of her father in a messianic synagogue, although it appears he was not Jewish.

Her claim to have Jewish roots comes shortly after Rep. George Santos (R-NY) was caught lying about being Jewish.

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The group said it will cut all ties with the Long Island Republican falsified background over his “harmful, offensive lies.”

By World Israel News Staff

New York Republican Reps. Anthony D’Esposito, Nick Langworthy, Nick LaLota and Brandon Williams called on Rep. George Santos (R-NY) to resign yesterday, amid false claims about his career and about being Jewish.

The Jewish Community Relations Council of New York said that it will sever ties with Santos, and has retracted his invitation to appear at its annual Congressional Breakfast early next month.

“In light of recent discoveries about Rep. George Santos’ falsified background and the harmful, offensive lies he perpetuated throughout his campaign, JCRC-NY and JCRC-LI will not be working with him for the duration of his stay in Congress,” JCRC said in a statement.

“Our mission is to build relationships that advance the values, interests, and security of the Jewish community and create a more interconnected New York for all, and we take that commitment seriously. A key component of any constructive relationship is trust, which is not a quality we identify with Rep. Santos. For that reason, Rep. Santos is no longer welcome at our upcoming annual Congressional Breakfast.”

Nassau County Republican party officials also joined the call urging Santos to resign.

“Today, on behalf of the Nassau County Republican Committee, I’m calling for his immediate resignation,” Joseph Cairo, the county party chairman said at the press conference’s opening.

Santos claimed his grandparents “fled Jewish persecution in Ukraine, settled in Belgium, and again fled persecution during WWII” and during his campaign, referred to himself as “a proud American Jew.”

After his lies were exposed, Santos told the New York Post in an interview, “I am Catholic. Because I learned my maternal family had a Jewish background I said I was ‘Jew-ish.’”

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Republican George Santos faces investigation by Nassau County District Attorney, after he lied about his career, education, and claimed to be Jewish.

By The Associated Press

Long Island prosecutors launched an investigation against U.S. Rep.-elect George Santos of New York Wednesday, after revelations surfaced that the now-embattled Republican lied about his heritage, education and professional pedigree as he campaigned for office.

Despite intensifying doubt about his fitness to hold federal office, Santos has shown no signs of stepping aside — even as he publicly admitted to a long list of lies.

Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly, a Republican, said the fabrications and inconsistencies were “nothing short of stunning.”

“The residents of Nassau County and other parts of the third district must have an honest and accountable representative in Congress,” she said. “If a crime was committed in this county, we will prosecute it.”

Santos’ campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

He is scheduled to be sworn in next Tuesday, when the U.S. House reconvenes. If he assumes office, he could face investigations by the House Committee on Ethics and the Justice Department.

Santos suggested he does not plan to step aside in a Twitter post Wednesday about a visit to the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy earlier in the day.

“In Congress, I look forward to working alongside them to fully utilize this amazing resource we have in our own backyard in #NY03,” the tweet said.

The Republican claimed to be Jewish – despite being a practicing Catholic – and lied about having a Wall Street pedigree and a college degree, and has yet to address other lingering questions — including the source of what appears to be a quickly amassed fortune despite recent financial problems, including evictions and owing thousands in back rent.

Fellow Long Island Republican, Rep.-elect Nick Lalota, said he was troubled by the revelations.

“I believe a full investigation by the House Ethics Committee and, if necessary, law enforcement, is required,” Lalota said Tuesday.

The New York attorney general’s office has already said it’s looking into issues that have come to light.

A spokesperson for the Nassau County DA’s office, Brendan Brosh, said Wednesday: “We are looking into the matter.” The scope of the investigation was not immediately clear.

Other Republicans castigated Santos but stopped short of asking him to step aside.

“Congressman-Elect George Santos has broken the public trust by making serious misstatements regarding his background, experience and education, among other issues,” said Joseph G. Cairo, chair of the Nassau County Republican Committee, which is within the 3rd Congressional District.

Questions intensified after The New York Times examined the narrative Santos, 34, presented to voters during his successful campaign for a congressional district that straddles the north shore suburbs of Long Island and a sliver of Queens.

The Times uncovered records in Brazil that show Santos was the subject of a criminal investigation there in 2008 over allegations that he used stolen checks to buy items at an clothing shop in the city of Niteroi.

At the time, Santos would have been 19.

The Times quoted local prosecutors as saying the case was dormant because Santos had never appeared in court.

Santos continued to deny that he was being sought by authorities in South America.

Democrats pounced, calling Santos a serial fabulist and demanded he voluntarily not take office.

In an interview with the New York Post earlier this week, Santos apologized for his fabrications but downplayed them as “sins” over embellishing his resume, adding that “we do stupid things in life.”

He admitted to lying about working for Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, as well as having earned a degree in finance and economics from Baruch College in New York.

Beyond his resume, Santos invented a life story that has also come under question, including claims that his grandparents “fled Jewish persecution in Ukraine, settled in Belgium, and again fled persecution during WWII.”

During his campaign, he referred to himself as “a proud American Jew.”

He backtracked on that claim, saying he never intended to claim Jewish heritage, which would have likely raised his appeal among his district’s significant ranks of Jewish voters.

“I am Catholic,” he told the Post. “Because I learned my maternal family had a Jewish background I said I was ‘Jew-ish.’”

In a statement Tuesday, the Republican Jewish Coalition repudiated Santos.

