George Santos grilled by Piers Morgan

Piers Morgan released an exclusive interview on Tuesday with New York congressman George Santos, America’s best-known “terrible liar.” Morgan pulled no punches, confronting Santos with just about every fib and truth-twisting comment he has uttered in the past decade.

On the Fox Nation show, the congressman described himself as “just a regular person… flawed like every other human being.” And sure, how many of your friends create a résumé out of thin air, fabricate their family history and run for political office? Cockburn can think of a couple.

Like most politicians these days, Santos played the victim card, claiming that he was the subject of “desperate journalists trying to build a journalistic career for them.” Indeed, the media was “making a witch hunt out of” the congressman’s history.

In a witch hunt, there is no “there” there; the impetus for investigation and attack is imaginary. Nothing could be further from the truth for Santos, who lied about everything he could have and then some. If you throw food in the water, don’t complain when the sharks show up. Morgan characterized Santos as a “wounded animal”.

But the New York congressman doesn’t just think the media’s coverage of him has been excessive; he also implied that he is not unique. “I wish, genuinely, if the media put the equal amount of effort and resources… on all 435 members of the House and 100 members of the Senate, I think the American people would have more clarity of who represents them in Congress.” He then said, “I’m not saying, I’m not pointing [fingers, presumably, though he was cut off]…” — but the implication was clear enough.

Santos must not be a close reader of the news: there have been recent attempts to smear his Republican colleagues Anna Paulina Luna and Andy Ogles as Santos-lite fabulists. And as Cockburn asked last week — why is the press only bothering to look into prospective members of Congress’s pasts now?

When asked about the claim that his mother was in the World Trade Center on 9/11, Santos remained unmoved in his conviction that he was telling the truth, despite being confronted with evidence to the contrary. He claims that it is “unsensitive [sic] for everybody to want to rehash my mother’s legacy.” But Santos’s candidacy is the reason that that legacy was brought under scrutiny, as Morgan pointed out.

Santos also had no interest in backing down on his assertion that some of his grandparents survived the Holocaust; it is a claim that he said he “will battle to my grave.” We may know soon enough if he has any Jewish ancestry, as he told Morgan that he has done four DNA tests and is awaiting results.

Morgan made sure to address Santos’s drag queen past as well. While Santos admitted to dressing up in drag once, he indicated it was only on the occasion seen in the now-famous photograph and video. He found it “amusing that people are trying to fight me for being something I’m not.” Unfortunately for Santos, though, nobody knows what he is and is not. Taking him at his word is not exactly an option anymore.

The interview rounds out with Morgan eliciting an apology from Santos, who supposedly now wants “to be the most transparent member of Congress.” The congressman made sure to puff himself up before apologizing, saying, “I think that if you can ask for forgiveness and have the humility to accept and admit your errors, I think that’s the first step.”

The quote that has characterized the interview more than any other, though, was when Santos announced on air — at Morgan’s prompting — that, “I’ve been a terrible liar.” Terrible as in “bad at it,” or terrible as in “can’t stop doing it.” Either way — it might be the most honest thing Santos has said in public yet.