The list of biographical details that George Santos lied about is really too long at this point to fully recapitulate. At a minimum, there’s his college degree from Baruch College and, according to some versions of his biography, attendance at NYU. His work at Citigroup and Goldman Sachs. His Jewish heritage? His unmentioned marriage and divorce to a woman. His charity for pets which may have existed as a cover to steal money from people and their pets. And of course we can’t forget his time as a drag queen in Brazil where he is still wanted for theft/fraud. Again, those are just the highlights but there appears to be a lot more he’s lied about.

Somehow, none of this prevented the GOP from giving Santos two low-profile committee assignments. But this morning he announced he would be recusing himself from those assignments.

Embattled Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., will step back from the two committee assignments he received in the House of Representatives, sources tell Fox News.

Multiple GOP sources confirm to Fox News that Santos said in a Republican conference meeting Tuesday morning he will recuse himself from his assignments on the Small Business and Science Committees.

Santos left open the possibility that he could return at some point if his other problems are cleared up.

Santos told his colleagues that he was stepping aside from committees “to prevent from being a distraction,” according to lawmakers in the room…

“He has reserved to see it until he has been cleared up both campaign and personal financial investigations,” the spokesperson said.

If he wanted to avoid being a distraction, he should have done this before the party embarrassed itself by putting him on those committees in the first place.

As for clearing up the investigations, that’s obviously not up to him. As Jazz pointed out, he was facing an FEC investigation but as of last week it appears the FEC is taking a back seat while the DOJ ramps up its own criminal investigation. How long will that take to resolve? Your guess is as good as mine, but it probably won’t be a few weeks.

In addition, Santos is also facing complaints in the House Ethics Committee which were filed by Democrats earlier this month. Speaker McCarthy said last week that if Santos is found to have broken the law, he’ll be removed from Congress.

McCarthy added that he will hold Santos “to the same standard I hold anyone else elected to Congress,” as he deferred to the House Ethics Committee on the matter.

“If for some way when we go through Ethics that he has broken the law, then we will remove him, but it’s not my role,” McCarthy said. “I believe in the rule of law. A person’s innocent until proven guilty.”

I’m committed to the idea that everyone deserves a fair process to determine their guilt or innocence. But in this case, the stuff Santos has already admitted he lied about seems ethically disqualifying whether or not he broke any laws (outside of Brazil). Anyway, some of his colleagues are praising this small step toward accountability.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., says Santos “referenced the drama and everything surrounding the situation and he just felt like it was the appropriate thing to do.”

Rep. Tom Cole, R-Olka., said the decision was well-received from the GOP conference, saying “I think it was the appropriate thing to do and I was proud of him for getting up and doing this.”

Santos would resign if he had any shame, but obviously you don’t tell stories like the ones he’s been telling if you’re prone to any kind of critical self-reflection.