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George Santos’ lying ass is back in the spotlight



Fresh off having his prison sentence commuted by President Donald Trump,
former New York Rep. George Santos wasted no time jumping back into the
spotlight. Within 48 hours, he sat down for an interview with Dana Bash on CNN
and reactivated his account on Cameo, the service where he previously charged
more than $300 for personalized videos.

Santos, who served less than three months of a seven-year sentence, offered
little indication of remorse. When Bash asked whether he intended to pay back
the roughly $374,000 in restitution tied to his fraud conviction, Santos
shrugged off the idea.

“I can do my best to do whatever the law requires of me,” he said. “So I
don’t know what that is. I’ve been out of prison for two days. I agreed to come
here to speak with you candidly and openly and not to obfuscate. If it’s
required of me by the law, yes. If it’s not, then no. I will do whatever the
law requires me to do.”





 



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He didn’t stop there.

In a separate appearance on Fox News, Santos went further, claiming he no
longer owed any restitution.

“I do not have any pendencies with the law anymore. I have no restitution. I
have no probation,” he said on “Fox & Friends Weekend,” calling much of the
restitution “really insane.”

In August, Santos pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft
after prosecutors accused him of embezzling donor funds and charging their
credit cards without authorization. A judge ordered him to pay nearly $374,000
in restitution to those he defrauded, money he used to bankroll a lifestyle
built on lies.

Prosecutors said he spent donor money on luxury shopping trips at Hermès and
Louis Vuitton, extended stays at Las Vegas’ Venetian Hotel, credit card
payments, and thousands of dollars in cash withdrawals.

That con was part of a much bigger web of deceit. Even before his arrest,
Santos was widely known for lying about nearly every corner of his
life—fabricating degrees, job titles, charity work, and even claiming his
mother died in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Those lies helped him win
office, but they eventually caught up with him, leading to his expulsion from
the House.

Still, Santos was full of gratitude—for Trump.

On Fox, he called the president a man with “such an amazing will for second
chances.” And on CNN, he waved off the backlash.

“I’m pretty confident if President Trump had pardoned Jesus Christ off the
cross, he would have had critics,” he said. “So that’s just the reality of our
country.”




 



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Santos had spent months lobbying for clemency, aided by allies in Congress.
Far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia even sent a letter to the
Justice Department formally requesting that Trump cut Santos’ sentence short.

If this feels predictable, that’s because it is. Trump’s clemency spree has
been sweeping, especially for those in his political orbit.

On his first day back in office, Trump pardoned more than 1,500 people tied to
the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, including individuals who
assaulted police officers. Some of those who were pardoned have since been
arrested and/or convicted again.

Days later, Trump pardoned 23 anti-abortion extremists. In early March, he
granted clemency to a Tennessee Republican who was two weeks into a nearly
two-year sentence for campaign finance violations. And Trump later pardoned a
former Las Vegas City Council member with close ties to his political network.
Over the following months, his list of clemency recipients continued to expand.

Perhaps no group has benefited more than scandal-plagued Republican
officeholders, though.

Santos is the latest in a series of Republican officeholders or former
officials to receive clemency. Others include Michael Grimm, a former New York
congressman convicted of tax fraud, and John Rowland, the former Connecticut
governor who also served time in prison.

With Santos’ commutation, Trump has now pardoned or commuted the sentences of
10 current or former Republican members of Congress convicted of crimes, and
that number will likely rise.

Traditionally, presidents used pardons sparingly, often to correct
miscarriages of justice or clear the names of those wrongfully accused. Trump’s
standard is far simpler: If you’re an ally, that’s good enough. And for Santos,
that loyalty paid off.



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