{"id":7747,"date":"2025-10-19T04:19:32","date_gmt":"2025-10-19T04:19:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/7747\/"},"modified":"2025-10-19T04:19:32","modified_gmt":"2025-10-19T04:19:32","slug":"former-rep-george-santos-released-from-prison-after-trump-commutes-his-sentence-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/7747\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Rep. George Santos released from prison after Trump commutes his sentence | Politics"},"content":{"rendered":"

(CNN) \u2014 Disgraced former Rep. George Santos, who had been serving a seven-year term<\/a> for the fraud charges that got him ousted from Congress, was released from prison on Friday night after President Donald Trump commuted his sentence, his lawyer tells CNN.<\/p>\n

Trump first announced the commutation on Truth Social on Friday evening, and, according to attorney Joseph Murray, Santos\u2019 family picked him up from the prison about five hours later.<\/p>\n

\u201cGeorge Santos was somewhat of a \u2018rogue,\u2019 but there are many rogues throughout our Country that aren\u2019t forced to serve seven years in prison,\u201d the president wrote on Truth Social.<\/p>\n

\u201cGeorge 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,\u201d Trump added.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s commutation comes just months after Santos, 37, surrendered on July 25 to serve 87 months in prison<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Before he surrendered, Santos told Saudi outlet Al Arabiya English that he asked Trump for a pardon but believed he \u201cgot stonewalled.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it made it to the president,\u201d Santos said of his pardon request at the time. \u201cUnfortunately, gatekeepers have blockaded for it to ever get to the president.\u201d<\/p>\n

But even from behind bars, Santos continued to make his case. According to his verified X page<\/a>, he wrote an open letter to Trump earlier this week, pleading for \u201cfairness\u201d while also saying he takes \u201cfull responsibility\u201d for his actions.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. President, I am not asking for sympathy. I am asking for fairness \u2014 for the chance to rebuild. I know I have made mistakes in my past. I have faced my share of consequences, and I take full responsibility for my actions. But no man, no matter his flaws, deserves to be lost in the system, forgotten and unseen, enduring punishment far beyond what justice requires,\u201d Santos wrote in the letter published in The South Shore Press.<\/a><\/p>\n

The law firm that represented Santos celebrated the president\u2019s move, telling CNN, \u201cWe applaud the President for correcting this injustice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murray posted on X<\/a> a message on behalf of Santos thanking GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene -who he said \u201cfought like a lion\u201d for him \u2013 as well as Lauren Boebert<\/a>, Anna Paulina Luna, and former Congressman Matt Gaetz, whom he described as \u201cin regular contact.\u201d<\/p>\n

Santos also expressed gratitude to \u201cthe greatest DOJ team ever assembled\u201d, specifically naming Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, Associated Deputy AG Diego Pestana, and US Pardon Attorney Ed Martin, among other. Martin wrote on X<\/a> he was \u201chonored\u201d to have played \u201ca small role\u201d in Trump granting \u201cclemency\u201d to Santos, and thanked the president for \u201cmaking clemency great again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the commutation drew mixed reaction from lawmakers. Taylor Greene \u2014 who wrote a letter to Trump in August asking him to commute Santos\u2019 sentence \u2014 also thanked the president in a post on X<\/a>, adding that Santos \u201cwas unfairly treated and put in solitary confinement, which is torture!!\u201d<\/p>\n

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, however, slammed Trump for focusing on Santos instead of Americans\u2019 health care \u2014 an issue at the center of the ongoing government shutdown.<\/p>\n

\u201cDonald Trump has time to free serial fraudster George Santos from prison. But he can\u2019t be bothered to address the Republican healthcare crisis crushing working class Americans,\u201d Jeffries said in a post on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In August 2024, the former congressman pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft and wire fraud charges stemming from activity during his 2022 midterm campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cI deeply regret my conduct,\u201d Santos said in court at that time. \u201cI accept full responsibility for my actions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Santos was expelled from Congress in December 2023, before completing a full term in the US House \u2013 becoming only the sixth lawmaker ever to be expelled from the chamber.<\/p>\n

During his short time in Congress, reports emerged of Santos having fabricated parts of his biography, including his employment history and education. He eventually admitted to<\/a> doing that.<\/p>\n

Santos represented parts of Long Island and Queens and attempted to run in another New York district before pleading guilty.<\/p>\n

Santos had been serving out his sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution in Fairton, in southern New Jersey, per the federal Bureau of Prisons.<\/p>\n

This story has been updated with additional details.<\/p>\n

The-CNN-Wire<\/p>\n

\u2122 & \u00a9 2025 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(CNN) \u2014 Disgraced former Rep. George Santos, who had been serving a seven-year term for the fraud charges…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7748,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[6745,136,138,137,50,6746],"class_list":["post-7747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-erie","tag-cnn","tag-erie","tag-erie-headlines","tag-erie-news","tag-politics","tag-wire"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7747"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7747\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}