Among the many many lies George Santos has informed, one of many greatest considerations his mom and the September 11 assaults. Particularly, the Republican lawmaker’s marketing campaign web site stated that his mom “was in her workplace within the south tower” on 9/11 and that that she “handed away just a few years later when she misplaced her battle to most cancers,” an sickness he has attributed to her presence at Floor Zero that day. In actuality, not solely are there no data of Santos’s mom working on the World Commerce Middle—documents present that she was was outdoors the US between 1999 and 2003. Given this, you may assume the newly elected congressman would wish to, if in any respect attainable, keep away from the subject of 9/11 and positively not convey it up on his personal accord in an extremely public vogue. However apparently, you’d assume unsuitable!
On Monday, Santos introduced on the Home ground that his visitor at Joe Biden’s State of the Union tonight shall be former firefighter Michael Weinstock, who carried out rescue work at Floor Zero. In line with Weinstock, Santos invited him two weeks in the past—i.e. effectively into his PR shitstorm—and the previous firefighter, who’s a Democrat, accepted as a result of he’s hoping to boost consciousness a few neurological situation he’s affected by on account of his emergency work. “I’m cautiously optimistic that I’ll be capable to keep targeted sufficient on the problem of 9/11 responders receiving the well being care that they want with out being sullied by George Santos,” Weinstock informed The New York Occasions.
Up to now, issues don’t seem like understanding as Weinstock had hoped, on condition that his employer let him go final week over his choice to attend the SOTU with Santos. In line with Weinstock, his boss informed him: “I do know your motivations are pure, however George Santos is so poisonous, I don’t need any affiliation with Santos and this agency.”
In an interview, Weinstock informed the Occasions that he first crossed paths with Santos in April 2021, after which reconnected a number of months later after the previous firefighter sustained a foot damage that left him unable to stroll for a while. Santos apparently visited him at residence, and on the twentieth anniversary of 9/11, posted a photograph of Weinstock on Instagram, thanking him for his work as a primary responder. (On the time, Santos had but to be caught within the lie that his mom was within the towers on the day of the assault.) Later in his marketing campaign, Santos, Weinstock says, provided to “host a GoFundMe” to assist pay for the previous firefighter’s medical care. (The situation just isn’t lined by the World Commerce Middle Well being Program, which supplies well being care to September 11 survivors and Floor Zero responders.) Weinstock informed the Occasions he declined, worrying that Santos would use the fundraiser as a part of his marketing campaign. (Observe: This was additionally earlier than Santos was {accused} of beginning a GoFundMe for a homeless veteran’s dying service canine and absconding with the cash, a matter that the congressman has denied and is at present beneath investigation by the FBI.
Talking to the Occasions, Weinstock—who says he didn’t vote for Santos—stated that the newly elected lawmaker obtained in contact in December about eager to sponsor a invoice to get his situation lined by the 9/11 well being fund, although the problem was “dropped” after Santos’s lies had been revealed. (Relating to these, Weinstock has known as them “inexcusable.”)
Over the weekend, Santos doubled down on his 9/11 story, insisting in an interview that his mom “died on account of” the assault and that, regardless of proof on the contrary, she was “current, [in] downtown Manhattan” as “the poisonous mud that permeated all through.”
