Who is George Santos and why was he holding a baby?
Image Courtesy of @matthew___rice on X
By Noah Slayter
This is an independently submitted op-ed for our Quill section. Views and statements made in this article do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Tower.
George Santos acts like he was written by Trey Parker and Matt Stone (the creators of South Park). Beyond his more than dubious election scandals, of which he is being federally prosecuted, Santos is also an odd duck in general. He often says things that are out of pocket. He claimed that he worked for Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, but this is not true. He claimed his mother died on 9/11, and that he was on the TV Show Hannah Montana, both untrue. He initially claimed his family was Jewish (some having survived the holocaust,) but changed it to “Jew-ish.” Allegedly, he also had a campaign staffer pretend to be Kevin McCarthy’s chief of staff, for fundraising purposes.
Because of these allegations about Santos’ handling of campaign funds, as well as other allegations, New York House Republicans wanted to oust Santos. They claim Santos had allegedly stolen “the identities of campaign donors and [used] donors’ credit cards to spend thousands of dollars.” Currently, no representative can pursue Santos’ expulsion since a Speaker of the House must be elected prior to any ouster of a congressman.
The New York representative went viral on X (formerly known as Twitter) while walking out of a congressional office. Santos went on a Tirade about an apparent altercation between him and Shabd Singh, a Jewish American critical of Israeli policies, asking about his reaction to the Israeli-Hamas war. The oddity of the interaction between the two was made more poignant since the congressman was holding a baby. “The next time he tries to accost me with a child in my hand, I want him out of here”.
The child in question is unidentified at this time, though it is confirmed that the baby is not George Santos’. Reporting from New York Sun reporter Matt Rice on X shows a picture of Santos holding the baby, when he asked the representative if the child was his, Santos replied, “Not yet”.
“He’s an animal! I am holding a child!” yelled the Congressman. Later video shows Santos pointing out Singh to Capital Police where the two have a shouting match. Santos is quoted saying, “Officers, this is the gentleman that was accosting me while I had a two-month-old baby in my hands,” and calling Singh “human scum” multiple times.
Video surfaced on X of the initial altercation between Santos and Singh, with Santos telling an unknown cameraman, “Do not record this baby.”, to which the videographer complied.
Singh was later seen handcuffed while in Capitol Police custody. Singh was apparently under police custody due to a separate incident where he had become physical with a congressional staffer. According to the Hill, Rep. McCarthy ran into Santos within the building and asked about the baby. “‘One of my staffers’ baby. Look at this baby Mr. Speaker,’ Santos said to McCarthy, who then briefly acknowledged the baby, before moving on and ducking into another GOP member’s office.”
Another day in the wild world of Congressman George Santos.
