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Besieged US Republican George Santos arrives on the House floor most days to deliver short speeches — celebrating women-owned small businesses, a special high school in his district, or raising concern about various countries in crises.
Key points:
- George Santos lied about being a college graduate, a Wall Street whiz, being from a Jewish family of Holocaust survivors and losing his mother in the 9/11 attack
- Fellow Republican Anthony D'Esposito says his party has made it "very clear" Mr Santos is "not part of us"
- Mr Santos has filed paperwork to seek re-election
At other times, he can be seen dashing through the halls of the US Capitol as politicians do, from one meeting to the next.
Far from being chastened by the widespread criticism, mockery and rejection that Mr Santos has received after having admitted to fabricating many aspects of his life story, the newly elected congressman is breezily carrying on.
He is refusing calls for his resignation all while rewriting the narrative in real time.
For Mr Santos, it is an unusual up-is-down approach that would have been almost unthinkable in an earlier generation but one that signals the new norms taking hold amid the deepening of a post-truth era in Congress.
"I was elected by the people to come here to represent them, and I do that every day," he said.
"It's a hard job. If I said it was easy, I'd be lying to you — and I don't think that's what we want, right?"
Pressed about the idea of a post-truth era, Mr Santos said: "I think truth still matters very much."
Perhaps not since Donald Trump launched his presidency with exaggerated claims of the crowd size at his inauguration has an elected official arrived in Washington and sought so brazenly and defiantly to convince the public of reality different than the one before their very eyes.
Mr Santos is coming of political age at a time of an unmooring in American civic life, when a duly sworn member of the US Congress can persevere, business as usual, despite having admittedly lied to voters about his resume, experience and personal life as he ran for elected office.
While Mr Santos faces investigations — by the House Ethics Committee and a county prosecutor in New York — as well as questions from earlier charges in Brazil, where he lived for a time, he appears unmoved by the challenges.
Just a few days ago, Mr Santos filed paperwork to potentially seek re-election.
"It used to be that when a politician lied, and they got caught, they were ashamed or there was some sort of accountability," Boston University fellow and author Lee McIntyre said.
"What I see in the post-truth era is not just that people are lying or lying more, it's that they're lying with a political purpose.
"The really scary part is getting away with it."
At stake is not just "truthiness", as comedian Stephen Colbert once called falsehoods in public life, but broader questions over the expectation of truth-telling from political leadership.
Mr Santos has admitted he portrayed himself as someone he was not — not a college graduate, not a Wall Street whiz, not from a Jewish family of Holocaust survivors, not the son who lost his mother in the 9/11 World Trade Center attack.
Mr Santos in a state of 'delusion'
In the time since, more questions have arisen, including about the origins of a $US700,000 ($1.04 million) loan he made to his campaign for Congress and his own reported wealth.
Fellow Republican Anthony D'Esposito of New York, who won election last year from the neighbouring Long Island district, said he did not believe Mr Santos's actions reflected the state of politics.
"I think it's the state of an individual — and the state that he's in is one of delusion," he said.
Mr D'Esposito has introduced a pair of bills that would prevent elected officials from profiting off wrongdoing and he says he is working with others to ensure Mr Santos is not "the face" of the Republican party.
"We've made it very clear," he said. "He's not our brand. He's not part of us."
While Mr Santos has removed himself from his committee assignments while the investigations are underway, he has withstood pressure from Republicans to resign and from Democrats to be expelled from office.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who won a slim Republican majority with just a few seats to spare, has said the voters elected Mr Santos and "he has a right to serve".
If wrongdoing was found, Mr Santos could be removed from office, Mr McCarthy said.
"He should have resigned a long time ago," Robert Garcia, the Democratic president of the group that sponsored the resolution to expel Mr Santos said.
"This is not just Democrats saying this and his Republican colleagues in New York," Mr Garcia said. "Nobody wants him in DC."
But Mr Santos appears emboldened as his profile rises, even being parodied on Saturday Night Live.
He has introduced his own bills in Congress — including one to require cognitive tests for presidents — and is trying to move on.
"I've owned up to it and I came clean on it," Mr Santos said, referring to the public apologies he made in December.
When US President Joe Biden arrived to deliver the State of the Union address last month, Mr Santos infuriated colleagues by situating himself on the centre aisle — the place to see and be seen greeting the high-profile guests.
Turning the tables
He was scolded by fellow Republican Mitt Romney, who said it was improper for Mr Santos to be "parading in front of the president" and others.
"Senator Romney just echoed something I heard my entire life, right, coming from a minority group, coming from a poor family: Go to the back room and shut up. Nobody cares to hear about you," Mr Santos said.
"Well, I'm not going to do that."
Mr Santos often turns the tables, engaging in the whataboutism that has become commonplace in modern politics — the verbal somersault of equating one's actions with those of others, even when they are not quite comparable situations.
"You know," he said. "Have you ever not told a lie? Think hard."
It is what Mr McIntyre calls a classic "disinformation tactic" designed not to bring clarity but confusion, and avoid accountability.
Asked if he was there to stay, Mr Santos said: "I'm here to do the job I was elected to do for the next two years."
But will he run for re-election? "Maybe."
AP