Trump sparks fury with his latest presidential pardon

US president Donald Trump’s pardons during his second term have not been without controversy, from the 1,500 or so supporters involved in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol in 2021, to the latest individual to be granted clemency by the convicted felon: former Republican congressman George Santos.

The disgraced representative was expelled from Congress in 2023 following media reports which showed he had fabricated parts of his life story, such as working for Golman Sachs and being Jewish.

A year later, he pleaded guilty to wire fraud and identity theft, and was sentenced to more than seven years in prison.

However, taking to his Truth Social platform on Friday, Trump wrote: “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.”

He then went on to attack Democratic senator Richard Blumenthal for his comments on the Vietnam war, which Blumenthal later addressed by saying he had “misspoken about my service and I regret that”, and that he meant to say that he served during Vietnam, not “in Vietnam”.

Trump continued: “This is far worse than what George Santos did, and at least Santos had the Courage, Conviction, and Intelligence to ALWAYS VOTE REPUBLICAN!

“George has been in solitary confinement for long stretches of time and, by all accounts, has been horribly mistreated. Therefore, I just signed a Commutation, releasing George Santos from prison, IMMEDIATELY.

“Good luck George, have a great life!”

Santos’ attorney Joseph Murray branded Trump “the greatest president in US history” via his client’s Twitter/X account and thanked Georgia representative Marjorie Taylor Greene for ‘fighting like a lion’ for Santos’ release.

In her own post responding to Trump’s pardon, Greene said: “I just spoke with @MrSantosNY. He is extremely grateful to be released from prison and he and his family are overjoyed.

“I believe in second chances because we are all sinners, there are no exceptions. I also believe solitary confinement is torture for everyone who suffers it.

“Thank you @realDonaldTrump for commuting George’s sentence. It was the right thing to do.”

Many people on Twitter/X, however, disagree.

“Santos literally defrauded donors and is a piece of s***. Why would he do this,” asked Joe Gallina of the progressive platform Call to Activism:

Democrat representative Ted Lieu commented: “[Trump] must really want to distract from the Republican shutdown and the Epstein files”:

“Another blow to the rule of law,” despaired Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar:

Republican Nick La Lota, who voted to expel Santos from Congress, was also critical of the pardon. Although he didn’t mention Trump by name, he said the ex-politician’s crimes warranted “more than a three-month sentence”:

And CNN commentator Adam Kinzinger was one of a number of people to accuse Trump of being “corrupt” for his pardoning of Santos:

Away from the world of politics, many Trump critics have expressed concern over whether the president will pardon Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted sex trafficker and ex-girlfriend to the late paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, a friend of Trump.

“I would have to take a look,” Trump said earlier this month.

Why not read…

• Trump undermines himself three times in one press conference
• No Kings Day: What have Republicans said about the protests?

Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.