George Santos (left) and Adam Kinzinger.
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images; Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Former GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger is trying to get Rep. George Santos to resign.
Santos told Rep. Matt Gaetz he will resign if 142,000 people demand it.
“He said he’ll resign if enough people ask – so game on. Sign the petition!” Kinzinger tweeted.
Former GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger has started a petition to get embattled New York Rep. George Santos to resign.
Kinzinger kicked off an online petition on Thursday, the same day Santos appeared on the podcast “War Room: Pandemic” with Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz. During the podcast, Santos said he will resign if more than 142,000 people — the number of people who voted to elect him during the November midterms — call for him to step down.
“On January 12, 2023, disgraced pathological liar and brand new Congressman George Santos promised Matt Gaetz (and the rest of us) that he would resign if 142,000 people signed a petition asking him to do so — the same number of votes he received in November,” the petition on Kinzinger’s Country First website read. “We’re happy to deliver them to his office!”
Kinzinger also promoted the petition in a tweet on January 12, writing: “He said he’ll resign if enough people ask – so game on. Sign the petition!” At press time, the petition had garnered 40,311 signatures, less than a third of its goal of 142,000 signatures.
The petition asks for each person’s first and last name, and their postal code. It’s unclear if Kinzinger is tracking whether the signatures are from people who live in Santos’ district.
The petition appears to be the latest salvo in an online feud between Santos and Kinzinger. On January 11, the two exchanged a series of insults on Twitter. Santos mocked Kinzinger for appearing to fight back tears during a July congressional hearing on the Capitol riot. In response, Kinzinger tweeted: “Cries are better than lies, FRAUD.”
The scandal-plagued Santos has admitted to making up facts about his work experience and education. In December, Santos said he lied about working at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup. Santos also told the New York Post in December that he did not graduate from any institute of higher learning.
The admissions came after The New York Times found that companies Santos claimed to have worked for had no record of him. Various other points of doubt have since been raised about Santos’ life and personal history — including his false claim about being Jewish, which he has since walked back, and even his name.
Prosecutors in Long Island said on December 28 that they have opened an investigation into Santos. Long Island Republicans and the New York State GOP in January also called on Santos to resign, but Santos has refused to do so.
As for Kinzinger, the Illinois congressman announced in late 2021 that he would not seek re-election during the midterms. Kinzinger is now a political commentator on CNN. He also leads Country First, an organization “dedicated to defeating the Toxic Tribalism tearing our families, friendships, and country apart.”
Representatives for Kinzinger and Santos did not immediately respond to Insider’s requests for comment.