During his first interview since recusing himself from House committees, freshman U.S. Rep. George Santos said the experience was “humbling” after being asked to apologize again for the numerous lies he’s told about his personal and professional life.
Santos was a guest on the right-wing One America News (OAN) cable channel, a presumably friendly outlety, when host Caitlin Sinclair told him, “The prevailing opinion out there right now from your voters is that they have not heard a sincere apology from you yet.”
“You seem angry,” she said when he seemed taken aback by the question.
When she asked if he was sorry, he replied, “I’ve said I was sorry many times. I’ve behaved as if I’m sorry… I am sorry. I’m deeply sorry,” he said, adding, he’s been calling supporters to “apologize directly to them.”
“I don’t know what is being asked of me right now,” he went on to say. “I don’t know what looking sorry looks like to you, Caitlin.”
He added that he’s made “his sincere apology multiple times,” adding, “I don’t know what more can be said other than admitting. Is there anything more humbling, humiliating than admitting that on national television, Caitlin?”
Santos told her he’s “not angry at all,” because “anger brings you nothing positive. I’m always an upbeat personality… that’s who I am.” He added, “Angry? Maybe you can say I’m passionate, but angry is not appropriate to describe me.”
He added that he is “sad”: “I put myself in this predicament, and I do own up to it.”
“With the ongoing attention surrounding both my personal and campaign financial investigations, I have submitted a request to Speaker McCarthy that I be temporarily recused from my committee assignments until I am cleared,” Santos said in a statement Tuesday, according to NBC News.
The embattled politician told reporters on Tuesday that despite all the calls for him to step down, he does not plan to resign.
Watch the often tense interview above.
