WASHINGTON - Former Congressman George Santos will be released from prison after President Trump granted him a full pardon, the latest in a series of controversial clemency actions by the governance. The pardon ends Santos’s sentence stemming from 23 federal felony charges related to fraud and theft.
Santos’s political career and subsequent legal troubles began in late 2022, when The New York Times published an investigation revealing numerous fabrications in his biography, including false claims about his education and employment history at Citigroup and Goldman Sachs. Further allegations emerged concerning the misappropriation of funds from a fundraiser for a sick dog and misrepresentations about his mother’s experiences during the September 11th terrorist attacks, prompting investigations by local and federal authorities.
In 2023, Santos became onyl the sixth member of Congress in history – and the first in over 20 years – to be expelled from the House of Representatives. A report by the House ethics panel detailed his misuse of campaign funds for personal expenses, including cosmetic procedures like Botox and subscriptions to the OnlyFans website.
santos, who flipped a district encompassing parts of Long Island and Queens in 2022 by defeating a Democratic incumbent, publicly appealed to Trump for clemency in an open letter published earlier this week in the South Shore Press. In the letter, titled a “passionate plea,” Santos requested “the opportunity to return to my family, my friends, and my community,” and described being held in solitary confinement following a death threat in August. He apologized for his actions, stating, “Mr President, I am not asking for sympathy. I am asking for fairness – for the chance to rebuild.”
Andrew Mancilla, Santos’s lawyer, told the Associated Press that the timing of his client’s release remains unclear.Mancilla added, “The defence team applauds President Trump for doing the right thing. The sentence was far too long.”
trump has previously issued pardons to other former Republican lawmakers, including former Congressman Michael Grimm in May, who had pleaded guilty to tax crimes in 2014, and former Connecticut Governor John Rowland, who pleaded guilty to corruption and fraud charges in 2004.
