House Ethics Committee complaints against Rep. George Santos as constituents take DC
ROSLYN, Nassau County (WABC) -- One of the congressional representatives who attended the State of the Union Tuesday night continued to find himself surrounded by controversy.
George Santos joined lawmakers on the House floor ahead of President Biden's address Tuesday night, and at one point had a tense exchange with Senator Mitt Romney.
The day didn't start much better for the embattled congressman. Some of Santos' constituents boarded a bus to Washington on Tuesday to confront House Republican leadership and demand that he be removed.
The dozens of Queens and Long Island voters delivered more than 1,500 signatures on a petition.
It came as House Speaker McCarthy revealed that Santos is the subject of Ethics Committee complaints.
Despite initially implying an ethics investigation was underway, McCarthy later clarified his remarks.
"Ethics is moving through, and if Ethics finds something, we'll take action," McCarthy said.
McCarthy reiterated that the voters elected him and that he and the congressman decided it was best for Santos to recuse himself from committee assignments.
"He and I had a conversation and decided it's best at this moment," he added. "I think that was the right decision."
It all came ahead of President Biden's State of the Union Address Tuesday night. Santos said he was bringing a guest, former volunteer firefighter Michael Weinstock.
Weinstock is a Democrat who previously ran for that third district seat. He's a former volunteer firefighter who claims to have volunteered to help during 9/11 and says he wants to highlight ongoing health issues facing first responders like him.
But Santos lied about his own association with 9/11, falsely claiming his mother died as a result of the attack.
So why does Weinstock want anything to do with Santos?
"I went back and forth and then I just recognized that this was a special opportunity to talk about firefighters who don't have health insurance as well as talk about people who are exposed to asbestos and other toxins, and that's something that speaks to my heart. So, for those reasons I had to say, 'Yes,'" Weinstock said.
In a phone interview with ABC News, Weinstock said he recently received the call from Santos inviting him, and accepted the invite after talking it over with friends and family, despite the controversy, because he "decided the subject of rescue workers is so important."
"I didn't vote for George Santos," Weinstock said from Washington D.C. "I'm not gonna vote for (him) if he ever runs for office again, but having the opportunity to talk about the firefighters who weren't receiving medical care is important stuff."
Not unlike Santos, Weinstock has been the subject of questions surrounding his own involvement responding to the 9/11 attacks. There are a number of pictures that clearly show his presence at ground zero that day, but the president of his former firehouse publicly said in 2019, when Weinstock was running for Congress, that "according to our records, Weinstock neither volunteered to assist with those efforts nor participated in those efforts as a member of" the firehouse.
Philip Katz, the president of the Vigilant Engine & Hook & Ladder Company, Inc, told ABC News that though Weinstock was a member of that volunteer fire company that day, "he was not particularly active that year."
"I think he fits very well with George Santos," Katz told ABC News. "He's a kindred spirit."
Weinstock said that he's already facing consequences for choosing to associate with Santos. He told Eyewitness News that the law firm he worked for has fired him.
Meanwhile, one of Santos' staffers, Mario Nicoletto, discussed his decision to resign as a Queens District Office Staff Member.
"He was never, never like this. He was always a stoic guy," said Nicoletto.
Eyewitness News reporter Chanteel Lans also asked Nicoletto about where he thinks the hundreds of thousands of dollars came from in Congressman Santos' campaign. He says he has no idea.
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