NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump mentioned Friday he had commuted the sentence of former U.S. Rep. George Santos, who is serving greater than seven years in federal jail after pleading responsible to fraud and identification theft costs.
The New York Republican was sentenced in April after admitting final 12 months to deceiving donors and stealing the identities of 11 folks — together with his circle of relatives members — to make donations to his marketing campaign.
He reported to the Federal Correctional Establishment in Fairton, in southern New Jersey, on July 25 and is being housed in a minimal safety jail camp with fewer than 50 different inmates.
“George Santos was considerably of a ‘rogue,’ however there are a lot of rogues all through our Nation that aren’t compelled to serve seven years in jail,” Trump posted on his social media platform. He mentioned he had “simply signed a Commutation, releasing George Santos from jail, IMMEDIATELY.”
“Good luck George, have an amazing life!” Trump mentioned.
Joseph Murray, considered one of Santos’ legal professionals, mentioned late Friday that the previous lawmaker’s household was en path to the jail for his launch. Andrew Mancilla, one other Santos lawyer, applauded the president “for doing the correct factor.”
Spokespersons for the Bureau of Prisons didn’t instantly reply to messages searching for remark.
Santos’ account on X, which has been energetic all through his roughly 84 days in jail, reposted a screenshot of Trump’s Fact Social submit Friday.
Throughout his time behind bars, Santos has been writing common dispatches in an area newspaper on Lengthy Island, through which he primarily complained in regards to the jail situations.
In his newest letter, although, he pleaded to Trump straight, citing his fealty to the president’s agenda and to the Republican Celebration.
“Sir, I enchantment to your sense of justice and humanity — the identical qualities which have impressed tens of millions of People to consider in you,” he wrote in The South Shore Press on Oct. 13. “I humbly ask that you just think about the bizarre ache and hardship of this surroundings and permit me the chance to return to my household, my buddies, and my neighborhood.”
Santos’ commutation is Trump’s newest high-profile act of clemency for former Republican politicians since retaking the White Home in January.
In late Might, he pardoned former U.S. Rep. Michael Grimm, a New York Republican who in 2014 pleaded responsible to underreporting wages and income at a restaurant he ran in Manhattan. He additionally pardoned former Connecticut Gov. John Rowland, whose promising political profession was upended by a corruption scandal and two federal jail stints.
However in granting clemency to Santos, Trump was rewarding a determine who has drawn scorn from inside his personal get together.
After changing into the primary overtly homosexual Republican elected to Congress in 2022, Santos served lower than a 12 months after it was revealed that he had fabricated a lot of his life story.
On the marketing campaign path, Santos had claimed he was a profitable enterprise marketing consultant with Wall Avenue cred and a large actual property portfolio. However when his resume got here beneath scrutiny, Santos ultimately admitted he had by no means graduated from Baruch Faculty — or been a standout participant on the Manhattan faculty’s volleyball group, as he had claimed. He had by no means labored at Citigroup and Goldman Sachs.
He wasn’t even Jewish. Santos insisted he meant he was “Jew-ish” as a result of his mom’s household had a Jewish background, regardless that he was raised Catholic.
In fact, the then-34-year-old was struggling financially and even confronted eviction.
Santos was charged in 2023 with stealing from donors and his marketing campaign, fraudulently gathering unemployment advantages and mendacity to Congress about his wealth.
Inside months, he was expelled from the U.S. Home of Representatives — with 105 Republicans becoming a member of with Democrats to make Santos simply the sixth member within the chamber’s historical past to be ousted by colleagues..
Santos pleaded responsible as he was set to face trial.
Nonetheless, a outstanding former Home colleague, U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, urged the White Home to commute Santos’ sentence, saying in a letter despatched simply days into his jail bid that the punishment was “a grave injustice” and a product of judicial overreach.
Greene was amongst those that cheered the announcement Friday. However U.S. Rep. Nick LaLota, a Republican who represents a part of Lengthy Island and has been extremely essential of Santos, mentioned in a submit on social media that Santos “didn’t merely lie” and his crimes “warrant greater than a three-month sentence.”
“He ought to commit the remainder of his life to demonstrating regret and making restitution to these he wronged,” LaLota mentioned.
Santos’ clemency seems to clear not simply his jail time period, but additionally any “additional fines, restitution, probation, supervised launch, or different situations,” in keeping with a duplicate of Trump’s order posted on X by Ed Martin, the Justice Division’s pardon lawyer.
As a part of his responsible plea, Santos had agreed to pay restitution of $373,750 and forfeiture of $205,003.
In explaining his cause for granting Santos clemency, Trump mentioned the lies Santos instructed about himself had been no worse than deceptive statements U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal — a Democrat and frequent critic of the administration — had made about his army document.
Blumenthal apologized 15 years in the past for implying that he served in Vietnam, when he was stateside within the Marine Reserve throughout the conflict.
“That is far worse than what George Santos did, and no less than Santos had the Braveness, Conviction, and Intelligence to ALWAYS VOTE REPUBLICAN!” Trump wrote.
The president himself was convicted in a New York courtroom final 12 months in a case involving hush cash funds. He derided the case as a part of a politically motivated witch hunt.
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Related Press writers Michael R. Sisak in New York and Susan Haigh in Connecticut contributed to this report.
