Rep. George Santos not invited to Long Island breakfast amid House Ethics Committee investigation
BETHPAGE, Nassau County (WABC) -- Embattled New York Congressman George Santos is now being investigated by the House Ethics Committee to see if he violated laws pertaining to campaign finance, financial disclosure, conflict of interest and sexual misconduct.
While the freshman Republican remained on Capitol Hill on Friday, his three fellow Long Island congressional colleagues spoke together to 400 people from the business community at the Long Island Association Breakfast.
Santos wasn't invited.
"He was never given an invitation because again, we wanted to have this serious discussion, hear from our members of Congress about what they're working on and do it without any distractions," said Long Island Association President Matt Cohen.
GOP congressmen Andrew Garbarino -- who sits on the House Ethics Committee, Anthony D'Esposito and Nick LaLota attended.
"It's an issue that we have to deal with swiftly decisively and fortunately for Long Island, the three Republican members are carrying the load of four," LaLota said. "We're not gonna miss anything on Long Island. The three of us are going to work together to ensure Long Island gets the resources it needs."
ALSO READ | The saga of Rep. George Santos: Inside his many fabrications, exaggerations, and embellishments
Eyewitness News did some digging into Santos' campaign finances and found that he donated money to the campaigns of LaLota, D'Esposito and Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney, who is also a Republican.
Reporter Chantee Lans spoke with all of them who say they either gave the money back or to charity.
"I've donated most of it back, if not, I'll donate the rest of it back to other entities," LaLota said. "He's not going to get a dime of it back. In a scam, you don't give a scam artist back his own money."
"A check was written out of my campaign account and sent to whatever the accounts were that wrote the checks," D'Esposito said.
D'Esposito said he is now circulating a bill for co-sponsorship that would stop an elected official, like Santos, from profiting from a scandal if convicted of a financial crime.
"Whether it's a book signing, whether it's a TV movie, whether it's 'Dancing with the Stars,' whatever it is that he going to try to financially benefit from the lies that he's told to make it to Congress, we're going to make sure that stops," D'Esposito said.
RELATED | Exclusive: George Santos defends his support of bill to make AR-15 USA's 'national gun'
----------
* Download the abc7NY app for breaking news alerts
Submit a tip or story idea to Eyewitness News
Have a breaking news tip or an idea for a story we should cover? Send it to Eyewitness News using the form below. If attaching a video or photo, terms of use apply.
