Washington — Embattled Republican Rep. George Santos of New York will recuse himself from serving on House committees, he told his GOP colleagues in a closed-door meeting Tuesday, two Republican aides in the meeting confirmed to CBS News.
Santos was assigned to the House Small Business Committee and Science, Space and Technology Committee earlier this month by House Republican leaders. His decision not to sit on the two panels comes a day after Santos met with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Capitol Hill, though McCarthy has not disclosed what they discussed.
In the meeting of the House Republican conference, Santos apologized to his colleagues for being a distraction, the two sources told CBS News.
An aide to Santos said in a statement that he is “reserving his seats on his assigned committees until he has been properly cleared of both campaign and personal financial investigations.”
The Republican lawmaker, who represents New York’s 3rd Congressional District and has admitted to fabricating key parts of his biography, is under scrutiny by state and federal prosecutors. He’s also the target of complaints to the Federal Election Commission over his campaign spending and the House Ethics Committee regarding the filing of his financial disclosure reports.
Santos is facing calls to resign, including from fellow Republicans in the New York congressional delegation, but has rebuffed calls to step down. McCarthy has also declined to take any action against Santos, instead saying his future in Congress will be determined by the voters of his district.
Amid the questions about background and campaign finances, a pair of New York Democrats called on McCarthy to block Santos from having access to classified information, saying they have “serious concerns” about the GOP lawmaker.
“The numerous concerning allegations about his behavior over decades put his character into question, and suggest he cannot be trusted with confidential and classified information that could threaten the United States’ national security,” Reps. Gregory Meeks and Joe Morelle wrote in a letter.
Michael Kaplan and Caitlin Huey-Burns contributed to this report.
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