Lee Zeldin says support for Rep. George Santos ‘cratering’ by the day

Former Rep. Lee Zeldin said in a Wednesday interview that support for lying Rep. George Santos is “cratering” in the embattled lawmaker’s home district, but he wouldn’t go so far as to call for his resignation. 

Zeldin (R-NY), who was defeated in November by incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) in New York’s gubernatorial race, told Fox Business host Kennedy that he frequently ran into Santos (R-NY) on the campaign trail in 2022 and that he found him to be “personable” and “charming.” He called the revelations that Santos made up most of his resume and background while running for office “sad.” 

“There were a lot of people who were genuinely supporting him, voting for him, volunteering for him,” Zeldin said. “And they were just at this point crushed once the news came out, of what was true and what wasn’t true, and unfortunately a lot more has come out that was false than accurate.” 

Zeldin added that he’s heard more outrage over Santos’ lies coming from people who voted for him in New York’s 3rd Congressional District than from those who voted against him. 

Santos, 34, was assigned to two House committees on Tuesday despite being the subject of multiple investigations into his sketchy campaign financials. 

The House GOP Steering Committee, led by Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) assigned the disgraced freshman to the chamber’s Science, Space and Technology Committee and Small Business Committee — despite Santos previously admitting to The Post that he lied about graduating college and working for top investment firms Goldman Sachs and Citigroup.

Zeldin said Wednesday that he believes Santos will have a tough time in Congress, but he did not call for his resignation, citing Democratic lawmakers, including President Biden, who have been caught lying to the public in the past and did not step down. 

“He’s going to have an extremely difficult time, not just in Washington, D.C., you pointed out that he just got seated on two different committees, but especially back home, where there’s just cratering support by the day,” Zeldin said.

Santos has most recently been caught lying about his past performances as a drag queen in Rio de Janeiro.

Video emerged Thursday showing the Long Island representative boasting about performing at well-known Brazilian drag clubs, despite his claims that same morning that he had never done any such thing.