NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump stated Friday he had commuted the sentence of former U.S. Rep. George Santos, who was slated to serve greater than seven years in federal jail after pleading responsible to fraud and id theft prices.
Joseph Murray, certainly one of Santos’ attorneys, instructed the New York Publish late Friday that the previous lawmaker was launched from the Federal Correctional Establishment in Fairton, New Jersey, round 11 p.m.
The New York Republican was sentenced in April after admitting final 12 months to deceiving donors and stealing the identities of 11 individuals — together with his family members — to make donations to his marketing campaign.
He reported to FCI Fairton on July 25 and was housed in a minimal safety jail camp with fewer than 50 different inmates.
“George Santos was somewhat of a ‘rogue,’ but there are many rogues throughout our Country that aren’t forced to serve seven years in prison,” Trump posted on his social media platform. He stated he had “just signed a Commutation, releasing George Santos from prison, IMMEDIATELY.”
“Good luck George, have a great life!” Trump stated.
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, during which he primarily complained concerning the jail circumstances.
In his newest letter, although, he pleaded to Trump immediately, citing his fealty to the president’s agenda and to the Republican Occasion.
“Sir, I appeal to your sense of justice and humanity — the same qualities that have inspired millions of Americans to believe in you,” he wrote in The South Shore Press on Oct. 13. “I 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.”
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 celebration.
After turning into the primary brazenly 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.
Bloomberg by way of Getty Pictures
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 School — or been a standout participant on the Manhattan faculty’s volleyball crew, 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, despite the fact that he was raised Catholic.
In reality, 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 accumulating 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 distinguished 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, stated in a submit on social media that Santos “didn’t merely lie” and his crimes “warrant more than a three-month sentence.”
“He should devote the rest of his life to demonstrating remorse and making restitution to those he wronged,” LaLota stated.
Santos’ clemency seems to clear not simply his jail time period, but in addition any “further fines, restitution, probation, supervised release, or other conditions,” based on a replica of Trump’s order posted on X by Ed Martin, the Justice Division’s pardon legal professional.
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 stated the lies Santos instructed about himself have been no worse than deceptive statements U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal ― a Democrat and frequent critic of the administration ― had made about his army report.
Blumenthal apologized 15 years in the past for implying that he served in Vietnam, when he was stateside within the Marine Reserve in the course of the warfare.
“This is far worse than what George Santos did, and at least Santos had the Courage, Conviction, and Intelligence to ALWAYS VOTE REPUBLICAN!” Trump wrote.
The president himself was convicted in a New York court docket 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.
