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Speaker 1: Hey, I'm Jake Calbern and I'm in your feed with

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Speaker 1: a preview of my podcast, deep Cover George Santos. It's

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Speaker 1: all about the former Republican congressman from New York who

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Speaker 1: told a lot of stories about his life and his credentials,

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Speaker 1: many of which turns out were not true. But how

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Speaker 1: deep do his lives go? If you enjoy this preview,

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Speaker 1: you can find deep Cover George Santos wherever you listen

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Speaker 1: to podcasts. Okay, so how are you going to start this?

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Speaker 2: Well, I'm really excited. This is kind of new for us.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely a little role reversal. Amy Gains McQuaid is my producer.

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Speaker 1: She's worked on the past four seasons of deep Cover.

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Speaker 1: It may not have heard Amy's voice, but in effect

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Speaker 1: you did, because when we do a season of deep Cover,

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Speaker 1: Amy's the one that reads through all thousand pages of

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Speaker 1: the court transcript and knows every last detail. She's the

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Speaker 1: one who helps me track down sources and we through

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Speaker 1: hours of interviews to make the episodes that you've heard.

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Speaker 1: So while we're hard at work on the next season

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Speaker 1: of deep Cover, we have a special mini series for

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Speaker 1: you in a brand new format, about a year ago.

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Speaker 1: Amy comes to me and says, look, there's this story

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Speaker 1: I really want to report, A story that took place

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Speaker 1: in fact where Amy had grown up, A story about

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Speaker 1: a man who may just be one of the greatest

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Speaker 1: liars of all time, which got my attention because it

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Speaker 1: sounded an awful lot like a deep cover story unfolding

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Speaker 1: in real time.

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Speaker 2: George Anthony de Volder Santos, Oh.

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Speaker 3: Good morning, chabatchallme to everybody.

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Speaker 2: This is him speaking to the Republican Jewish Coalition in

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Speaker 2: twenty twenty two.

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Speaker 4: I'm a first generation born American, like many in our

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Speaker 4: great nation. My parents came to this country in search

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Speaker 4: of the American dream.

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Speaker 2: Today he ran for Congress to represent New York's third

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Speaker 2: District on Long Island, which is where I grew up,

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Speaker 2: and a huge part of his message was this that

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Speaker 2: he was the embodiment of the American dream. And that

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Speaker 2: message worked because he won.

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Speaker 4: Only in this country can the little boy born in

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Speaker 4: a basement apartment in Jackson Heights, Queens in New York

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Speaker 4: City become a United States Congressman at thirty four?

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Speaker 2: Okay?

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Speaker 1: Interesting, So I know there's a lot more that he

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Speaker 1: said on the campaign trail, but can you just give

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Speaker 1: me the recap.

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Speaker 2: So the version of George Santos that he sold on

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Speaker 2: the campaign trail was that George Stantos was a successful

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Speaker 2: businessman working in the financial industry. He claimed that he'd

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Speaker 2: worked for Goldman, Sachs and City Group. He claimed that

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Speaker 2: he had gone to college at Baruch and NYU. He

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Speaker 2: had also told some stories about his personal life.

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Speaker 3: I'm very proud of my Jewish heritage. I'm very proud

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Speaker 3: of my grandparents'.

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Speaker 2: Story, claiming Jewish heritage, and said that some of his

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Speaker 2: family members had survived the Holocaust. Here he is speaking

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Speaker 2: to a reporter for a Jewish news service.

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Speaker 3: I'm so proud to be able to keep our family

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Speaker 3: going forward and showing that not only did we survive,

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Speaker 3: but now I'm able to go advocate and fight for

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Speaker 3: other Jewish people all across my district.

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Speaker 2: So the story that he told was an inspiring one.

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Speaker 2: Here he was the son of Brazilian immigrants who had

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Speaker 2: built this impressive life for himself, living in New York

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Speaker 2: City as an openly gay man working on Wall Street,

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Speaker 2: getting into politics, and it seemed like this moment when

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Speaker 2: he won would just be the cherry on top. He

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Speaker 2: was going to be a congressman.

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Speaker 1: I mean it's inspiring. I'm kind of inspired hearing it.

