{"id":312330,"date":"2025-10-18T02:57:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T02:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/312330\/"},"modified":"2025-10-18T02:57:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T02:57:12","slug":"trump-commutes-sentence-of-former-us-rep-george-santos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/312330\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump commutes sentence of former US Rep. George Santos"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump said Friday he had commuted the sentence of former U.S. Rep. George Santos<\/a>, who is serving<\/a> more than seven years in federal prison after pleading guilty to fraud and identity theft charges.<\/p>\n

The New York Republican was sentenced in April after admitting last year to deceiving donors and stealing the identities of 11 people \u2014 including his own family members \u2014 to make donations to his campaign. <\/p>\n

He reported to<\/a> the Federal Correctional Institution in Fairton, in southern New Jersey, on July 25 and is being housed in a minimum security prison camp with fewer than 50 other inmates.<\/p>\n

\u201cGeorge Santos was somewhat of a \u2018rogue,\u2019 but there are many rogues throughout our Country that aren\u2019t forced to serve seven years in prison,\u201d Trump posted on his social media platform. He said he had \u201cjust signed a Commutation, releasing George Santos from prison, IMMEDIATELY.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGood luck George, have a great life!\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n

Joseph Murray, one of Santos\u2019 lawyers, said late Friday that the former lawmaker\u2019s family was en route to the prison for his release. Andrew Mancilla, another Santos lawyer, applauded the president \u201cfor doing the right thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spokespersons for the Bureau of Prisons didn\u2019t immediately respond to messages seeking comment.<\/p>\n

Santos\u2019 account on X, which has been active throughout his roughly 84 days in prison, reposted a screenshot of Trump\u2019s Truth Social post Friday.<\/p>\n

During his time behind bars, Santos has been writing regular dispatches in a local newspaper on Long Island, in which he mainly complained about the prison conditions. <\/p>\n

In his latest letter, though, he pleaded to Trump directly, citing his fealty to the president\u2019s agenda and to the Republican Party.<\/p>\n

\u201cSir, I appeal to your sense of justice and humanity \u2014 the same qualities that have inspired millions of Americans to believe in you,\u201d he wrote in The South Shore Press<\/a> on Oct. 13. \u201cI humbly ask that you consider the unusual pain and hardship of this environment and allow me the opportunity to return to my family, my friends, and my community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Santos\u2019 commutation is Trump\u2019s latest high-profile act of clemency<\/a> for former Republican politicians since retaking the White House in January. <\/p>\n

In late May, he pardoned former U.S. Rep. Michael Grimm<\/a>, a New York Republican who in 2014 pleaded guilty to underreporting wages and revenue at a restaurant he ran in Manhattan. He also pardoned former Connecticut Gov. John Rowland<\/a>, whose promising political career was upended by a corruption scandal and two federal prison stints.<\/p>\n

But in granting clemency to Santos, Trump was rewarding a figure who has drawn scorn from within his own party.<\/p>\n

After becoming the first openly gay Republican elected to Congress in 2022, Santos served less than a year after it was revealed that he had fabricated much of his life story.<\/p>\n

On the campaign trail, Santos had claimed he was a successful business consultant with Wall Street cred and a sizable real estate portfolio. But when his resume came under scrutiny, Santos eventually admitted he had never graduated from Baruch College \u2014 or been a standout player on the Manhattan college\u2019s volleyball team, as he had claimed. He had never worked at Citigroup and Goldman Sachs. <\/p>\n

He wasn\u2019t even Jewish<\/a>. Santos insisted he meant he was \u201cJew-ish\u201d because his mother\u2019s family had a Jewish background, even though he was raised Catholic. <\/p>\n

In truth, the then-34-year-old was struggling financially and even faced eviction.<\/p>\n

Santos was charged in 2023 with stealing from donors and his campaign<\/a>, fraudulently collecting unemployment benefits and lying to Congress about his wealth. <\/p>\n

Within months, he was expelled from the U.S. House of Representatives<\/a> — with 105 Republicans joining with Democrats to make Santos just the sixth member<\/a> in the chamber\u2019s history to be ousted by colleagues..<\/p>\n

Santos pleaded guilty<\/a> as he was set to stand trial.<\/p>\n

Still, a prominent former House colleague, U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene<\/a>, urged the White House to commute Santos\u2019 sentence, saying in a letter sent just days into his prison bid that the punishment was \u201ca grave injustice\u201d and a product of judicial overreach.<\/p>\n

Greene was among those who cheered the announcement Friday. But U.S. Rep. Nick LaLota, a Republican who represents part of Long Island and has been highly critical of Santos, said in a post on social media that Santos \u201cdidn\u2019t merely lie\u201d and his crimes \u201cwarrant more than a three-month sentence.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe should devote the rest of his life to demonstrating remorse and making restitution to those he wronged,\u201d LaLota said.<\/p>\n

Santos\u2019 clemency appears to clear not just his prison term, but also any \u201cfurther fines, restitution, probation, supervised release, or other conditions,\u201d according to a copy of Trump\u2019s order posted on X<\/a> by Ed Martin, the Justice Department\u2019s pardon attorney. <\/p>\n

As part of his guilty plea, Santos had agreed to pay restitution of $373,750 and forfeiture of $205,003.<\/p>\n

In explaining his reason for granting Santos clemency, Trump said the lies Santos told about himself were no worse than misleading statements U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal — a Democrat and frequent critic of the administration — had made about his military record.<\/a><\/p>\n

Blumenthal apologized 15 years ago for implying that he served in Vietnam, when he was stateside in the Marine Reserve during the war.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is far worse than what George Santos did, and at least Santos had the Courage, Conviction, and Intelligence to ALWAYS VOTE REPUBLICAN!\u201d Trump wrote.<\/p>\n

The president himself was convicted in a New York court<\/a> last year in a case involving hush money payments. He derided the case as part of a politically motivated witch hunt.<\/p>\n

__<\/p>\n

Associated Press writers Michael R. Sisak in New York and Susan Haigh in Connecticut contributed to this report. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump said Friday he had commuted the sentence of former U.S. Rep.…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":312331,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[157495,20855,2738,69,79430,57,20183,59,4228,157494,157493,90048,362,9701,157496,405,50,20232,130635,80,2938,36363,20862,89,322,67,132,68,93],"class_list":{"0":"post-312330","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"category-us","9":"tag-andrew-mancilla","10":"tag-citigroup","11":"tag-connecticut","12":"tag-donald-trump","13":"tag-ed-martin","14":"tag-general-news","15":"tag-george-santos","16":"tag-inc","17":"tag-indictments","18":"tag-john-rowland","19":"tag-joseph-murray","20":"tag-law-and-order","21":"tag-legal-proceedings","22":"tag-marjorie-taylor-greene","23":"tag-michael-grimm","24":"tag-new-york","25":"tag-news","26":"tag-nick-lalota","27":"tag-pardons-and-commutations","28":"tag-politics","29":"tag-prisons","30":"tag-richard-blumenthal","31":"tag-the-goldman-sachs-group","32":"tag-u-s-democratic-party","33":"tag-u-s-republican-party","34":"tag-united-states","35":"tag-unitedstates","36":"tag-us","37":"tag-washington-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115392928620682796","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}