CNN
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Newly discovered immigration records of the mother of Rep. George Santos appear to contradict the embattled freshman Republican’s repeated claim that he was present at the World Trade Center during the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
Records indicate that Fatima Devolder said she was in Brazil between 1999 and early 2003, and therefore not in New York City when the attacks occurred. CNN obtained the records, first reported by The Forward, from genealogy researcher Alex Calzareth, who received them from a Freedom of Information Act request.
While in Brazil in 2003, Devolder indicated on a form that he had not been to the US since he left in 1999. Devolder also filed documents in Brazil in 2001, just months before the 9/11 attacks, saying that his green card had been stolen.
Representatives for Santos did not respond to CNN’s requests for comment.
Santos has repeatedly claimed that his mother was at the World Trade Center on 9/11 and said the incident played a role in her death from cancer.
In a December 17, 2021 radio interview on “The Voice of Reason with Andy Hooser,” Santos said his mother was “caught in the ash cloud” on September 11 and did not sign up for financial aid. because she didn’t want to take money from the first responders.
He was in the south tower and managed to get out. She was trapped in the ash cloud. My mom fought cancer until her death,” Santos said.
Santos previously claimed her mother was a financial executive, though that description has since been removed from her website. Records obtained by CNN show that she listed her jobs as a housekeeper or home helper.
Devolder also named both of his parents, Santos’s grandparents, as being born in Brazil, again undermining his claim that his maternal grandparents fled the Holocaust.
Santos has refused to resign from Congress, despite facing mounting legal troubles and mounting calls to resign for lying widely on his resume.
He already faces a federal investigation led by prosecutors in New York looking into his finances. And in another matter, CNN reported that law enforcement officials in Brazil will reinstate the fraud charges against Santos. Prosecutors said they will seek a “formal response” from Santos in connection with a stolen checkbook in 2008, after police suspended an investigation into him because they could not find him for nearly a decade.
In an interview last month with the New York Post, Santos denied having been charged with any crime in Brazil, saying: “I am not a criminal here, neither here nor in Brazil nor in any jurisdiction in the world. Absolutely not. That didn’t happen.”
Santos admitted to stealing a man’s checkbook from his mother to buy clothes and shoes in 2008, according to documents obtained by CNN.