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Speaker 2: But in the coming weeks and months, another narrative would

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Speaker 2: start to emerge, a different version of George Santos, one

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Speaker 2: that was far more alarming. And if it were true,

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Speaker 2: then this was a man who lied, cheated, and stole

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Speaker 2: from people who trusted him. Basically one man with two faces,

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Speaker 2: and it left a lot of people, including myself, wondering

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Speaker 2: who is the real George Santos. I think the thing

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Speaker 2: that a lot of people might remember is the New

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Speaker 2: York Times story that broke in December of twenty twenty two,

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Speaker 2: because it was pretty explosive.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I remember that headline.

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Speaker 2: The story revealed that Santos had essentially fabricated a lot

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Speaker 2: of information on his resume. But through my reporting, I've

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Speaker 2: been finding that that story was really just the beginning.

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Speaker 2: So George Santos is actually scheduled to go to trial

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Speaker 2: in just a few weeks in September. He's facing a

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Speaker 2: whole bunch of charges, wirefraud, money laundering, falsifying records, identity theft,

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Speaker 2: a whole bunch. I've been talking with lots of people

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Speaker 2: to essentially try and figure out how did George Santos

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Speaker 2: go from lies about where he went to school and

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Speaker 2: where he worked, to allegations of serious federal crimes, crimes

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Speaker 2: that could land him in prison for roughly two decades,

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Speaker 2: and just how deep do his lives go. This is

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Speaker 2: deep Cover George Santos Episode one, the campaign. Jake, I

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Speaker 2: want to go back in time to that moment when

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Speaker 2: the New York Times story broke, because that's when the

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Speaker 2: cracks in Santos's facade really start to show. Okay, So

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Speaker 2: two journalists at the New York Times, their names are

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Speaker 2: Grace Ashford and Michael Gold. They come out with this

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Speaker 2: massive story. It's called who is Rep. Elect George Santos?

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Speaker 2: His resume may be largely fiction. The headline from this

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Speaker 2: story is really, maybe this guy isn't who he claimed

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Speaker 2: to be? And that for me was a moment where

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Speaker 2: I heard from basically everyone in my life who knew

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Speaker 2: I was from Long Island and knew that I worked

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Speaker 2: on stories like this, and just you know, asking me,

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Speaker 2: what the fuck what happened here? Who is this guy?

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Speaker 2: And how did he get elected? He's you know, living

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Speaker 2: this double life essentially, who he says he is in public,

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Speaker 2: but who he actually is in private? And one person

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Speaker 2: who is in the center of this mess was George

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Speaker 2: Santos's communications director. Her name is Nasa Woomer. Do you

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Speaker 2: remember where you were when the New York Times story broke? Oh?

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Speaker 2: I do? I know exactly where.

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Speaker 4: I was.

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Speaker 5: Actually coming out of the Starbucks and it broke, and

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Speaker 5: I was heading into our office right by the State House.

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Speaker 2: And the time here is really interesting because she actually

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Speaker 2: accepted the job right before the New York Times story broke.

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Speaker 2: Everyone is sending like, Nissa, have you seen this?

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Speaker 6: Oh?

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Speaker 5: My god, is this the guy you're working for? My

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Speaker 5: stomach had dropped and I thought, what the well. I

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Speaker 5: don't want to say the F bomb, but that's what

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Speaker 5: I'm thinking.

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Speaker 1: At this point, Like how many days on the job

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Speaker 1: is she?

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Speaker 2: By the way, so Nasa hasn't actually started working for

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Speaker 2: Santos in that moment. She's still working in Boston for

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Speaker 2: the Republican administration there, so she's not actually even in

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Speaker 2: touch with George Santos, but she did hear through the

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Speaker 2: grape vine through some staffer that a story about Santos

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Speaker 2: would be coming.

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Speaker 5: I already knew there was going to be a hit piece.

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Speaker 5: But my understanding was that this was just going to

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Speaker 5: be We thought it was going to be a traditional

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Speaker 5: hit piece of conservative Republican Flip's Democrat seat.

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Speaker 2: But of course that was not the New York Times

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Speaker 2: story at all. The New York Times story made clear

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Speaker 2: that a lot of the stories that George Santos had

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Speaker 2: told on the campaign trail were at best inaccurate, at

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Speaker 2: worst entirely fabricated. And so after the story publishes, Santos

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Speaker 2: comes out with this statement through his attorney that says, quote,

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Speaker 2: it's no surprise that Congressmen Elect Santos has enemies at

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Speaker 2: the New York Times who are attempting to smear his

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Speaker 2: good name with these defamatory allegations.

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Speaker 5: I even spoke with the chief of staff and he

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Speaker 5: said he's speaking with his lawyers.

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Speaker 2: They're going to handle it.

