CNN
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Newly uncovered immigration information for Rep. George Santos’ mom seem to contradict the embattled freshman Republican’s repeated declare that she was current on the World Commerce Middle through the September 11, 2001 terrorist assaults.
The information point out that Fatima Devolder stated she was in Brazil between 1999 and early 2003, and due to this fact not in New York Metropolis when the assaults befell. CNN obtained the information, first reported on by The Ahead, from family tree researcher Alex Calzareth, who obtained them from a Freedom of Data Act request.
Whereas in Brazil in 2003, Devolder indicated on a kind that she had not been to the US since she left in 1999. Devolder additionally filed paperwork in Brazil in 2001, simply months earlier than the September 11 assaults, saying her inexperienced card had been stolen.
Representatives for Santos didn’t return CNN’s requests for remark.
Santos has repeatedly claimed that his mom was on the World Commerce Middle on September 11 and stated the incident performed a job in her demise from most cancers.
In a December 17, 2021, radio interview on “The Voice of Purpose with Andy Hooser,” Santos stated that his mom obtained “caught up within the ash cloud” on 9/11 and that she didn’t signal as much as get monetary reduction as a result of she didn’t need to take cash away from first responders.
“She was within the south tower, and he or she made it out. She obtained caught up within the ash cloud. My mother fought most cancers until her demise,” Santos stated.
Santos has beforehand claimed his mom was a monetary government, though that description has since been faraway from his web site. The information obtained by CNN present she listed her jobs as a housekeeper or dwelling support.
Devolder additionally listed each of her dad and mom – Santos’ grandparents – as being born in Brazil, once more undercutting his declare that his maternal grandparents fled the Holocaust.
Santos has refused to step down from Congress, regardless of dealing with mounting authorized points and rising calls to resign for extensively mendacity about his resume.
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He’s already dealing with a federal probe led by prosecutors in New York who’re investigating his funds. And in a separate matter, CNN reported that legislation enforcement officers in Brazil will reinstate fraud costs in opposition to Santos. Prosecutors stated they may search a “formal response” from Santos associated to a stolen checkbook in 2008, after police suspended an investigation into him as a result of they have been unable to search out him for practically a decade.
In an interview final month with the New York Publish, Santos denied being charged with any crime in Brazil, saying “I’m not a prison right here – not right here or in Brazil or any jurisdiction on this planet. Completely not. That didn’t occur.”
Santos admitted to stealing a person’s checkbook that was in his mom’s possession to buy clothes and footwear in 2008, based on paperwork obtained by CNN.