NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump stated 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 individuals — together with his circle of relatives members — to make donations to his marketing campaign.
He reported to 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.
“I simply signed a Commutation, releasing George Santos from jail, IMMEDIATELY,” Trump posted on his social media platform.
“George Santos was considerably of a ‘rogue,’ however there are numerous rogues all through our Nation that aren’t pressured to serve seven years in jail,” he wrote.
Andrew Mancilla, one in every of Santos’ legal professionals, stated Friday he was “very, very proud of the choice,” although he stated it’s unclear at this level when Santos shall be launched.
“The protection group applauds President Trump for doing the precise factor,” Mancilla stated by cellphone. “The sentence was far too lengthy.”
Santos has been in jail for 84 days. Throughout his time behind bars, he has been writing common dispatches in a neighborhood Lengthy Island newspaper, The South Shore Press.
In his newest letter, revealed Oct. 13, Santos pleaded to Trump immediately, citing his fealty to the president’s agenda and to the Republican Occasion.
“Sir, I attraction to your sense of justice and humanity — the identical qualities which have impressed tens of millions of Individuals to consider in you,” he wrote. “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 associates, and my neighborhood.”
A distinguished former Home colleague, U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, additionally urged the White Home to commute his 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.
The decide in Santos’ case had agreed with federal prosecutors {that a} stiffer sentence was warranted as a result of Santos didn’t appear remorseful, regardless of what he and his legal professionals claimed.
Santos’ commutation is Trump’s newest high-profile act of clemency for former Republican politicians since retaking the White Home in January.
In late Could, 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.
Trump 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.
Santos was as soon as an up-and-coming star for the GOP.
He turned the primary overtly homosexual Republican elected to Congress in 2022, flipping a Home seat representing components of Queens and Lengthy Island.
However Santos served lower than a 12 months in workplace after it was revealed that he had fabricated a lot of his life story, which in flip led to investigations into how the then-unknown politician had funded his profitable marketing campaign.
A son of Brazilian immigrants, Santos had claimed he was a profitable enterprise marketing consultant with Wall Avenue cred and a large actual property portfolio.
He ultimately admitted he had by no means graduated from Baruch School — 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, though 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 gathering unemployment advantages and mendacity to Congress about his wealth.
Inside months, he was expelled from the U.S. Home of Representatives — simply the sixth member within the chamber’s historical past to be ousted by colleagues.
Santos pleaded responsible the next 12 months simply as he was set to face trial.
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Related Press author Michael R. Sisak contributed to this report.
