Donald Trump announced Friday that he has commuted the 87-month prison sentence of former New York Republican Congressman George Santos.
The reason: “Santos had the Courage, Conviction, and Intelligence to ALWAYS VOTE REPUBLICAN!”
I wish I was making that up.
Santos, you may remember, was expelled from Congress in 2023 following a House Ethics Committee investigation and federal indictment, and pleaded guilty in 2024 to identity theft and wire fraud, telling the judge at his sentencing: “I allowed my ambition to cloud my judgment, leading me to make decisions that were unethical and guilty.”
To reinforce: Santos pleaded guilty to the charges.
“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,” Trump wrote on social media.
Ahem, Santos wasn’t “forced” to serve any time; he pleaded guilty, and could have gotten 22 years for the crimes that he pleaded guilty to.
Eighty-seven months – about a third of what he could have gotten – was a gift, considering.
So much for the rule of law with this Trump guy, though, who shifted his explanation for letting an admitted felon off with three months served of that 87-month sentence to repeating lies he has been telling about Richard Blumenthal, a U.S. senator from Connecticut, who, unlike Trump, actually served in the military, though Blumenthal admitted, back in 2010, to having overstated his record in having called himself a “Vietnam veteran,” since he had only served stateside.
“As everyone remembers, ‘Da Nang’” – that’s Trump’s schoolyard nickname for Blumenthal, which he almost certainly wouldn’t say to his face without Secret Service there to protect him – “stated for almost twenty years that he was a proud Vietnam Veteran, having endured the worst of the War, watching the Wounded and Dead as he raced up the hills and down the valleys, blood streaming from his face.”
Didn’t say those things.
Just said he was a Vietnam veteran, when he was just a military veteran who served stateside during the Vietnam era.
Among the things Blumenthal never said: that avoiding STDs in the 1990s was “my personal Vietnam.”
Trump, who spent a lot of his time in the 1990s hanging out with child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, is the one who said that one.
“He was a COMPLETE AND TOTAL FRAUD. He never went to Vietnam, he never saw Vietnam, he never experienced the Battles there, or anywhere else. His War Hero status, and even minimal service in our Military, was totally and completely MADE UP,” Trump wrote.
Again, this is from a guy who we’ve known for years was given a deferment for “bone spurs” so that he could avoid any form of military service during the Vietnam era.
And now holds military parades in his honor.
Because that’s what a fake tough guy does.
“This is far worse than what George Santos did, and at least Santos had the Courage, Conviction, and Intelligence to ALWAYS VOTE REPUBLICAN!” Trump went on.
Of course that’s the standard for Trump.
George Santos pleaded guilty to several felonies, sure, but he always voted Republican.
Republicans, we all know, aren’t to be held accountable anymore.
Democrats sign in the wrong place on a piece of paper, and they face the full weight of the DOJ, but Republicans can defraud people, try to overthrow the government, and … nothing.
“George has been in solitary confinement for long stretches of time and, by all accounts, has been horribly mistreated,” Trump wrote, referring to, with “by all accounts,” the accounts of George Santos.
“Therefore, I just signed a Commutation, releasing George Santos from prison, IMMEDIATELY. Good luck George, have a great life!”
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Chris Graham
