AP Photo/Patrick Semansky
Former Rep. George Santos (R-NY) is “decompressing” after the “traumatic experience” of three months in prison following an early release thanks to President Donald Trump.
Santos’s lawyer Joseph Murray updated the New York Post during a brief chat on Saturday about the state of his client.
“Now is not a good time, I just got here, I’m meeting with him and we just want to let him decompress a little bit,” Murray said.
The lawyer refused to give any details about the whereabouts of his client.
“He was released last night. Let’s give him – let’s respect his and his family’s privacy and let them decompress a little. It’s a traumatic experience as you can imagine,” he said.
Santos served 84 days of a seven-plus-year sentence for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. He was sentenced in April. The controversial Republican was also expelled from the House of Representatives in 2023 over ethics concerns, including major lies about his background and resume.
Trump announced
“I just signed a Commutation, releasing George Santos from prison, IMMEDIATELY. Good luck George, have a great life!” the president announced.
An emotional Santos pleaded with Trump in May for a “commutation, clemency, whatever.”
“Seven years and three months in prison for a first-time offender over campaign matters just screams over the top and I would appreciate if the president would consider,” he said.
Santos told Tucker Carlson in a July interview ahead of him going to prison that he feared for his life, calling his his punishment a “death sentence.”
“I don’t know that I survive it. They’re putting me in a violent prison. It’s a medium facility. I’m not a street-wise guy. I don’t know how to fight. I’m a gay man,” he said. “We– statistics tell you what happens to gay men in prison. I didn’t know I survived this. I, I’m being honest. I mean, I can’t change that.”