George Santos leaves the U.S. Capitol after his fellow members of Congress voted to expel him from the Home of Representatives on December 01, 2023. The New York Republican was later sentenced to jail after pleading responsible to vary of federal costs, however President Trump has now commuted his sentence.
Drew Angerer/Getty Photographs
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Drew Angerer/Getty Photographs
President Donald Trump introduced on Friday that he commuted the jail time period of George Santos, the disgraced New York Republican who was sentenced to greater than seven years in jail for a litany of crimes after he was expelled from the Home over accusations that he stole cash from marketing campaign donors.
Trump made the announcement in a submit on Fact Social on Friday, saying he had signed a commutation to launch Santos from jail instantly.
“George Santos was considerably of a ‘rogue,’ however there are lots of rogues all through our Nation that are not compelled to serve seven years in jail,” Trump wrote.
Santos, a fierce supporter of Trump, pleaded responsible in 2024 to wire fraud and aggravated identification theft. Prosecutors mentioned Santos was accountable for a “mountain of lies, theft, and fraud” geared toward enriching himself and deceiving marketing campaign donors. He started his sentence in July of this yr on the Federal Correctional Establishment in Fairton, New Jersey.
Quickly after Santos was elected in 2020, studies that he had fabricated quite a few features of his identification started to trickle out. He later admitted to mendacity about his schooling, employment and his upbringing. Santos was nonetheless sworn into Congress in 2022 regardless of the inconsistencies raised about his background and marketing campaign funds.
His falsehoods would meet up with him lower than a yr after his time period started. In 2023, the Home voted 311-114 to take away him from workplace. Virtually each Democrat and greater than 100 Republicans voted to expel Santos.
The vote made Santos simply the sixth consultant to ever be expelled from the chamber however the first to be expelled with out being convicted of a criminal offense. On the time of his expulsion, Santos was dealing with 23 prison costs.
Trump in contrast Santos’ crimes to claims made by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., greater than 15 years in the past about his army service. Blumenthal has beforehand admitted that he “misspoke” about serving in Vietnam. Blumenthal served six years within the Marine Reserve starting in 1970, however none of that point was spent abroad.
“That is far worse than what George Santos did, and at the least Santos had the Braveness, Conviction, and Intelligence to ALWAYS VOTE REPUBLICAN!” Trump wrote.
To date throughout his second time period, Trump has issued a slew of high-profile pardons and commutations. He issued a blanket pardon of greater than 1,500 individuals charged with acts associated to the Jan. 6, 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol. Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich additionally acquired a pardon after he was convicted on a sequence of corruption-related crimes, together with making an attempt to promote a U.S. Senate seat vacated by former President Barack Obama. Trump commuted Blagojevich’s 14-year jail sentence throughout his first time period.
