Embattled New York Republican George Santos is “saddened” that his fellow party member John Kennedy called him “nutty as a fruitcake” and a “bunny boiler” – a reference to Glenn Close’s unhinged, psychotic character in the 1987 movie Fatal Attraction.

Mr Santos responded to the Louisiana Republican’s comments on Tuesday. “I am saddened that a distinguished senator from the GOP, whom I’ve respected would use such derogatory language against me,” he said.

“Language like that is hurtful and divisive, and has no place in Congress,” he added.

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A Brazilian drag artist who knew George Santos when he lived in the country revealed more about the congressman’s political past in a new interview with Insider.

Eula Rochard explained in her latest interview that Mr Santos had once been a proud supporter of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva — the current president of Brazil, who recently returned to office after successfully battling corruption charges he and his supporters argued were politically motivated.

The support for Lula and his history as a drag performer would be politically insignificant were it not for the conservative right’s current fixation on drag shows, drag performers as well as all LGBT Americans.

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The Twitter account PatriotTakes, operated by political activists aligned with the Democratic Party, has surfaced another Brazilian news clip revealing George Santos in drag dancing with other drag queens. He has denied particpating extensively in the culture.

It isn’t exactly clear where the clip is from, but Mr Santos can be seen wearing the same costume he wore in the original pictures provided to TMZ and other news outlets by a drag queen who knew him at the time, Eula Rochard.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy – let alone the rest of GOP leadership – likely can’t afford to abandon George Santos for one simple reason – math.

Had Mr Santos hailed from a redder district, it might be easier to give him the boot. But Mr Santos is one of 18 Republicans who represent a district that President Joe Biden won in 2022. Mr Biden won New York’s 3rd District by eight points and a Democrat previously held the seat. Mr Santos mostly won the seat by accident: Governor Kathy Hochul dramatically underperformed in Long Island in November’s election and Republicans won four seats in the area.

Mr Santos mostly reaped the benefits of Democratic incompetence in the region, and they would likely not be caught napping if the seat were to open up.

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Embattled GOP Rep George Santos has now come under scrutiny for claiming that he survived an unidentified assassination attempt.

The Republican, who has already admitted to making several lies during his run for Congress, made the wild allegation during an interview with Brazilian podcast “Rádio Novelo Apresenta” last month.

“We have already suffered an attempt on my life, an assassination attempt, a threatening letter, having to have the police – a police escort standing in front of our house,” he claimed.

Mr Santos did not elaborate on the alleged hit plot and is not thought to have mentioned it publicly prior to this. During the interview he also claimed he was mugged in on Fifth Avenue in New York City and that his Florida home was vandalised.

Read more from Gustaf Kilander:

A majority of New Yorkers want embattled Republican Representative George Santos to resign amid a flurry of reports that he fabricated large parts of his life story, according to a new Siena College poll.

A total of 59 per cent of registered voters said Mr Santos should resign from Congress, with 64 per cent of Democrats saying he should. A plurality of Republicans – 49 per cent – want Mr Santos to resign as well. That comes despite the fact that Mr Santos flipped a district on Long Island that had voted overwhelmingly for President Joe Biden.

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Claiming that he had now been “enshrined in late night TV history” following a wave of impressions of him on various comedy shows, George Santos declared on Monday that those mocking him needed to step up their game.

It was a Trump-esque response to the very serious issues he has been caught lying about. And it provoked a response from one of those comedians: Former SNL star Jon Lovitz.

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George Santos filed an amended financial disclosure form with the FEC on Tuesday, and with it began the newest branch of this seemingly endless controversy.

The newly-sworn-in congressman has now admitted that two loans to his campaign, totaling $500,000 and $125,000, did not in fact originate from his personal funds, as previously claimed.

But even stranger is the lack of any information indicating where they are actually from — the new filings still indicate that the loans came “from the candidate” in some fashion, but no other facts are known for sure.

The loans could be related to a firm that The New York Times reported he had solicited political donations to, despite it not being registered with the FEC: RedStone Strategies.

“I have now been enshrined in late night TV history with all these impersonations, but they are all TERRIBLE so far. Jon Lovitz is supposed to be one of the greatest comedians of all time and that was embarrassing – for him not me! These comedians need to step their game up,” Mr Santos tweeted on Monday night.

“Finally!!! You’re honest about something!!!” Mr Lovitz responded on Twitter.

See the rest of their exchange in The Independent:

The publisher of a Long Island newspaper that wrote the first exposé on George Santos said he suspected the congressman’s bad motivations during their first meeting, which took place years before his election win.

Grant Lally, the publisher of the North Shore Leader, thought he was a “completely non-serious candidate” after meeting him in 2020, during Mr Santos’ first run for office.

“He was weird,” Mr Lally told The Independent. “He acted strangely, he boasted, and at the same time he seemed to bask almost like a child in the attention he was getting.”

Richard Hall has the story from the congressman’s backyard: