NEW YORK (AP) — Free of the jail the place he had been serving time for ripping off his marketing campaign donors, former U.S. Rep. George Santos says he’s humbled by his expertise behind bars however unconcerned concerning the “pearl clutching” of critics upset that President Donald Trump granted him clemency.
“I’m pretty confident if President Trump had pardoned Jesus Christ off the cross, he would have had critics,” Santos mentioned Sunday in an interview on CNN.
Santos, who gained workplace after inventing a bogus persona as a Wall Road dealmaker, pleaded responsible to fraud and id theft final 12 months and started serving a 7-year sentence in July at a jail in New Jersey. However Trump ordered him launched him Friday after he’d served simply 84 days. Trump referred to as Santos a “rogue,” however mentioned he didn’t deserve a harsh sentence and may get credit score for voting Republican.
Talking on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Santos mentioned he had “learned a great deal” and had “a very large slice of humble pie, if not the whole pie” whereas in jail.
He additionally apologized to former constituents in his New York congressional district, saying he was “in a chaotic ball of flame” when he dedicated his crimes. Santos admitted final 12 months to deceiving donors and stealing the identities of 11 folks — together with his family members.
However when requested about fellow Republicans sad that Trump freed him so quickly, Santos mentioned different presidential acts of clemency had been worse, citing President Joe Biden’s choice to pardon his son, Hunter, for gun and tax crimes.
“So pardon me if I’m not paying too much attention to the pearl-clutching of the outrage of my critics,” Santos mentioned.
Invoice Clark through Getty Pictures
As a part of his responsible plea, Santos had agreed to pay restitution of $373,750 and forfeiture of $205,003. However Trump’s clemency order appeared to clear him of paying any additional fines or restitution.
Santos mentioned he has been granted a second probability and supposed to “make amends,” however when requested if he supposed to pay again the marketing campaign donors he had defrauded, he mentioned provided that he needed to.
“If it’s required of me by the law, yes. If it’s not, then no,” Santos mentioned.
Santos had appealed to Trump straight for assist, citing his loyalty to the president’s agenda and to the Republican Occasion in a letter revealed Oct. 13 in The South Shore Press. However he mentioned Sunday that he had no expectations and discovered of his commutation from fellow inmates who noticed the information on tv.
Revelations that Santos invented a lot of his life story surfaced simply weeks after he turned the primary brazenly homosexual Republican to elected to Congress in 2022.
Santos had mentioned whereas campaigning that he was a profitable enterprise marketing consultant with a large actual property portfolio. However he finally admitted to embellishing his biography. He had by no means graduated from Baruch Faculty, the place he had claimed to be a standout participant on the Manhattan faculty’s volleyball workforce. He had by no means labored at Citigroup and Goldman Sachs. He didn’t personal property.
In fact, he struggling financially, had drifted by a number of jobs, together with one for an organization accused of operating a Ponzi scheme, and even confronted eviction.
After turning into simply the sixth individual to be expelled from Congress, Santos made lots of of hundreds of {dollars} promoting personalised movies to the general public on Cameo. He returned to the service Sunday.
