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NY's GOP delegation not thrilled with Trump decision to free Santos
By
Ryan Kost
Published Oct 18, 2025
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J. Conrad Williams Jr./Newsday RM via Getty Images
By
Ryan Kost
Published Oct 18, 2025
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Members of New York’s Republican congressional delegation broke with Donald Trump this weekend, criticizing his decision to commute George Santos’ prison sentence after just three months behind bars.
The president announced on Truth Social Friday that he’d be setting the former congressmember free after serving only 12 weeks of a 7-year sentence in federal prison for fraud and theft.
While it’s rare for any Republican to criticize the president, resentment against Santos runs deep in the New York delegation where his resignation and scandal cost Republicans a seat in Congress last year.
Rep. Nick LaLota, who represents Suffolk County, posted on X that Santos “didn’t merely lie — he stole millions, defrauded an election, and his crimes (for which he pled guilty) warrant more than a three-month sentence.”
Santos, he added, “should devote the rest of his life to demonstrating remorse and making restitution to those he wronged.”
Rep. Andrew Garbarino, another Long Island Republican, acknowledged the president’s discretion to commute sentences but said “the victims of [Santos’] crimes still have not been made whole.”
He added, in a statement reported by Politico, that Santos “has shown no remorse. The less than three months that he spent in prison is not justice.”
And Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, who represents Staten Island and southern Brooklyn, didn’t mince words: “George Santos is a convicted con artist. That will forever be his legacy and I disagree with the commutation.”
Santos pleaded guilty last year to wire fraud and identity theft after admitting he defrauded donors, stole campaign funds and filed false financial disclosures. A federal judge sentenced him to more than seven years in prison and ordered him to pay more than $370,000 in restitution.
Santos was formally expelled from Congress a year earlier. The House ethics committee, on which Garbarino serves, found “substantial evidence” of misconduct and illegal activity. Most members of the state’s delegation supported expulsion at the time.
Before his release late Friday, Santos was serving time at FCI Fairton, a federal prison in southern New Jersey.
Last month, he published a plea to Trump on South Shore Press, begging the president to release him. Santos wrote that he was being held in solitary confinement following a death threat. "I am locked inside a small steel cage twenty-four hours a day.”
In the letter, Santos detailed how he had been "all in" for the president since the "day you came down that golden escalator in Trump Tower," and called Trump a "man of second chances."
Rep. Mike Lawler, a vocal critic of Santos, had no statement as of Saturday morning, and Rep. Anthony D’Esposito did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Tagged
Politics
public safety
Ryan Kost
Ryan Kost is a reporter on the day-of news desk, where he covers breaking news and writes enterprise stories about jails, courts, prosecutors and government accountability. His work focuses on the public institutions that shape life in New York. Before joining the newsroom, he lead a multi-part investigation with Columbia Journalism Investigations and New York Focus into how New York prosecutors handle wrongful conviction claims. He's also been a staff writer at The San Francisco Chronicle, The Associated Press and The Oregonian. Got a tip? Signal: ryankost.20
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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