WASHINGTON — President Trump commuted serial fabulist and former GOP Rep. George Santos’ seven-year prison sentence on Friday, citing “horrible” mistreatment by the Bureau of Prisons and claiming Santos’ unlawful conduct was not nearly as bad as the fibs of Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.).
Santos, 36, sobbed in court during his April 25 sentencing after pleading guilty to federal wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. He reported to FCI Fairton in Fairfield Township, NJ, on July 25.
He’s since dished to The South Shore Press on the appalling “fluorescent yellow … state-issued polyester” jumpsuits, as well as mold and broken AC units in the prison.
The ex-congressman and serial fabulist was sentenced to nearly a decade in prison. Bloomberg via Getty Images
The lying Long Island pol admitted in August 2024 to defrauding donors to his successful 2022 House campaign and using the names of dozens of others — including family and friends — to falsely inflate his number of contributors.
“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,” Trump said on Truth Social as he flew from Washington to his Mar-a-Lago resort. “I started to think about George when the subject of Democrat Senator Richard ‘Da Nang Dick’ Blumenthal came up again.”
“As everyone remembers, ‘Da Nang’ stated for almost twenty years that he was a proud Vietnam Veteran, having endured the worst of the War, watching the Wounded and Dead as he raced up the hills and down the valleys, blood streaming from his face,” the president went on. “He was ‘a Great Hero,’ he would leak to any and all who would listen — And then it happened! He was a COMPLETE AND TOTAL FRAUD.”
“He never went to Vietnam, he never saw Vietnam, he never experienced the Battles there, or anywhere else. His War Hero status, and even minimal service in our Military, was totally and completely MADE UP,” Trump added.
George Santos hugged a well wisher as he drives into the FCI Fairton. ABC6 Philadelphia
“This is far worse than what George Santos did, and at least Santos had the Courage, Conviction, and Intelligence to ALWAYS VOTE REPUBLICAN!”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) – who pushed for Santos’ release in August, calling his sentencing “abusive overreach by the judicial system” – celebrated the commutation Friday.
“THANK YOU President Trump for releasing George Santos!!” Greene wrote on X.
“He was unfairly treated and put in solitary confinement, which is torture!!” she added.
Ed Martin, the DOJ’s pardon attorney, noted on X that “George had [no] greater friend than [Greene].”
Martin said he was “honored” to have “played a small role in [Trump] granting [Santos] clemency.”
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“Thank you, Mr. President for making clemency great again,” the pardon attorney added.
In a note posted on Santos’ X account, Joseph Murray, his lawyer, wrote: “God bless President Donald J Trump the greatest President in U.S. history!”
“I really have to thank Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene who fought like a lion on George’s behalf,” Murray continued, also thanking Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and several Trump administration officials.
“President Trump is absolutely right when he says that the U.S. is back!” the lawyer added.
Meanwhile, the Democrat Santos beat in the 2022 race for New York’s 3rd District congressional seat fumed that Trump “is trying to put his political enemies in jail while he frees George Santos for the unconscionable crimes that he committed and the fraud he concealed.”
“For Donald Trump to erase the consequence of those crimes-simply because Santos votes Republican-should outrage each and every American who says they are for law and order,” Robert Zimmerman said in a statement.
“While I have no doubt that Santos will ultimately end up in Trump’s Cabinet, this decision demonstrates the lawlessness of the Trump Administration,” he added.
“We are all waiting to see if every Republican in Congress who condemned Santos will have the courage to stand up to Donald Trump and condemn him for this shameful action.”
While pleading guilty, Santos confessed that he and campaign treasurer Nancy Marks, who also pleaded guilty to fraud conspiracy, had “filed the list of false names” to federal regulators and “used the names of our friends and family … to artificially inflate the numbers of our donors.”
The ill-gotten gains were spent in part on OnlyFans subscriptions, Botox, and even spa treatments.
“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,” Trump said on Truth Social on Friday. AP
The former Republican congressman also lied about his professional and personal achievements before entering office, which combined with the fraud accusations got him expelled from Congress in December 2023.
Among the lies: Santos claimed to have graduated from New York University and Baruch College — the latter on a volleyball scholarship — worked at Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, and been descended from a Jewish family.
The commutation of Santos’ sentence was posted on Trump’s Truth Social account on Friday evening. Donald Trump/Truth Social
“I never claimed to be Jewish,” Santos came clean to The Post in December 2022. “I am Catholic. Because I learned my maternal family had a Jewish background I said I was ‘Jew-ish.’”
Santos became only the sixth member of the US House of Representatives to be expelled while serving.
Blumenthal falsely claimed that he served in the Vietnam War during a 2008 event — before correcting the record in a statement to the Hartford Courant after the comments resurfaced during his 2010 Senate campaign.
“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!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. Getty Images
“At times when I have sought to honor veterans, I have not been as clear or precise as I should have been about my service in the Marine Corps Reserves,” the Connecticut Democrat said at the time.
“I have firmly and clearly expressed regret and taken responsibility for my words,” added Blumenthal. “I have made mistakes and I am sorry. I truly regret offending anyone.”
In 2008, Blumenthal had claimed: “We have learned something very important since the days that I served in Vietnam … whatever we think about the war, whatever we call it — Afghanistan or Iraq — we owe our military men and women unconditional support.”
The senator, who assumed his position in January 2011, did serve in the Marine Corps Reserve during Vietnam but was never deployed.
Reps for the Bureau of Prisons did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It was not immediately clear when Santos would be released.