WASHINGTON (AP) — On Friday, President Donald Trump announced the commutation of former U.S. Representative George Santos’s prison sentence. Santos, who had been serving over seven years for fraud and identity theft, will now be released.
The Republican from New York faced sentencing in April after admitting to a scheme where he misled donors and stole the identities of 11 individuals, including family members, to funnel donations into his campaign.
Santos began his sentence on July 25 at the Federal Correctional Institution in Fairton, New Jersey. He was housed in a minimum-security prison camp with fewer than 50 inmates.
Trump shared the news on his social media platform, stating, “I just signed a Commutation, releasing George Santos from prison, IMMEDIATELY.”
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Following his sentencing, Santos had sought the Trump administration’s intervention, arguing on social media and in interviews that his punishment was excessively severe and politically driven.
Among his supporters was former House colleague U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who wrote to the White House days after Santos’s incarceration. She described his sentence as a “grave injustice” and an example of judicial overreach.
The judge in Santos’ case had agreed with federal prosecutors that a stiffer sentence was warranted because Santos didn’t seem remorseful, despite what he and his lawyers claimed.
Santos’ commutation is Trump’s latest high-profile act of clemency for former Republican politicians since retaking the White House in January.
In late May, he pardoned former U.S. Rep. Michael Grimm, a New York Republican who in 2014 pleaded guilty to underreporting wages and revenue at a restaurant he ran in Manhattan.
He also pardoned former Connecticut Gov. John Rowland, whose promising political career was upended by a corruption scandal and two federal prison stints.
Trump himself was convicted in a New York court last year in a case involving hush money payments. He derided the case as part of a politically motivated witch hunt.
Santos was once an up-and-coming star for the GOP.
He became the first openly gay Republican elected to Congress in 2022, flipping a House seat representing parts of Queens and Long Island.
But Santos served less than a year in office after it was revealed that he had fabricated much of his life story, which in turn led to investigations into how the then-unknown politician had funded his winning campaign.
A son of Brazilian immigrants, Santos had claimed he was a successful business consultant with Wall Street cred and a sizable real estate portfolio.
He eventually admitted he had never graduated from Baruch College — or been a standout player on the Manhattan college’s volleyball team, as he had claimed. He had never worked at Citigroup and Goldman Sachs.
He wasn’t even Jewish. Santos insisted he meant he was “Jew-ish” because his mother’s family had a Jewish background, even though he was raised Catholic.
In truth, the then-34-year-old was struggling financially and even faced eviction.
Santos was charged in 2023 with stealing from donors and his campaign, fraudulently collecting unemployment benefits and lying to Congress about his wealth.
Within months, he was expelled from the U.S. House of Representatives — just the sixth member in the chamber’s history to be ousted by colleagues.
Santos pleaded guilty the following year just as he was set to stand trial.
