‘We don’t know his real name’: George Santos’s unravelling web of lies

"He didn't just steal from a service dog. He didn't just steal from a dying service dog. He stole from a disabled homeless veteran's dying service dog. Oh my God. You evil and stupid!"

That was how Leslie Jones, guest host of Comedy Central's The Daily Show, summed up just one of this week's revelations about George Santos, a US congressman whose shameless fabulism has stunned Washington, a capital that thought it had smelt every flavour of mendacity from politicians.

"What does this man have to do get thrown out of Congress?" Jones asked, echoing the thoughts of many. "He's a fucking liar."

Yet the answer is that, far from being expelled from the House of Representatives, Santos, 34, was rewarded with assignments on two of its committees. The vote of confidence appeared to be an expedient calculation by the House speaker, Kevin McCarthy, aware Republicans have such a slim majority that even losing one seat would make it much harder to pass legislation.

But it was also a decision, critics said, that showed the party of Abraham Lincoln and Dwight Eisenhower has lost its moral compass. Stuart Stevens, a political consultant and author of It Was All a Lie: How the Republican Party Became Donald Trump, said: "Santos is a perfect example of the collapse of the Republican party.

"It shows that the party stands for nothing. It seems like a million years ago but there was a time when we said character was destiny. Nobody even knows who this guy is. We literally don't know his real name."

Indeed, as recently as four years ago, Santos was introducing himself publicly as "Anthony Devolder" - a combination of his middle name and his mother's maiden name. It is just one strand in a web of deceit that makes the protagonists of Catch Me If You Can, The Talented Mr Ripley and Pinocchio look as honest as the day is long.