George Santos speaks out exclusively to FOX 5 after 7-year prison sentence

Former Rep. George Santos called FOX 5 NY’s Jodi Goldberg Friday, telling her the judge’s 7-year sentence in his fraud conviction was “overkill.” He also told her he was remorseful – but then stated that he would “never be remorseful of his First Amendment rights.”

NEW YORK – President Donald Trump said Friday he had commuted the sentence of disgraced former Rep. George Santos, who is serving more than seven years in federal prison after pleading guilty to fraud

What we know:

The New York Republican was sentenced in April after admitting last year to deceiving donors and stealing the identities of 11 people, including his own family members, to make donations to his campaign.

He reported to the Federal Correctional Institution in Fairton, southern New Jersey, on July 25 and is being housed in a minimum-security prison camp with fewer than 50 other inmates.

What they’re saying:

“I just signed a commutation, releasing George Santos from prison immediately,” Trump posted on his social media platform.

Santos had appealed to the Trump administration within hours of receiving his sentence, insisting in social media posts and interviews that it was overly harsh and politically motivated.

A prominent former House colleague, U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, also urged the White House to commute his sentence, calling the punishment “a grave injustice” and a product of judicial overreach in a letter sent just days into his prison term.

The judge in Santos’ case agreed with federal prosecutors that a stiffer sentence was warranted because Santos didn’t seem remorseful, despite what he and his lawyers claimed.

Santos’ commutation is Trump’s latest high-profile act of clemency for former Republican politicians since retaking the White House in January.

In late May, he pardoned former U.S. Rep. Michael Grimm, a New York Republican who in 2014 pleaded guilty to underreporting wages and revenue at a Manhattan restaurant.

Trump pardons

He also pardoned former Connecticut Gov. John Rowland, whose political career was derailed by a corruption scandal and two federal prison stints.

Trump himself was convicted in a New York court last year in a case involving hush money payments, which he derided as part of a politically motivated witch hunt.

Santos was once an up-and-coming star in the GOP. He became the first openly gay Republican elected to Congress in 2022, flipping a House seat representing parts of Queens and Long Island.

But he served less than a year before revelations that he had fabricated much of his life story led to investigations into how he had financed his campaign.

The backstory:

A son of Brazilian immigrants, Santos claimed he was a successful Wall Street consultant and real estate investor. In reality, he had never graduated from Baruch College, never worked at Citigroup or Goldman Sachs, and was struggling financially, even facing eviction.

He was charged in 2023 with stealing from donors and his campaign, fraudulently collecting unemployment benefits, and lying to Congress about his wealth. Within months, he was expelled from the U.S. House of Representatives — just the sixth member in history to be ousted by colleagues.