I had a horrible feeling after former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) was convicted that Donald Trump would grant him clemency in one form or another
This weekend, that fear came true.
Trump announced the commutation of Santos’ prison sentence, and now we are being treated to 24/7 musings from the former lawmaker, who is making himself out to be some type of martyr.
In April of this year, it was announced that Santos was sentenced to 87 months in prison for wire fraud and identity theft. Santos also faced more than $500,000 in restitution and forfeiture.
U.S. Attorney John Durham announced, “Today, George Santos was finally held accountable for the mountain of lies, theft, and fraud he perpetrated. For the defendant, it was judgment day, and for his many victims including campaign donors, political parties, government agencies, elected bodies, his own family members, and his constituents, it is justice.”
He continued, “To Mr. Santos and other dishonest individuals of that ilk, who lie, steal identities and commit frauds to get elected to public office, this prosecution speaks to the truth that my Office is committed to aggressively rooting out public corruption and that public officials who criminally abuse our electoral process will end up in a federal prison.”
You guys all know that I despise political corruption, and I could not have been happier with the sentence, as I believe that judges need to throw the book at corrupt public officials for violating the trust of their constituents.
Trump stunned everyone this weekend by announcing a commutation of Santos' sentence on Truth Social, posting, "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.”
He continued, "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."
Santos was not mistreated; he abused a public trust and was held accountable for it.
This is one area that has infuriated me when it comes to Trump, as I believe that Santos is now the 17th corrupt public official to have been pardoned or had their sentence commuted by the president. All this does is give Democrats more ammo to use against Trump, someone they already believe is a corrupt official himself.
While many Republicans are terrified to cross Trump on policy, they were lining up to slam the president over this commutation. For example, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) stated, “George Santos is a convicted con artist. That will forever be his legacy, and I disagree with the commutation.”
Even Republicans who were unhappy but fell short of calling Trump out directly expressed frustration, suggesting that Santos should have served far more than the couple of months he spent behind bars. As expected, Democrats pounced.
Robert Zimmerman, the Democrat who lost to Santos in the general election in 2022, responded, “Donald Trump is trying to put his political enemies in jail while he frees George Santos for the unconscionable crimes he committed.” He further stated that this commutation represents the “lawlessness” of the Trump administration.
Mark my word, this will be a campaign ad for Democrats in the coming cycle, showing the faces of every corrupt politician pardoned by Trump. I like a lot of what Trump does, but I will never advocate for or approve of any pardon or commutation for a corrupt politician. Quite frankly, it is frustrating and angers me to no end.