“He deceived us and misrepresented his heritage. In public comments and to us personally he previously claimed to be Jewish,” the coalition said. “He will not be welcome at any future RJC event.”

On Fox News Tuesday night, Santos came under withering questioning by former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who was sitting in for Tucker Carlson.

“You don’t really seem to be taking this seriously,” she told him.

“You’ve apologized, you’ve said you’ve made mistakes, but you’ve outright lied. A lie is not an embellishment on a resume,” she said.

“Look, I agree with what you’re saying,” Santos replied. “We can debate my resume and how I worked with firms such as -”

“Is it debatable?” Gabbard interjected. “Or is it just false?”

“No, it’s not false at all,” he said. “It’s debatable.”

Santos lost his first race for Congress in 2020 but successfully ran again this year.

In its opposition research on Santos, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee raised several red flags about the Republican’s record — but also accepted some of his assertions, including his educational record, as fact.

The 87-page dossier raised issues about his shaky financial standing and multiple evictions that left him thousands of dollars in debt.

Federal campaign records show that he loaned his campaign more than $700,000, but the source of that money has yet to be explained.

His Democratic opponent, Robert Zimmerman, also tried to raise Santos’ misrepresentations during his losing campaign, but it didn’t gain much traction.

Zimmerman has said Santos is unfit for office and has called for him to step aside so a special election can be held.

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“He deceived us and misrepresented his heritage,” said RJC head of George Santos. “In public comments and to us personally he previously claimed to be Jewish.” 

By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News

A Republican Congressman-elect who admitted Tuesday that he “embellished” his background, including lying about his Jewish heritage, will be unwelcome at events held by the Republican Jewish Coalition.

George Santos, who claimed his mother’s Jewish family had fled from Nazi-occupied Europe to Brazil, told the New York Post on Tuesday that he deceived the public about key aspects of his biography, including working for investment firm Goldman Sachs.

However, Santos was less forthcoming when it came time to taking responsibility for misleading the public into believing he was Jewish.

“I never claimed to be Jewish,” Santos told the Post. “I am Catholic. Because I learned my maternal family had a Jewish background, I said I was `Jew-ish.’”

Matt Brooks, CEO of the Republican Jewish Coalition, expressed disgust.

“We are very disappointed in Congressman-elect Santos. He deceived us and misrepresented his heritage. In public comments and to us personally he previously claimed to be Jewish,” Brooks said in a statement.

“He has begun his tenure in Congress on a very wrong note. He will not be welcome at any future RJC event.”

JTA spoke to Brooks several weeks ago, when questions about various aspects of Santos’ background began to emerge. Brooks said he had asked about suspicion that he was fabricating his Jewish heritage.

According to Brooks, Santos explicitly said that he “identifies as Jewish” and “considers himself a Jew.”

In November 2018, Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez claimed to have Jewish roots at an event organized by Jews for Racial and Economic Justice.

Ocasio-Cortez was vague about the specifics of her ancestry, simply saying that “a very very long time ago, generations and generations ago, my family consisted of Sephardic Jews.”

Several hours later on Twitter, Ocasio-Cortez chalked up her alleged Jewish heritage as being part of an ethnic mix common among people from Puerto Rico, where her family originates.

“To be Puerto Rican is to be the descendant of: African Moors + slaves, Taino Indians, Spanish colonizers, Jewish refugees, and likely others,” she wrote.

She declined to answer media questions about how she discovered her Jewish roots, how long she had known about them, and if she could identify any of her alleged Jewish ancestors.

Ocasio-Cortez’s revelation about her Jewish ancestry occurred shortly after she was called out by Jewish groups for her criticism of Israel.

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“I am Catholic. Because I learned my maternal family had a Jewish background, I said I was `Jew-ish,’” Santos said.

By World Israel News Staff

A Republican politician from New York admitted on Monday that he lied about key elements of his background, including having Jewish heritage, while on the campaign trail.

Representative-elect George Santos, who managed to successfully flip a Long Island Democrat stronghold, had said in interviews and biographical materials that he graduated from Baruch College, worked at Goldman Sachs, and that his Jewish maternal ancestors had fled from Nazi-occupied Belgium to Brazil.

In an exclusive interview with the New York Post, Santos acknowledged that much of that was untrue. In reality, he never graduated from college, nor did he work at Goldman Sachs.

Rather, he said, he worked at a company that frequently did business with the storied investment firm. He said that his relationship with Goldman Sachs had been “stated poorly.”

“My sins here are embellishing my resume. I’m sorry,” Santos told the Post on Monday. “I own up to that.”

However, Santos was more evasive when asked questions about his claims of being Jewish, when it appears that he is a practicing Catholic.

“I never claimed to be Jewish,” Santos said. “I am Catholic. Because I learned my maternal family had a Jewish background, I said I was `Jew-ish.’”

Santos’ denial of ever stating he was Jewish is dishonest, as weeks ago he joined the Republican Jewish Coalition of Long Island.

Matt Brooks, the RJC CEO, had told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that he had asked Santos “about this. He identifies as Jewish.”

Brooks added that “he considers himself a Jew. That’s good enough for me.”

Santos also called himself a “member of the Jewish community” in a tweet after he attended an event led by the Chabad Orthodox Jewish outreach group.

A JTA look into Santos’ mother’s background revealed that her obituary contained zero references to Judaism, nor was she buried in a Jewish cemetery.

Based on her surname, it is likely that the family originated from a heavily Catholic part of Belgium, where Jewish heritage is extremely uncommon.

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