George Santos to step down from House committees

Republican Congressman George Santos will step down from serving on committees in the US House of Representatives.

The 34-year-old has faced growing calls to resign after he admitted fabricating parts of his resume and biography since his election in New York last year.

He was assigned to serve on two committees despite the controversy.

He informed colleagues of his decision at a closed-door meeting on Tuesday, the BBC's US partner CBS reports.

Mr Santos reportedly said he would not serve on committees until his name was cleared and apologised to fellow Republicans for being a "distraction".

It means Mr Santos will not sit on the small business committee or the science, space and technology panel. The latter oversees non-defence issues related to scientific research and development.

He had previously billed himself as "the full embodiment of the American dream" - an openly gay child of Brazilian immigrants who rose to the upper echelons of Wall Street before entering the world of politics.

But following his election in the November midterms, Mr Santos' life story began to unravel after various US news outlets uncovered a series of falsehoods.

He eventually admitted that large portions of the biography he had shared with voters were untrue. He is also facing multiple investigations over his campaign spending and financial reports.