Trump says he has commuted sentence of George Santos in federal fraud case | George Santos
Donald Trump announced Friday that he had commuted the sentence of George Santos, a disgraced former New York representative and serial fabulist, sentenced to more than seven years in prison after a short political career marked by farcical fabrications and fraudulent intrigues.
Santos left the Federal Correctional Institution in Fairton, New Jersey, a few hours later and was “on his way home,” his lawyer Joseph Murray told Agence France-Presse by telephone Friday evening.
In a Truth Social article, Trump called Santos “a bit of a ‘thug'” but expressed sympathy for the New York Republican. Santos was sentenced in April after pleading guilty last year to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
“I have just signed a commutation, releasing George Santos from prison IMMEDIATELY,” Trump said in his lengthy message. “Good luck George, have a great life!”
The U.S. pardon attorney tweeted a photo of the signed commutation shortly after Trump’s message, writing that he was “honored” to have “played a small role” in Trump’s granting of clemency to Santos.
“Thank you, Mr. President, for granting clemency again,” he wrote.
Murray also thanked Trump, posting on Santos’ X account: “God bless President Donald J. Trump, the greatest president in American history! »
Santos reported to a New Jersey federal prison in July and began serving an 87-month sentence for charges that ultimately led to his expulsion from Congress in 2023. Trump’s message suggested he was moved by a letter Santos wrote and published this week in a local Long Island newspaper. Santos wrote about his life in solitary confinement and directly pleaded with the president to give him a “chance to rebuild.”
Trump issued the commutation after a push from key Republican allies, including Marjorie Taylor Greene. Greene, a former colleague of Santos in the House of Representatives, called his conviction a “grave injustice” and called for intervention after the sentencing. She also sent a letter in August requesting a commutation to the Justice Department.
Asked at the time whether he might consider a pardon for Santos, Trump, who has a history of rewarding his supporters with pardons, did not rule out the possibility but said he had not been asked.
“He lied like hell,” Trump told Newsmax, adding, “But he was 100 percent for Trump. »
On Friday, Greene thanked the president for the commutation and said of Santos, “He was unfairly treated and placed in solitary confinement, which is torture!! »
Elsewhere in his Friday message, Trump compared Santos to Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut. He referenced decades-old claims that Blumenthal “invented” aspects of his military past. Blumenthal admitted in 2010 to misrepresenting his military service after saying he had been “in” Vietnam. Blumenthal served as a Marine Corps reservist during the Vietnam War, but was not deployed to Vietnam.
Trump, who never served in the military, attacked Blumenthal several times. His account of the senator’s past inaccuracies has even become increasingly exaggerated in recent years.
“This is way worse than what George Santos did, and at least Santos had the courage, conviction and intelligence to ALWAYS VOTE REPUBLICAN!” Trump wrote about Blumenthal on Friday.
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Before and after entering Congress, Santos lied prolifically about his biography. Although he made history as the first LGBTQ+ Republican elected to Congress, his fabulist tendencies caught up with him with the release of a damning report from the House Ethics Committee. This report details how Santos used his campaign funds on things like travel, cosmetics and luxury goods and helped fuel his spectacular fall.
But Santos, who went from relative anonymity to pop culture sensation almost overnight, shared Trump’s love of the national stage — even as he was schooled in his misdeeds.
“Well, my darlings… The curtain is falling, the spotlight is dimming and the rhinestones are packed,” Santos wrote in a tweet pinned to the top of his
The judge in Santos’ case sided with federal prosecutors, who argued that the former congressman had not shown true remorse despite his legal team’s insistence to the contrary. This lack of contrition, they said, justified a harsher sentence.
Santos’ commutation marks the latest in a series of high-profile interventions by Trump, who has resumed using presidential clemency to reward his political allies since returning to the White House in January.
In May, Trump pardoned Michael Grimm, a former Republican congressman from New York who admitted to concealing income and wages related to a Manhattan restaurant he owned. John Rowland, the former governor of Connecticut, whose political rise collapsed under the weight of a federal corruption case and two prison sentences, was also pardoned.
At the same time, Trump has ordered his Justice Department to bring criminal charges against his political enemies, including his former national security adviser turned leading critic, John Bolton, who was indicted this week and pleaded not guilty.
Trump last year became the first former US president to be convicted of felony crimes, following a hush money scandal in New York that he continues to characterize as a witch hunt.
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