President Donald Trump mentioned Friday night he has signed a commutation releasing scandal-plagued former congressman George Santos from jail “instantly.”
Santos, 37, was lower than three months into serving a seven-year sentence in federal prison after being convicted of wire fraud and aggravated id theft.
In a social media put up, Trump mentioned Santos, whom he referred to as “considerably of a ‘rogue,'” had the “Braveness, Conviction, and Intelligence to ALWAYS VOTE REPUBLICAN!”
Former congressman George Santos leaves the Alfonse D’Amato Federal Courthouse after being sentenced, April 25, 2025, in Central Islip. New York.
Howard Schnapp/Newsday RM by way of Getty Photos
“George has been in solitary confinement for lengthy stretches of time and, by all accounts, has been horribly mistreated. Due to this fact, I simply signed a Commutation, releasing George Santos from jail, IMMEDIATELY. Good luck George, have an incredible life!” Trump mentioned.
The U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace for the Jap District of New York, which efficiently prosecuted Santos, had no remark.
In response to the clemency grant, a photo of which was posted on X by U.S. Pardon Legal professional Ed Martin, Trump granted Santos an “fast commutation of his complete sentence to time served with no additional fines, restitution, probation, supervised launch, or different circumstances.”
An lawyer for Santos advised ABC Information whereas en path to the federal jail that they anticipate he will likely be launched Friday night time however are ready for official phrase.
The lawyer mentioned that Martin and Deputy Legal professional Basic Todd Blanche have been extraordinarily useful in getting the commutation throughout the end line, and famous that a number of members of Congress, together with Republican Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert and Tim Burchett, have been very aggressive in campaigning for his launch.
Santos pleaded responsible to a sequence of fraud crimes and was sentenced in April to 87 months in jail — the utmost he confronted — and two years of supervised launch.
The commutation comes days after the South Shore Press published a “passionate plea” from Santos to Trump, through which he expressed his assist and requested that the president “permit me the chance to return to my household, my mates, and my group.”
“Throughout my brief tenure in Congress, I stood firmly behind your agenda — 100% of the time,” Santos wrote within the letter, printed Monday. “I championed insurance policies that strengthened our economic system, defended our borders, and restored America’s standing on the world stage. I did it proudly, Sir, as a result of I believed — and nonetheless imagine — within the mission you got down to accomplish for the American individuals.”
Santos mentioned within the letter that he was being held in “full isolation” following an alleged dying menace.
“Mr. President, I’ve nowhere else to show. You have got all the time been a person of second possibilities, a frontrunner who believes in redemption and renewal. I’m asking you now, from the depths of my coronary heart, to increase that very same perception to me,” he wrote.
Rep. Greene, who had not too long ago referred to as on Trump to commute Santos’ sentence, thanked the president for doing so on Friday, saying on X that the previous congressman was “unfairly handled and put in solitary confinement, which is torture!!”
U.S. Rep.-elect Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) (L) talks to Rep.-elect George Santos (R-NY) within the Home Chamber through the third day of elections for Speaker of the Home on the U.S. Capitol Constructing on January 05, 2023 in Washington, DC. The Home of Representatives is assembly to vote for the subsequent Speaker after Home Republican Chief Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) didn’t earn greater than 218 votes on a number of ballots; the primary time in 100 years that the Speaker was not elected on the primary poll.
Win Mcnamee/Getty Photos
Santos pleaded responsible in August 2024, through which he admitted to claiming family members had made contributions to his marketing campaign when, the truth is, they’d not. Santos conceded he was making an attempt to satisfy the fundraising threshold to qualify for monetary assist from the Nationwide Republican Congressional Committee.
He additionally stipulated that he dedicated different fraud, together with charging donor bank cards with out authorization and convincing donors to provide cash by falsely stating the cash could be used for TV advertisements. He additionally stipulated he stole public cash by making use of for and receiving unemployment advantages through the pandemic to which he was not entitled.
As a part of his plea deal, he agreed to pay almost $600,000 in restitution and forfeiture.
Rep. George Santos waits for the beginning of a session within the Home chamber in Washington, D.C., Jan. 6, 2023.
Alex Brandon/AP, FILE
Santos was expelled from Congress in December 2023, just below a yr after assuming workplace to signify New York’s third Congressional District.
His expulsion from Congress adopted accusations of ethics violations and different wrongdoing in a scathing report by the Home Ethics Committee that claimed he was a fabulist and fraudster who used the status of political workplace to bilk tens of 1000’s of {dollars} out of different individuals.
A number of New York Home Republicans — who led the cost to expel George Santos from the Home — criticized Trump’s commutation.
“George Santos did not merely lie — he stole hundreds of thousands, defrauded an election, and his crimes (for which he pled responsible) 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,” New York GOP Rep. Nick LaLota, who represents a district on Lengthy Island, said in a put up on X.
New York GOP Rep. Andrew Garbarino, who’s the present chair of the Homeland Safety Committee and sat on the committee that investigated Santos, mentioned in a press release that “lower than three months” in jail is “not justice.”
A number of Home Democrats additionally condemned Trump’s transfer.
“Donald Trump has time to free serial fraudster George Santos from jail. However he can’t be bothered to deal with the Republican healthcare disaster crushing working class People. The extremists are insulting you each single day,” Home Democratic Chief Hakeem Jeffries said in a put up on X.
ABC Information’ Lalee Ibssa, Lauren Peller, Aaron Katersky and Rachel Scott contributed to this report.
