GOP Rep. Santos calls drag queen claims ‘outrageous’

(CNN) - Among the members of Congress, he is known as George Santos.

But in Brazil, a performer claims Rep. Santos was “Kitara Ravache” and that he once performed as a drag queen.

The claim is something the New York congressman strongly denies, tweeting:

“The media continues to make outrageous claims about my life while I am working to deliver results. I will not be distracted nor fazed by this.”

It appears to be just one of the names Santos has used over the years.

“I’ve always known him as Anthony Devolder. I’ve never known him as George Santos,” former roommate Gregory Morey-Parker said.

But it’s not just the name or alleged activities in his free time. It’s the stories he tells, which appear to be just that, including one about 9/11.

“My mom was a 9/11 survivor. She was in the South Tower and she made it out,” Santos said during a December 2021 appearance on “The Voice of Reason with Andy Hooser.”

His mother was actually in Brazil at the time, according to immigration records, and on a 2003 form, she said she hadn’t been to the United States since 1999.

Santos also claimed his grandparents “survived the Holocaust” and fled Europe to escape Jewish persecution.

That’s also false, genealogy records show.

During his campaign, he claimed he worked at Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, later admitting that wasn’t true.

While running for Congress on Long Island, he claimed he graduated from Baruch College and New York University. He now admits he didn’t.

“I don’t understand. Did he go like one by one to everybody in his district and just literally pull the wool over their eyes? It’s like, how?,” Morey-Parker asked.

Despite all of these lies, Santos is now a freshman congressman.

He’s been named to two low-level committees by the slim GOP majority and there are no immediate signs to suggest Republican leadership will stop him from walking the halls, leaving those he’s deceived to sit and watch.

“He hasn’t committed a crime. He hasn’t been indicted on anything at this point, and in this country, you’re innocent until proven guilty,” Republican Rep. Barry Loudermilk, of Georgia, said.

Two military veterans who claim Santos promised to raise funds for life-saving surgery for one of their dogs in 2016 say he instead took off with the money.

The dog later died.

“That dog saved my life at least two times. When I first got out of the service, I was depressed, I was having nightmares, bad, bad memories about some things that happened. Not war related, but other things that the military does to you,” Navy veteran Richard Osthoff said.

Santos denies this ever happened and told CNN in a statement, in part:

“Anyone that knows me, knows I’d go to hell and back for a dog and especially a veteran.”

Santos has admitted to “embellishing” his resume, but he says he’s not a criminal.

However, CNN previously confirmed that Santos was charged with embezzlement in a Brazilian court in 2011, according to case records from the Rio de Janeiro Court of Justice.