US President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he commuted the sentence of 37-year-old former Republican congressman George Santos, who in April sentenced to more than seven years in prison for fraud and identity theft. AP and AFP agencies reported about it.
“I just signed a reduced sentence that will release George Santos from prison IMMEDIATELY,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Friday. “George Santos was a ‘villain’ in a sense, but there are many villains in our country who are not forced to serve seven years in prison,” he added.
In this context, he mentioned Democratic politician Richard Blumenthal, who “pronounced for almost twenty years that he was a proud Vietnam veteran” and eventually turned out to be a “complete and utter fraud” who had never been to Vietnam.
According to Trump, Santos was in solitary confinement for a long time and “by all accounts he was treated very badly. “Santos at least had the courage, conviction and intelligence to ALWAYS VOTE REPUBLICAN,” stated the American president.
The AFP agency reminded that a presidential commutation differs from a pardon in that the original conviction remains in effect, but the sentence imposed is reduced.
Santos was convicted after pleading guilty last year to lied to campaign sponsors and stole the identities of 11 people, including his own family members, to obtain campaign donations. He transferred money from sponsors to his personal account and used it to pay, among other things, luxury vacations, botox treatments or the purchase of luxury goods from Italy. As part of the plea agreement, Santos also agreed to pay a fine of approximately $580,000.
Santos was elected to the House of Representatives in New York’s third district in 2022. Subsequently, revelations began to emerge about the politician’s false claims about his higher education, career, family and religion. For example, Santos invented a degree from an elite university or a successful career as a college volleyball player. He also falsely claimed to be Jewish and to have worked for investment bank Goldman Sachs and banking conglomerate Citigroup.
In May 2023, Santos was charged with fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds and lying to the House of Representatives. In October, the charges were expanded to include identity theft.
Until his expulsion from the House of Representatives in early December 2023, Santos served there for about a year as a representative of one New York district and presented himself as a supporter of Donald Trump. He became only the third expelled lawmaker in more than 150 years.
From prison, Santos contributed regularly to The South Shore Press, a local newspaper published on Long Island. In an Oct. 13 article, he directly addressed Trump, citing his loyalty to the president’s agenda and the Republican Party.
By reducing Santos’ sentence, Trump continues to pardon former Republican politicians after returning to the White House. In late May, he pardoned former congressman Michael Grimm, a Republican from New York who was convicted of tax fraud in 2015.
Trump also pardoned former Connecticut Gov. John Rowland in May, whose a political career ended in a corruption scandal and two federal prison terms.
