- George Santos had a tense conversation with Sen. Mitt Romney at the State of the Union.
- He claimed in a recent interview that Sen. Kyrsten Sinema told him to "hang in there" afterwards.
Republican Rep. George Santos of New York appears to have been caught in yet another lie.
The scandal-plagued claimed in an interview with Newsmax on Thursday night that Independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona told him to "hang in there" after he was confronted by Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah before the State of the Union address on Tuesday.
"As she was walking by... she said something to the effect of 'hang in there buddy' or something like that," said Santos. "I said 'thank you Madame Senator.' She was very polite, very kind-hearted."
"She's a good person, unlike Mr. Romney," he continued.
—Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 10, 2023
But Sinema's office says no such conversation took place.
"This is a blatant lie," said Press Secretary Pablo Sierra-Carmona in a text message to Insider on Friday. "Kyrsten didn't say a word to Rep. Santos — and didn't even know about the exchange with Senator Romney until they got to their seats."
Prior to President Joe Biden's address, Romney and Santos were seen having a tense conversation. Following the speech, Romney explained to reporters what exactly he told Santos.
"He's a sick puppy, he shouldn't have been there," Romney said he told the congressman.
The exchange appears to have miffed Santos, who took to Twitter after the speech ended to remind Romney of his 2012 presidential election loss, and later told reporters the exchange "wasn't very Mormon" of Romney.
—Kyrsten Sinema (@kyrstensinema) February 10, 2023
Santos' lie about his conversation with Sinema isn't the first time he's been caught fibbing — just before taking office, a series of news outlets discovered he lied about much of his background while on the campaign trail.
The freshman congressman lied about his education, work history, athletic history, and even his religion — Santos repeatedly told voters he was Jewish, but later backtracked and said he was simply saying he was "Jew-ish."
"I'm reaping the consequences of those bad judgment calls," Santos later told a prospective staffer in leaked audio obtained by Talking Points Memo.
Despite opposition from Democrats and some Republicans, Santos was placed on two House committees in January — the House Science, Space and Technology Committee and House Small Business Committee. Santos later announced that he would temporarily recuse himself from committees.
"With the ongoing attention surrounding both my personal and campaign financial investigations, I have submitted a request to Speaker McCarthy that I be temporarily recused from my committee assignments until I am cleared," Santos said.
Seven House Democrats recently moved to expel Santos from Congress.