Speaker 1: Hey, I'm Jake Calbern and I'm in your feed with
Speaker 1: a preview of my podcast, deep Cover George Santos. It's
Speaker 1: all about the former Republican congressman from New York who
Speaker 1: told a lot of stories about his life and his credentials,
Speaker 1: many of which turns out were not true. But how
Speaker 1: deep do his lives go? If you enjoy this preview,
Speaker 1: you can find deep Cover George Santos wherever you listen
Speaker 1: to podcasts. Okay, so how are you going to start this?
Speaker 2: Well, I'm really excited. This is kind of new for us.
Speaker 1: Absolutely a little role reversal. Amy Gains McQuaid is my producer.
Speaker 1: She's worked on the past four seasons of deep Cover.
Speaker 1: It may not have heard Amy's voice, but in effect
Speaker 1: you did, because when we do a season of deep Cover,
Speaker 1: Amy's the one that reads through all thousand pages of
Speaker 1: the court transcript and knows every last detail. She's the
Speaker 1: one who helps me track down sources and we through
Speaker 1: hours of interviews to make the episodes that you've heard.
Speaker 1: So while we're hard at work on the next season
Speaker 1: of deep Cover, we have a special mini series for
Speaker 1: you in a brand new format, about a year ago.
Speaker 1: Amy comes to me and says, look, there's this story
Speaker 1: I really want to report, A story that took place
Speaker 1: in fact where Amy had grown up, A story about
Speaker 1: a man who may just be one of the greatest
Speaker 1: liars of all time, which got my attention because it
Speaker 1: sounded an awful lot like a deep cover story unfolding
Speaker 1: in real time.
Speaker 2: George Anthony de Volder Santos, Oh.
Speaker 3: Good morning, chabatchallme to everybody.
Speaker 2: This is him speaking to the Republican Jewish Coalition in
Speaker 2: twenty twenty two.
Speaker 4: I'm a first generation born American, like many in our
Speaker 4: great nation. My parents came to this country in search
Speaker 4: of the American dream.
Speaker 2: Today he ran for Congress to represent New York's third
Speaker 2: District on Long Island, which is where I grew up,
Speaker 2: and a huge part of his message was this that
Speaker 2: he was the embodiment of the American dream. And that
Speaker 2: message worked because he won.
Speaker 4: Only in this country can the little boy born in
Speaker 4: a basement apartment in Jackson Heights, Queens in New York
Speaker 4: City become a United States Congressman at thirty four?
Speaker 2: Okay?
Speaker 1: Interesting, So I know there's a lot more that he
Speaker 1: said on the campaign trail, but can you just give
Speaker 1: me the recap.
Speaker 2: So the version of George Santos that he sold on
Speaker 2: the campaign trail was that George Stantos was a successful
Speaker 2: businessman working in the financial industry. He claimed that he'd
Speaker 2: worked for Goldman, Sachs and City Group. He claimed that
Speaker 2: he had gone to college at Baruch and NYU. He
Speaker 2: had also told some stories about his personal life.
Speaker 3: I'm very proud of my Jewish heritage. I'm very proud
Speaker 3: of my grandparents'.
Speaker 2: Story, claiming Jewish heritage, and said that some of his
Speaker 2: family members had survived the Holocaust. Here he is speaking
Speaker 2: to a reporter for a Jewish news service.
Speaker 3: I'm so proud to be able to keep our family
Speaker 3: going forward and showing that not only did we survive,
Speaker 3: but now I'm able to go advocate and fight for
Speaker 3: other Jewish people all across my district.
Speaker 2: So the story that he told was an inspiring one.
Speaker 2: Here he was the son of Brazilian immigrants who had
Speaker 2: built this impressive life for himself, living in New York
Speaker 2: City as an openly gay man working on Wall Street,
Speaker 2: getting into politics, and it seemed like this moment when
Speaker 2: he won would just be the cherry on top. He
Speaker 2: was going to be a congressman.
Speaker 1: I mean it's inspiring. I'm kind of inspired hearing it.
