{"id":21277,"date":"2025-10-18T13:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T12:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.funminews.com\/?p=21277"},"modified":"2025-10-18T13:29:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T12:29:11","slug":"trump-commutes-santos-fraudster-freed-while-nation-faces-shutdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/18\/trump-commutes-santos-fraudster-freed-while-nation-faces-shutdown\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cTrump Commutes Santos: Fraudster Freed While Nation Faces Shutdown\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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WASHINGTON \u2014 President Donald Trump has commuted the sentence of former Rep. George Santos, releasing him from federal prison just months after he began serving a seven-year term for fraud and identity theft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Santos, 37, pleaded guilty in August 2024 to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft stemming from his 2022 congressional campaign. He was expelled from the House in December 2023, becoming only the sixth lawmaker ever removed from the chamber.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump announced the commutation Friday on Truth Social, calling Santos \u201csomewhat of a rogue\u201d and claiming he had been \u201chorribly mistreated\u201d in prison, including extended periods in solitary confinement. \u201cI just signed a Commutation, releasing George Santos from prison, IMMEDIATELY,\u201d Trump wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Santos had previously sought a pardon but said gatekeepers prevented his request from reaching the president. From prison, he published an open letter asking for \u201cfairness\u201d and acknowledging his past mistakes. \u201cNo man, no matter his flaws, deserves to be lost in the system,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His legal team praised the decision, calling it a correction of injustice. Attorney Joseph Murray thanked several Republican lawmakers, including Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Anna Paulina Luna, and former Rep. Matt Gaetz, for their support. Greene had written a letter to Trump in August urging clemency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Santos also expressed gratitude to officials within the Justice Department, including Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and U.S. Pardon Attorney Ed Martin. Martin said he was \u201chonored\u201d to assist and thanked Trump for \u201cmaking clemency great again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The commutation drew mixed reactions from lawmakers. Greene celebrated the move, saying Santos was \u201cunfairly treated and put in solitary confinement, which is torture.\u201d House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries criticized Trump for prioritizing Santos over pressing national issues, including health care amid a government shutdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During his brief time in Congress, Santos admitted to fabricating parts of his biography, including his education and employment history. He represented parts of Long Island and Queens and attempted to run in another district before pleading guilty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Santos had been serving his sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution in Fairton, New Jersey. He is now free but still faces civil liabilities and public scrutiny over his conduct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The White House has not commented further on the commutation, and legal experts say the move does not erase Santos\u2019 criminal record, though it ends his incarceration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014 President Donald Trump has commuted the sentence of former Rep. George Santos, releasing him from federal prison just months after he began serving a seven-year term for fraud and identity theft. Santos, 37, pleaded guilty in August 2024 to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft stemming from his 2022 congressional campaign. He was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21296,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-international"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.funminews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Trump-Commutes-George-Santos.jpg?fit=1600%2C1200&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21277"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21277\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21310,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21277\/revisions\/21310"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}