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Speaker 5: And I just said, okay, well, like they need to

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Speaker 5: handle it immediately, because you know, this is this is

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Speaker 5: really bad.

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Speaker 1: And is Santo's freaking out at this point.

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Speaker 2: So I can't vouch for how Santos was feeling because

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Speaker 2: I have not spoken with him directly. We've tried, yes, yes,

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Speaker 2: we've reached out to him for comment. So far he's

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Speaker 2: declined those requests. But Santos appears you have been attempting

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Speaker 2: some damage control. He's not giving a ton of interviews,

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Speaker 2: but he does grant one to Fox News and it's

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Speaker 2: a guest anchor. So it is Tulsi Gabbard conducting the interview.

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Speaker 2: First question I really want to ask you now that

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Speaker 2: all this has been revealed, is what does the word

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Speaker 2: integrity mean to you?

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Speaker 4: Well, Tulsi, thank you for having me, you know, to

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Speaker 4: answer your question. Integrity is very important, and Bellisi, what

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Speaker 4: does it mean?

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Speaker 6: Though?

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Speaker 2: What does it mean? Because the meaning of the word

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Speaker 2: actually matters in practice.

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Speaker 4: Of course, it means to carry yourself in an honorable way.

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Speaker 4: And I made a mistake, and I think humans are

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Speaker 4: flawed and we all make mistakes.

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Speaker 1: Tulsi, this is Fox News, and he's a Republican and

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Speaker 1: he's getting very hostile treatment here. So, I mean, lord

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Speaker 1: knows what would happen if he had gone on MSNBC

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Speaker 1: or even CNN. I'm wondering how is this playing out

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Speaker 1: with his constituents?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I remember the reaction was pretty swift.

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Speaker 6: George Chantos's campaign last year was a campaign of decee

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Speaker 6: wise fabrication. He deceived the voters of the third Congressional District.

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Speaker 2: That's Joe Cairo, the head of the Republican Party in

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Speaker 2: Nasa County. This is from a press conference they held

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Speaker 2: where he, along with other New York Republicans, actually asked

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Speaker 2: for Santos' resignation.

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Speaker 7: There's absolutely no way mister Santos can be an effective

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Speaker 7: member of Congress and represent the people who elected him.

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Speaker 1: One of the questions I have is, like, talk to

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Speaker 1: me about this district that elects him.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: So Santos ran in New York's third Congressional District, which,

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Speaker 2: if you've ever looked at a political map, you know

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Speaker 2: these districts get drawn in a kind of crazy, nonsensical way.

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Speaker 2: When you look at the district itself, it holds part

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Speaker 2: of Nasa County, which is where I grew up, and

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Speaker 2: specifically in my neighborhood. I can say it's a lot

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Speaker 2: of working class folks, so people who commute into New

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Speaker 2: York City every day, cops, firefighters, teachers. It also includes

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Speaker 2: the north shore of Long Island, which is like Gatsbey Country.

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Speaker 2: There's lots of big houses and old money and over

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Speaker 2: the years, the district has changed, the lines have been redrawn,

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Speaker 2: but by the time that Santos was running, the district

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Speaker 2: included a little sliver of Queens, which is actually where

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Speaker 2: Santos grew up.

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Speaker 1: It's funny because when you describe it, I totally almost

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Speaker 1: get why he would have to be a guy, that

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Speaker 1: would be a chameleon, that would have to be able

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Speaker 1: to play a lot of different parts, because his constituency

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Speaker 1: is just like a crazy cross section of America.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think when George Santos is running for office,

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Speaker 2: he is building the narrative around himself that he started

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Speaker 2: from nothing and built himself into a successful businessman in

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Speaker 2: the financial industry. So he claims that he was working

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Speaker 2: for Goldman Sachs, he claims that he was working for

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Speaker 2: City Group.

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Speaker 1: None of these things are true. None of that is

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Speaker 1: a crime, that's true.

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Speaker 2: But it's around the same moment in time that new

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Speaker 2: reports are emerging that Santos is being investigated for actual

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Speaker 2: crimes he may have committed.

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Speaker 8: The Republican District Attorney of Nassau County says she's looking

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Speaker 8: into whether any of those fabrications amounted to crimes and

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Speaker 8: federal Prosecutors are also looking into Santos's financial disclosures. Stunning

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Speaker 8: revelations and questions about his personal and professional life continue

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Speaker 8: to come to light, including new questions about the money

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Speaker 8: he spent on his campaign.

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Speaker 2: We'll be right back