George Santos faces new scandal with sexual harassment allegations

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Flavio Moreira, Staff Writer

In a new chapter of uncovered scandals of George Santos, the Republican Congressman is being accused of sexual assault by Derek Myers, a journalist who briefly worked at Santos’ office earlier this year. He filed the complaint at the House Ethics Committee on Jan. 25 and Santos has denied the allegations.

According to Myers, Santos called him “buddy” and asked him if he was a user on Grindr, a dating app popular within the gay community. Allegedly, Santos invited Myers to sit on a sofa and proceeded to put his leg on top of him as well as invited him to go over to his house and stated his husband was out of town. Myers said that Santos “proceeded to take his hand and move it down my leg into my inner thigh and proceeded to touch my groin.” Myers then pushed the Congressman’s hand away and began talking about constituent correspondence.

This is not the first scandal that Santos, the first Brazilian to occupy a seat in Congress, has been accused of. He has lied about his mother being a 9/11 survivor and stated that she worked in the stock market, though a former roommate says she was a cleaner.

Even before moving to America, Santos has a legacy of scamming. In 2008 he lived in Niterói, a city near Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he used to give bad checks in stores. Recently, the case was reopened by the Brazilian police after the news that Santos was elected to Congress. In the city, the Congressman used to live a luxurious life, which varied greatly from his life with his mom and sister.

In Niterói, Santos was a very prominent figure within the gay community. In recent weeks, photos of Santos dressed as a drag queen reemerged online. He went to gay bars and events and used the drag name Kitara Ravache. This past is odd for the Republican, given that he was against sexual education being discussed in schools and stated that children should not be exposed to drag queens.

Santos, who was known as the “first openly-gay Republican,” married a Brazilian woman in 2012. Within two years of their marriage, Santos began living with another man named Pedro Vilarva. Santos invited a few friends to his engagement dinner, though Pedro never accepted any of his proposals. Santos wrote in a Facebook post in 2014, “As you all may know Pedro and I have decided to join our toothbrushes! …Very few friends have been selected to share this special moment with us!” Santos and his wife later divorced in 2019.

The Congressman has also lied about his education, stating that he attended the Horace Mann School in the Bronx, though the institution does not have any records of his attendance. On his resume, he claims to have graduated from Baruch College and that he was a member of the Baruch Volleyball team. He also claims he spent time at New York University, and both universities deny him being a student.

While the recent sexual harassment allegations against Santos are just a new chapter of his already disastrous career path in Congress, the Committee could potentially recommend that Santos be expelled from Congress for wrongdoing and breaking ethical violations. However, expulsions are a rare and serious measure, and it would require a two-thirds vote of the full House of Representatives to be enacted.