New York House Democrats call on McCarthy not to grant Santos access to classified information
Brady Knox
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New York House Democrats are calling on House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to prevent Rep. George Santos (R-NY) from accessing classified information.
Democratic Reps. Joseph Morelle and Gregory Meeks wrote a joint letter to McCarthy going through Santos’s myriad documented falsehoods but focused on alleged campaign donations from the cousin of sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg. The two implied that this connection, along with Santos’s character, could lead to him leaking sensitive information to foreign adversaries. As such, they requested that Santos be prevented from accessing sensitive information pertaining to national security.
“As the newly elected Speaker of the House of Representatives, we call on you to limit Congressman George Santos’ ability to access classified materials, including preventing him from attending any classified briefings and limiting his access to such information through his committee assignments. As it currently stands, Members are not mandated to have security clearances nor sign a nondisclosure agreement, however, that does not entitle them to unlimited access to classified information,” they wrote.
MCCARTHY SAYS SANTOS WILL BE REMOVED FROM CONGRESS IF INVESTIGATION FINDS HE BROKE LAW
They went on to detail the scenarios Santos could gain access to classified information through his committee assignments.
“Congressman George Santos was assigned to committees whose jurisdiction may pertain to only a portion of our country’s national security and foreign policy agenda, yet this does not stop or inhibit him from requesting a secure briefing or classified documents regarding a breadth of topics at any time,” they said.
“You publicly expressed that the Congressman has ‘a long way to go to earn trust,’ his untrustworthiness could warrant the Intelligence Community to slow down or limit certain classified information it shares with Congress. This could have profound implications for the Legislative Branch’s ability to perform its legislative, oversight, and investigative duties over the Executive Agencies’ classified programs,” they added.
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The letter concluded by asking McCarthy to act swiftly in order to prevent Santos from “abusing his position and endangering our nation.”