President Trump announced Friday that he has commuted the prison sentence of former Republican Congressman George Santos, ordering his immediate release after what Trump described as a grossly excessive and politically motivated punishment.
Santos became a magnet for Democrats and establishment Republicans immediately after his 2022 victory in New York. He pleaded guilty in August 2024 to two felony counts of wire fraud and identity theft and was sentenced to seven years in prison. Federal prosecutors had previously hit him with a 23-count superseding indictment and accused him of filing false fundraising reports and charging donor credit cards without authorization. Trump and many of Santos’s supporters have long argued that the government stacked charges to crush him for being a Republican who flipped a seat in a blue state.
In a statement on Truth Social, President Trump contrasted Santos’s conviction with the conduct of Democrat Senator Richard Blumenthal. Trump reminded the public that Blumenthal spent nearly two decades falsely claiming he was a combat veteran of Vietnam, retelling fake war stories in graphic detail to build a public persona. Trump argued that Blumenthal is still sitting comfortably in the Senate despite what he called a total fabrication of military heroism.
Trump wrote that such conduct was far worse than anything Santos did, yet it carried no legal consequence. He emphasized that Santos at least remained loyal to Republican voters and voted the right way in Congress. Trump also noted that Santos had been kept in solitary confinement for long periods and, according to reports he heard, was mistreated while imprisoned.
Trump concluded by announcing his signature on a commutation order. He said that George Santos would be released immediately and wished him well in rebuilding his life.
Santos had previously addressed the public during the legal saga and admitted personal failures, telling reporters, “I failed you.” Despite that admission, many conservatives believe he never would have faced such extreme punishment if he had been a Democrat.
With this commutation, Trump is once again asserting the power of the presidency to intervene where he believes the justice system has been weaponized. The case will likely continue to divide the political world, but Santos is now a free man.
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