Speaker 2: But in the coming weeks and months, another narrative would
Speaker 2: start to emerge, a different version of George Santos, one
Speaker 2: that was far more alarming. And if it were true,
Speaker 2: then this was a man who lied, cheated, and stole
Speaker 2: from people who trusted him. Basically one man with two faces,
Speaker 2: and it left a lot of people, including myself, wondering
Speaker 2: who is the real George Santos. I think the thing
Speaker 2: that a lot of people might remember is the New
Speaker 2: York Times story that broke in December of twenty twenty two,
Speaker 2: because it was pretty explosive.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I remember that headline.
Speaker 2: The story revealed that Santos had essentially fabricated a lot
Speaker 2: of information on his resume. But through my reporting, I've
Speaker 2: been finding that that story was really just the beginning.
Speaker 2: So George Santos is actually scheduled to go to trial
Speaker 2: in just a few weeks in September. He's facing a
Speaker 2: whole bunch of charges, wirefraud, money laundering, falsifying records, identity theft,
Speaker 2: a whole bunch. I've been talking with lots of people
Speaker 2: to essentially try and figure out how did George Santos
Speaker 2: go from lies about where he went to school and
Speaker 2: where he worked, to allegations of serious federal crimes, crimes
Speaker 2: that could land him in prison for roughly two decades,
Speaker 2: and just how deep do his lives go. This is
Speaker 2: deep Cover George Santos Episode one, the campaign. Jake, I
Speaker 2: want to go back in time to that moment when
Speaker 2: the New York Times story broke, because that's when the
Speaker 2: cracks in Santos's facade really start to show. Okay, So
Speaker 2: two journalists at the New York Times, their names are
Speaker 2: Grace Ashford and Michael Gold. They come out with this
Speaker 2: massive story. It's called who is Rep. Elect George Santos?
Speaker 2: His resume may be largely fiction. The headline from this
Speaker 2: story is really, maybe this guy isn't who he claimed
Speaker 2: to be? And that for me was a moment where
Speaker 2: I heard from basically everyone in my life who knew
Speaker 2: I was from Long Island and knew that I worked
Speaker 2: on stories like this, and just you know, asking me,
Speaker 2: what the fuck what happened here? Who is this guy?
Speaker 2: And how did he get elected? He's you know, living
Speaker 2: this double life essentially, who he says he is in public,
Speaker 2: but who he actually is in private? And one person
Speaker 2: who is in the center of this mess was George
Speaker 2: Santos's communications director. Her name is Nasa Woomer. Do you
Speaker 2: remember where you were when the New York Times story broke? Oh?
Speaker 2: I do? I know exactly where.
Speaker 4: I was.
Speaker 5: Actually coming out of the Starbucks and it broke, and
Speaker 5: I was heading into our office right by the State House.
Speaker 2: And the time here is really interesting because she actually
Speaker 2: accepted the job right before the New York Times story broke.
Speaker 2: Everyone is sending like, Nissa, have you seen this?
Speaker 6: Oh?
Speaker 5: My god, is this the guy you're working for? My
Speaker 5: stomach had dropped and I thought, what the well. I
Speaker 5: don't want to say the F bomb, but that's what
Speaker 5: I'm thinking.
Speaker 1: At this point, Like how many days on the job
Speaker 1: is she?
Speaker 2: By the way, so Nasa hasn't actually started working for
Speaker 2: Santos in that moment. She's still working in Boston for
Speaker 2: the Republican administration there, so she's not actually even in
Speaker 2: touch with George Santos, but she did hear through the
Speaker 2: grape vine through some staffer that a story about Santos
Speaker 2: would be coming.
Speaker 5: I already knew there was going to be a hit piece.
Speaker 5: But my understanding was that this was just going to
Speaker 5: be We thought it was going to be a traditional
Speaker 5: hit piece of conservative Republican Flip's Democrat seat.
Speaker 2: But of course that was not the New York Times
Speaker 2: story at all. The New York Times story made clear
Speaker 2: that a lot of the stories that George Santos had
Speaker 2: told on the campaign trail were at best inaccurate, at
Speaker 2: worst entirely fabricated. And so after the story publishes, Santos
Speaker 2: comes out with this statement through his attorney that says, quote,
Speaker 2: it's no surprise that Congressmen Elect Santos has enemies at
Speaker 2: the New York Times who are attempting to smear his
Speaker 2: good name with these defamatory allegations.
Speaker 5: I even spoke with the chief of staff and he
Speaker 5: said he's speaking with his lawyers.
Speaker 2: They're going to handle it.
