Mitt Romney Doubles Down on Santos, Calls Him ‘Sick Puppy’

Republican Utah Sen. Mitt Romney doubled down on his attacks on New York GOP Rep. George Santos following their tense exchange before the State of the Union.

Mr. Santos stood near the aisle before the speech as senators and others entered the House chamber on Tuesday evening.

As Mr. Romney walked past, the two seemed to have an adversarial exchange.

Mr. Santos said Semafor that Mr. Romney told him, “you don’t belong here”.

“Go tell that to the 142,000 who voted for me,” Santos replied.

“You’re an a**,” Mr. Romney said, according to Mr. Santos, who reportedly replied, “you’re a much bigger a**hole.”

Mr. Romney later told reporters, “I don’t know the exact words I said. He shouldn’t have been there. Look, it’s a sick puppy.

He added that he did not know what Mr. Santos told him, but confirmed that he told Mr. Santos that he was not from Congress.

When asked why, Mr. Romney replied, “I didn’t expect him to be standing there trying to shake hands with all the senators and the President of the United States.”

“Since he is under ethics investigation, he should sit in the back row and remain silent, instead of marching past the president and people entering the room,” he added.

Mr. Santos admitted to having embellished his CV after reporting by The New York Times revealed that he was a big part of her past.

“He says he has improved his record. Embellishing is saying you got an A when you got an A minus,” Romney said. “Lying is saying you graduated from a college you didn’t even go to and he shouldn’t be in Congress, and they’re going to go through the process and hopefully get him out. , but he shouldn’t be there and if he had no shame that he wasn’t there.

Mr Santos tweeted Tuesday night in response to Mr. Romney’s rhetoric, “Hey @MittRomney just a reminder that you will NEVER be PRESIDENT!”

Chairman Kevin McCarthy said Mr. Santos should be investigated by the House Ethics Committee.

Mr. McCarthy said the House would take action in accordance with the findings of the possible investigation, CNN reported.

The speaker initially said ‘yes’ to CNN when asked on Tuesday whether Mr Santos was under investigation, but later added that he was simply the subject of complaints filed with of the ethics committee.

The speaker was asked about Mr Santos’ voters asking him to step down.

“Ethics is progressing, and if ethics finds something, we will act. At this time, we are not allowing him to serve on committees from the perspective of the issues that have arisen,” McCarthy said earlier on Tuesday.

Mr Santos also told CNN he was “not concerned” with an ethics investigation. He told reporters he looked forward to welcoming residents of his neighborhood who came to Capitol Hill to call on him to step down.