A Democrat yelled the Portuguese word for 'liar' at George Santos after he cast his vote for Kevin McCarthy for Speaker

• Someone on the Democratic side of the House chamber yelled "mentiroso" at Rep.-elect George Santos.
• The word means "liar" in both Portuguese and Spanish.

A Democrat called Representative-elect George Santos a liar in Portuguese on the House floor after he cast his vote for Representative-elect Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House on Tuesday.

It's unclear who yelled the word "mentiroso," meaning "liar," in Portuguese and Spanish, but the Washington Post reported it came from the Democratic side of the chamber and was directed at Santos, who says his parents are immigrants from Brazil.

McCarthy endorsed Santos on the campaign trail, and Santos responded by giving a glowing endorsement of McCarthy to become the next Speaker. But Santos' vote and endorsement weren't enough on Tuesday to propel McCarthy to a leadership role — the House voted three times to try and elect a Speaker, but was thwarted each time by about 20 Republicans, including Lauren Boebert, Matt Gaetz, and Chip Roy.

The House cannot move forward without a Speaker and must keep voting for one before any members are sworn in. Tuesday's failure to elect a Speaker on the first vote marked the first time such an event had happened in 100 years.

Santos had an uncomfortable first day in office — the representative-elect spent much of his time on Capitol Hill dodging reporters and sat alone in the chamber.

The vitriol directed at Santos on Tuesday was not wholly unexpected. Recent revelations about Santos revealed he lied about much of his biography while campaigning, including his employment history, religion, education, and place of residence.

Santos previously fessed up about some of his past lies in an interview with WABC radio.

"I'm not going to make excuses for this, but a lot of people overstate in their resumes, or twist a little bit," Santos said. "I'm not saying I'm not guilty of that."