(The Hill) – Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., is stepping down from his committee assignments, he informed House GOP colleagues on Tuesday in a conference meeting.
The representative has faced a whirlwind of criticism over numerous fabrications and misrepresentations of his resume and personal history, as well as questions about his personal and campaign finances.
Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) said that that Santos informed the conference he would recuse himself from committees “temporarily” until “things get settled.”
“And then he asked that we all support him when everything settles down for him to serve on committees,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) told reporters after the meeting.
The House GOP Steering Committee, the panel of Republican leaders who assign committees, had assigned Santos to the Small Business Committee and the Science, Space, and Technology Committee earlier this month.
Santos’s move comes after he reportedly met with Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Monday..
Greene said Santos also told colleagues he was recusing himself amid the controversy surrounding him, and as Republican leadership works to shore up support to block Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) from the Foreign Affairs Committee, which has drawn some opposition within the party.
Some Democrats have pointed to Santos being seated on committees as a point of criticism for the effort against Omar.
“Just all the controversy surrounding him and then while we’re working to remove Ilhan Omar from Foreign Affairs,” Greene said.