Speaker 5: And I just said, okay, well, like they need to
Speaker 5: handle it immediately, because you know, this is this is
Speaker 5: really bad.
Speaker 1: And is Santo's freaking out at this point.
Speaker 2: So I can't vouch for how Santos was feeling because
Speaker 2: I have not spoken with him directly. We've tried, yes, yes,
Speaker 2: we've reached out to him for comment. So far he's
Speaker 2: declined those requests. But Santos appears you have been attempting
Speaker 2: some damage control. He's not giving a ton of interviews,
Speaker 2: but he does grant one to Fox News and it's
Speaker 2: a guest anchor. So it is Tulsi Gabbard conducting the interview.
Speaker 2: First question I really want to ask you now that
Speaker 2: all this has been revealed, is what does the word
Speaker 2: integrity mean to you?
Speaker 4: Well, Tulsi, thank you for having me, you know, to
Speaker 4: answer your question. Integrity is very important, and Bellisi, what
Speaker 4: does it mean?
Speaker 6: Though?
Speaker 2: What does it mean? Because the meaning of the word
Speaker 2: actually matters in practice.
Speaker 4: Of course, it means to carry yourself in an honorable way.
Speaker 4: And I made a mistake, and I think humans are
Speaker 4: flawed and we all make mistakes.
Speaker 1: Tulsi, this is Fox News, and he's a Republican and
Speaker 1: he's getting very hostile treatment here. So, I mean, lord
Speaker 1: knows what would happen if he had gone on MSNBC
Speaker 1: or even CNN. I'm wondering how is this playing out
Speaker 1: with his constituents?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I remember the reaction was pretty swift.
Speaker 6: George Chantos's campaign last year was a campaign of decee
Speaker 6: wise fabrication. He deceived the voters of the third Congressional District.
Speaker 2: That's Joe Cairo, the head of the Republican Party in
Speaker 2: Nasa County. This is from a press conference they held
Speaker 2: where he, along with other New York Republicans, actually asked
Speaker 2: for Santos' resignation.
Speaker 7: There's absolutely no way mister Santos can be an effective
Speaker 7: member of Congress and represent the people who elected him.
Speaker 1: One of the questions I have is, like, talk to
Speaker 1: me about this district that elects him.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So Santos ran in New York's third Congressional District, which,
Speaker 2: if you've ever looked at a political map, you know
Speaker 2: these districts get drawn in a kind of crazy, nonsensical way.
Speaker 2: When you look at the district itself, it holds part
Speaker 2: of Nasa County, which is where I grew up, and
Speaker 2: specifically in my neighborhood. I can say it's a lot
Speaker 2: of working class folks, so people who commute into New
Speaker 2: York City every day, cops, firefighters, teachers. It also includes
Speaker 2: the north shore of Long Island, which is like Gatsbey Country.
Speaker 2: There's lots of big houses and old money and over
Speaker 2: the years, the district has changed, the lines have been redrawn,
Speaker 2: but by the time that Santos was running, the district
Speaker 2: included a little sliver of Queens, which is actually where
Speaker 2: Santos grew up.
Speaker 1: It's funny because when you describe it, I totally almost
Speaker 1: get why he would have to be a guy, that
Speaker 1: would be a chameleon, that would have to be able
Speaker 1: to play a lot of different parts, because his constituency
Speaker 1: is just like a crazy cross section of America.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think when George Santos is running for office,
Speaker 2: he is building the narrative around himself that he started
Speaker 2: from nothing and built himself into a successful businessman in
Speaker 2: the financial industry. So he claims that he was working
Speaker 2: for Goldman Sachs, he claims that he was working for
Speaker 2: City Group.
Speaker 1: None of these things are true. None of that is
Speaker 1: a crime, that's true.
Speaker 2: But it's around the same moment in time that new
Speaker 2: reports are emerging that Santos is being investigated for actual
Speaker 2: crimes he may have committed.
Speaker 8: The Republican District Attorney of Nassau County says she's looking
Speaker 8: into whether any of those fabrications amounted to crimes and
Speaker 8: federal Prosecutors are also looking into Santos's financial disclosures. Stunning
Speaker 8: revelations and questions about his personal and professional life continue
Speaker 8: to come to light, including new questions about the money
Speaker 8: he spent on his campaign.
Speaker 2: We'll be right back