Truth-averse Rep. George Santos (R-Queens/Long Island) has been accused of sexual harassment by a man seeking to work for him, who says the embattled Republican groped him in his Capitol Hill office last month.
Derek Myers said on Twitter that he filed a report with the Capitol Police and requested a congressional ethics investigation against Santos, claiming the admitted liar touched his groin without consent and proposed sexual relations while they were alone in the representative’s office.
“These matters will not be litigated on social media or through news media,” Myers tweeted. “They are serious offenses and the evidence and facts will speak for themselves if the committee takes up the matter.”
These matters will not be litigated on social media or through news media. They are serious offenses and the evidence and facts will speak for themselves if the committee takes up the matter. This tweet is being made public in light of transparency. pic.twitter.com/oSs4F3xyqc
— Derek Myers, Ph.D. (@DerekMyers) February 3, 2023
Myers alleges that on Jan. 25, he was alone with Santos in his personal office reading constituent mail when the congressman called him “buddy” and invited him to sit next to him on a sofa. Santos put his hand near Myers’ knee, he says, before inviting him to karaoke, an invitation he says he declined due to his lack of vocal proclivity.
Myers then says Santos started moving his hand up his thigh and ultimately touched his groin, before saying “my husband is out of town if you want to come over.” Myers shot down the proposition and resumed discussion of constituent mail, he says.
Earlier that day, Santos had asked Myers if he had a Grindr account, sharing that he himself had one despite being married.
A spokesperson for Santos referred questions to his lawyer, Joe Murray, who declined to comment.
Myers is also requesting an investigation into the GOP rep for allegedly coaxing him to work as a volunteer under the guise of payroll issues temporarily preventing his full onboarding as a paid staffer, a job that never materialized.
The Capitol Police did not respond to a request for comment.
In October, Myers was charged with illegal wiretapping while serving as editor of the Scioto Valley Guardian in Ohio, after the outlet published illicitly-recorded courtroom testimony. The charges, decried by journalists, would ultimately come to the attention of Santos, who confronted Myers five days after the alleged sexual transgression and ultimately rescinded his job offer.
Myers, it turned out, secretly recorded that very conversation and on Thursday handed the tape over to Talking Points Memo, displaying the chaos evident in the office of the most notorious congressional freshman in memory. While Santos’ substantial public deceit came up in the tape, the alleged sexual harassment from five days earlier did not.
The complex web of lies undergirding Santos’ political persona has unraveled since a bombshell New York Times investigation, published after his election to Congress, detailed his fabricated educational and work history, wealth, and charitable activities. Santos soon admitted to lying on his resume during his campaign, but as reporters and investigators untangle his story, the mystery around him only deepens, with questions as basic as his real name left unsettled.
Virtually every aspect of Santos’ life presented as fact has turned out to be fiction. He admitted to lying about being the Jewish descendant of Holocaust survivors, instead declaring himself “Jew-ish.” None of his employees died in the Pulse nightclub shooting, as he had claimed. His mom was not in the World Trade Center on 9/11. And all that can be found of his charity work with animals is an accusation he swindled a disabled veteran of $3,000 raised to pay for his service dog’s surgery, leading to the pooch’s death.
Despite taking his seat in the 118th Congress, Santos is in political freefall: 78% of his constituents say he should resign, including 71% of Republicans, according to a poll by Newsday and Siena College, while his erstwhile Republican allies in the Nassau County GOP, among many others, have called for his resignation, though House Republican leadership is still declining to make that call.
Santos is also facing a slew of investigations into his behavior: his shady campaign finance dealings are being probed by the Department of Justice and Federal Election Commission, while the New York Attorney General and Nassau County District Attorney are pursuing other criminal leads. The FBI is investigating the claims Santos swindled the disabled vet and his dog, while Brazilian authorities have reopened a 2008 check fraud case that was shuttered when Santos fled the South American country.
Santos also faces an inquiry by the House Ethics Committee. Last week, he recused himself from his committee assignments, claiming he didn’t want to be a distraction from the people’s business.
