Vandalism, sexual harassment claim, Romney scolding

One month into his tenure in the U.S. House, more anecdotes from the life of George Santos as a private citizen come to light, some of his time as a congressman now faces scrutiny — including an accusation of sexual harassment by a former staffer.

Derek Myers, a one-time journalist who spent a week volunteering in Santos’ congressional office in Washington, has claimed to the House Ethics Committee and U.S. Capitol Police that Santos not only asked him to work without pay, but also touched him inappropriately.

Santos denies the incident, but Myers says it happened Jan. 25 when the two were sitting together reviewing mail correspondence. Santos asked Myers if he had a profile on the popular gay dating app Grindr, according to the former staffer, while sharing he had a profile there.

Myers claimed Santos then groped his groin, and then invited Myers to his home, stating his husband was out of town. Myers claims that interaction happened when he was alone with the congressman in his personal office.

“While in his personal office reviewing the mail, he called me ‘buddy’ and insisted I sit next to him on a small sofa,” Myers wrote to the ethics committee. “I proceeded to move forward with the discussion about the mail, but the congressman stopped me by placing his hand on my left leg, near my knee, and saying, ‘Hey buddy, we’re going to karaoke tonight. Would you like to go?’”

Myers says he pushed the congressman’s hand away, grabbed the mail from the table, and tried to return the discussion back to correspondence.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Monday confirmed at least one investigation into Santos was underway by the House Ethics Committee, but didn’t provide any other details. Previous complaints had specifically tackled fundraising by Santos during the 2022 campaign, including hundreds of thousands of dollars with no clear indication of its source.

Closer to home, NBC New York and other news outlets reported Santos’ congressional office in Queens was vandalized after someone spraypainted his office windows with “scata,” “lash” and “meeppa.” It’s unclear to police what the graffiti meant.

Law enforcement believes at least one of the words was misspelled, and the paint had been cleaned off the window by Friday afternoon. Santos released a statement condemning the vandalism.

Santos attended President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address Tuesday night at the Capitol, inviting former firefighter Michael Weinstock — a first responder who worked at the World Trade Center site after 9/11. The invitation drew some fire at Santos, who said his mother’s death was tied to the Sept. 11 attacks. Further investigation by media outlets revealed his mother was in Brazil between 1998 and 2003, and that her presence in New York City in late 2001 was highly unlikely,

Weinstock was diagnosed with neuropathy, a nerve disorder, after his work on the Ground Zero rescue operations were complete. Weinstock told reporters he accepted Santos’ invitation because he wanted to raise awareness for the health care needs of 9/11 emergency workers.

But that wasn’t the only controversy surrounding Santos at the State of the Union. The congressman reportedly bumped into U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah ahead of the speech on the House Floor, who reportedly told Santos “you don’t belong here.”

The congressman responded to Romney with “tell that to the 142,000 who voted for me,” before exchanging some name-calling.

Later Romney criticized Santos, who is under an ethics investigation, for positioning himself where he could shake Biden and senators’ hands.

“He should be sitting in the back row and staying quiet instead of parading in front of the president and people coming into the room,” Romney told CNN.

Santos responded on Twitter, telling Romney “just a reminder that you will never be president,” referring to Romney’s failed bid for the White House as the GOP nominee in 2012.