George Santos' Mother Wasn't in New York — or the United States — on 9/11, as Lawmaker Claimed
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Francis Chung/POLITICO via AP Images Rep. George Santos outside his office on Capitol Hill
Despite New York Rep. George Santos saying on numerous occasions that his mother was inside the World Trade Center during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, documents obtained by a genealogical researcher appear to show that Fatima Caruso Devolder wasn't even in the United States at the time.
According to immigration records obtained by researcher Alex Calzareth and made public by The Washington Post, Fatima Devolder was living in Rio de Janeiro at the time of the 2001 attacks.
Santos once wrote on Twitter that the 9/11 terrorist attacks "claimed [his] mother's life," and at other times has said his mother died of cancer following the attacks.
Santos' congressional campaign website also includes a reference to her death. "George's mother was in her office in the South Tower on Sept. 11, 2001, when the horrific events of that day unfolded. She survived the tragic events on September 11th, but she passed away a few years later when she lost her battle to cancer," the website reads.
But those claims have not been substantiated. Rolling Stone reports that no victim advocacy groups could identify his mother among those who entered a victims' compensation claim.
RELATED: Fact-Checking the George Santos Claims: From Goldman Sachs Employee to College 'Volleyball Star'
The new genealogical documents, obtained by a Freedom of Information Act made by Calzareth, show that Devolder "applied for a visa to enter the United States from her home country of Brazil in February 2003, and on that application she stated that she had not been in the United States since 1999."
Alejandra Villa Loarca/Newsday RM via Getty George Santos
Santos is currently under investigation after a growing number of lies on his resume began to surface in recent weeks, with new details about his family history, career path and possible ties to a Russian oligarch emerging routinely.
The fabrications made by Santos came to light after a bombshell New York Times report revealed that a large portion of his biography could not be verified. Days after the report's publication, Santos admitted he had "embellished" some things, like that he worked for Goldman Sachs and Citigroup (neither company says they have a record of his employment) and that he graduated from Baruch College, attended New York University and received an MBA (he later said he did not attend any college).
Some of the mystery surrounding Santos' background — particularly when it comes to his finances — has already sparked investigations both at the federal and county level, with Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly calling the fabrications "nothing short of stunning."
Earlier this week, a disabled veteran came forward with text messages allegedly showing that in 2016, Santos — who was at the time going by his given name, Anthony Devolder — purportedly bilked him out of $3,000 meant to go toward life-saving care for his service dog.
The veteran claimed to Patch that, once the fundraiser netted $3,000, Santos took the money and disappeared. The dog ultimately had to be euthanized, with the veteran resorting to panhandling to pay for her euthanasia and cremation, he told the outlet.
Recent reports also focus on campaign donations made to Santos by Andrew Intrater, the cousin of sanctioned Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, who has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Santos — who has previously been evicted from an apartment, despite once falsely claiming he owned 13 properties — has also donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to his own campaign, with many campaign finance watchdogs questioning where those funds came from.
A complaint recently filed with the Federal Election Commission by the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center claims that Santos acted as a "straw donor" for illegal contributions to his campaign, raising questions about who, exactly, made the contributions.
"The volume and timing of Santos's dramatic increase in income and assets, the lack of a clear explanation of how he generated that income, his well-documented penchant for dishonesty, and the fact that he then used $705,000 from his sudden windfall to fund his subsequent congressional campaign strongly suggests that the rapid shift in Santos's finances was not a mere coincidence, but a direct result of unknown persons directly and illegally giving him money to run for federal office," the complaint claims.
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A growing chorus of lawmakers have called on the Republican to resign, but still others — like House Speaker Kevin McCarthy — have noted he was legally elected, and therefore should continue to serve.
