Disgraced former congressman George Santos released from prison in New Jersey

Disgraced former US House member George Santos was released from prison in New Jersey late on Friday, hours after the Republican’s seven-year, three-month prison sentence for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft was commuted by Donald Trump.

An X statement attributed to Santos’s lawyer, Joseph Murray, called Trump “the greatest president in US history”.

“God bless President Donald J Trump!” Murray’s post also said.

The post credited the influence of several Republican political figures besides Trump for Santos’s release, which came less than three months into his sentence. That included US House member Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who Murray said “fought like a lion” for Santos’s release. Others were House members Lauren Boebert and Anna Paulina Luna – as well as former congressman Matt Gaetz, justice department and bureau of prisons officials, and deputy US attorney general Todd Blanche.

Long Island’s South Shore Press, which has been posting regular prison updates from Santos, revealed on Saturday that the former congressman had been on a computer when inmates started yelling, “Hey … you’re on TV.”

The Press wrote: “Santos ignored it, since he’s on the news all the time. [Thirty] minutes later, he read the crawl at the bottom of the screen: ‘Santos Sentence Commuted.’ He was released at 11.30pm.”

Five days earlier, the newspaper published an open letter from Santos to Trump that pleaded for help. “Mr President, I am not asking for sympathy. I am asking for fairness – for the chance to rebuild,” he wrote.

Santos acknowledged making mistakes and said: “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.”

The ex-congressman, who pleaded to guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft in August 2024, described conditions inside the Fairton federal prison as “unlike anything most Americans could ever comprehend”. And he described himself to Trump as a “lifelong Republican and a proud believer in your America First vision” who “never wavered” in his support for the president.

Santos’s release is likely to reignite a debate over the limits of presidential power – and it comes as millions of Americans are expected to attend No Kings demonstrations across the country on Saturday to protest what many see as an authoritarian government unmoored from the norms of US governance.

Trump announced his decision to commute Santos’s sentence in a Truth Social post that acknowledged that the former representative “was somewhat of a ‘rogue’”.

“But there are many rogues throughout our country that aren’t forced to serve seven years in prison,” Trump’s post said. The president added: “Good luck, George, have a great life!”

The commutation came after a push from Santos’s Republican allies, chief among them Greene, who has been making waves in deviating from her party’s orthodoxy and had described his conviction a “grave injustice”.

“THANK YOU President Trump for releasing George Santos!!” Greene wrote on X after Trump announced the commutation. Greene added, in part, that – in her opinion – Santos “was unfairly treated”.

But Santos’s release has provoked criticism from both sides of the political spectrum. Robert Zimmerman, the Democratic candidate Santos beat in 2022 to represent New York’s third congressional district, said in a statement that he had “no doubt that Santos will ultimately end up in Trump’s cabinet”.

“While I have no doubt that Santos will ultimately end up in Trump’s cabinet, this decision demonstrates the lawlessness of the Trump administration,” Zimmerman’s statement said of the president, who won a second presidency in November 2024 months after a New York state jury convicted him of criminally falsifying business records.

The House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, a Democrat, called Santos a “serial fraudster”, while Republican former congressman Adam Kinzinger said Santos’s commutation was “a feature of corruption”.

Former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, who had his own federal corruption conviction commuted and later pardoned by Trump, told Newsmax: “I know President Trump did the right thing with me. I’m sure he did the right thing with Congressman Santos as well.”