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Donald Trump has commuted the sentence of disgraced former US Congressman George Santos, who was serving seven years in prison on fraud charges.
“George Santos was somewhat of a ‘rogue,’ but there are many rogues throughout our Country that aren’t forced to serve seven years in prison,” the president said in a post on his Truth Social Platform on Friday evening.
Trump added: “George has been in solitary confinement for long stretches of time and, by all accounts, has been horribly mistreated. Therefore, I just signed a Commutation, releasing George Santos from prison, IMMEDIATELY. Good luck George, have a great life!”
Santos had been in prison since the summer, where he was serving a sentence of 87 months for committing wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
The former Republican party representative for New York’s third Congressional District said in 2023 that he would not seek re-election the following year after the House ethics committee published a 56-page report stating that there was “substantial evidence” he had broken federal laws.
The committee said his behaviour “warrants public condemnation, is beneath the dignity of the office, and has brought severe discredit upon the House”.
Santos was eventually convicted of numerous charges, including devising and executing a fraudulent scheme to obtain money for his 2022 election campaign, and stealing the personal identity and financial information of donors between 2020 and 2022.
He also made a series of false statements to the House of Representatives over his personal financial position.
Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia Congresswoman and Trump ally, had called for Santos’s sentence to be reduced.
In an August 4 dated letter to Edward Martin, the US pardon attorney, Taylor Greene said the seven-year sentence “for such campaign-related matters for an individual with no prior criminal record extends far beyond what is warranted”.
“While his crimes warrant punishment, many of my colleagues who I serve with have committed far worse offences than Mr Santos yet have faced zero criminal charges,” she said in the letter.
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