Mitt Romney scolds George Santos at SOTU: ‘You don’t belong here’

WASHINGTON – Republican Rep. George Santos sits in a prime location for President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address — an inconveniently visible location for the new Rep., who is on alert, facing multiple investigations and admitting to embellishing and even lying about his history. life.

Santos’ presence in the center aisle to see and see the arrivals was met with a stern rebuke from fellow Republican Senator Mitt Romney.

“You don’t belong here,” the Utah Republican scolded Santos as he entered the House floor and spotted the New York Republican in the aisle.

Words were reported to have been exchanged, although Romney later said he did not hear any of this.

“He shouldn’t be in Congress and they’re going to go through this process and hopefully bail him out,” Romney told reporters later, his office confirmed. “But he shouldn’t be there, and if he had any shame, he wouldn’t be there.”

READ MORE: McCarthy Confirms Rep. George Santos Under Investigation by House Ethics Committee

The exchange was an unusual criticism from the more reserved Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, but it shows the discomfort Santos causes among traditional conservatives who criticize the right-wing drift of the more extremist elements of the Republican Party.

Santos responded with a tweet: “Hey @MittRomney, just a reminder that you will NEVER be PRESIDENT!”

Santos’s arrival was a problem for Republicans as he won a congressional seat from New York, which helped the party win a slim majority after his personal history began to unravel.

Santos has admitted to fabricating, and sometimes lying, about some of his education, work experience, and even his family’s religion and history.

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy met privately with the congressman last week in the midst of potential investigations on Capitol Hill and beyond. Santos announced that he would step down from his committee duties ahead of a pending investigation by the House Ethics Committee.

McCarthy said on Tuesday that the Santos situation would be reviewed by the House Ethics Committee. Fellow Republicans from New York urged Santos to resign from Congress. Santos faces other investigations outside of Congress.

CONNECTED: George Santos accused of sexual misconduct

Other Republicans heard about the exchange, and one Republican lawmaker who was told about it said that there was widespread dissatisfaction that Santos had risen to such prominence. The lawmaker asked for anonymity in order to discuss what others have to say on the matter.

The center aisle basically gave Santos a chance to get attention by cheering the president and other prominent officials as they entered the chamber of the House of Representatives and moved down the aisle.

As the senators lined up in the House, that’s when Romney spotted Santos and relayed his message.

“I didn’t expect him to be standing there trying to shake hands with every senator and president of the United States,” Romney later told reporters.

Romney said that, given the investigations, Santos “should sit in the back row and keep quiet, and not flaunt in front of the president and people coming into the room.”