October 21, 2025 • 3 mins
Former disgraced congressman George Santos is a free man. We discuss what a commutation of a sentence means with Fox News Radio's Ryan Schmelz.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is West Michigan's Morning News Steve Kelly and Brett Keita.
George Santos on Hannity yesterday, not at.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
All running away from my responsibility, culpability and looking forward
to prove that not just to President trumpet to the
American people, because at the end of the day, the
only road to redemption will be if I show and
my action show that I really am turning a leave.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
That is former New York Representative George Santos officially released
following President Trump's decision to commute his sentence on the story.
Fox News Radios Ryan Schmels in Washington, DC this morning.
Thanks for doing this this morning, Ryan, Yeah, of course,
thank you. So give us a little recap. What was
(00:44):
he spending time for. He was just forty one days
into this thing, right, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
I mean, essentially he was accused of wire fraud and
using campaign funds for personal use, and just follows him
becoming one of the first people to ever be expelled
from Congress who was not a you know, member of
the Confederacy or considered to be a trader or something
along those lines. It's stemmed from an ethics complaint where
(01:11):
he was found According to the Ethics Committee that overwhelming
evidence that he had had a significant trail of fraud,
lies that he told and whatnot. So you know, that
was put to a vote. He hits the threshold to
be expelled, and history was made. And you know, he
was one of the few that was facing something like
(01:33):
that and ultimately decided to just to put it up
to Congress's hands and let it happen.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
It was a seven year sentence. Anything from the President
about why he decided to commute the sentence, well, I.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Mean he explained it in his Truth Social Push When
he made the announcement, I mean it was it was
like after six o'clock on a Friday. It was very late,
and something very out of the out of nowhere, really
really out of left field moment. And and you know
he believed that, you know, this was a it was
a over prosecution. He felt that George Santos, uh, you know,
(02:08):
did not deserve to go to jail for that long.
And and then he made a comparison to Senator Richard
Blumenthal of Connecticut, who has been accused of lying about
his military service. So, uh, President Trump felt that George
Santos was over prosecuted and ultimately decided to release.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Him the uh. The interview on Hannity shows that he's
hoping to be accepted again. He said he found God
while he was in his uh cell, right.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Yeah. And while he was on Fox and Friends not
long after being released from prison, he talked about how
he apparently had a confession not too long before he
found out that President Trump was commuting his sentence. He
said that he had a lot of new spiritual moments
while he was behind bars, and and and so it's
something that he hopes to to continue doing as season
(02:58):
in the free world now and not going to be
locked up any longer. And they're also going to spend
a lot of time trying to focus on getting the
person who was convicted alongside him and had to serve
a seven year sentence to at least get something, you know,
maybe get his sentence commuted to or getting him a
advocating on his behalf.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
So, and I'm not a lawyer, and I don't know
if you're can answer this question. If your sentence is commuted,
that doesn't mean that your charges were reversed, right, You're
still found guilty of a felony.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
It looks like it, I believe that means that it's
still you know, on his record and everything. But you know,
I mean this person was very much in public light.
So I think no matter what President Trump was going
to do, people were going to remember what it was
all about and who he was and what he was
accused of. So I mean, the court of public opinion
is really the battle he's going to be fighting.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Yeah, boll you look a lot like that. George Santos
got Ryan Schmells with Box News Radio, Ian Washington, d C.
Thanks for your time this morning.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Of course, thank you
This is West Michigan's Morning News Steve Kelly and Brett Keita.
George Santos on Hannity yesterday, not at.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
All running away from my responsibility, culpability and looking forward
to prove that not just to President trumpet to the
American people, because at the end of the day, the
only road to redemption will be if I show and
my action show that I really am turning a leave.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
That is former New York Representative George Santos officially released
following President Trump's decision to commute his sentence on the story.
Fox News Radios Ryan Schmels in Washington, DC this morning.
Thanks for doing this this morning, Ryan, Yeah, of course,
thank you. So give us a little recap. What was
(00:44):
he spending time for. He was just forty one days
into this thing, right, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
I mean, essentially he was accused of wire fraud and
using campaign funds for personal use, and just follows him
becoming one of the first people to ever be expelled
from Congress who was not a you know, member of
the Confederacy or considered to be a trader or something
along those lines. It's stemmed from an ethics complaint where
(01:11):
he was found According to the Ethics Committee that overwhelming
evidence that he had had a significant trail of fraud,
lies that he told and whatnot. So you know, that
was put to a vote. He hits the threshold to
be expelled, and history was made. And you know, he
was one of the few that was facing something like
(01:33):
that and ultimately decided to just to put it up
to Congress's hands and let it happen.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
It was a seven year sentence. Anything from the President
about why he decided to commute the sentence, well, I.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Mean he explained it in his Truth Social Push When
he made the announcement, I mean it was it was
like after six o'clock on a Friday. It was very late,
and something very out of the out of nowhere, really
really out of left field moment. And and you know
he believed that, you know, this was a it was
a over prosecution. He felt that George Santos, uh, you know,
(02:08):
did not deserve to go to jail for that long.
And and then he made a comparison to Senator Richard
Blumenthal of Connecticut, who has been accused of lying about
his military service. So, uh, President Trump felt that George
Santos was over prosecuted and ultimately decided to release.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Him the uh. The interview on Hannity shows that he's
hoping to be accepted again. He said he found God
while he was in his uh cell, right.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Yeah. And while he was on Fox and Friends not
long after being released from prison, he talked about how
he apparently had a confession not too long before he
found out that President Trump was commuting his sentence. He
said that he had a lot of new spiritual moments
while he was behind bars, and and and so it's
something that he hopes to to continue doing as season
(02:58):
in the free world now and not going to be
locked up any longer. And they're also going to spend
a lot of time trying to focus on getting the
person who was convicted alongside him and had to serve
a seven year sentence to at least get something, you know,
maybe get his sentence commuted to or getting him a
advocating on his behalf.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
So, and I'm not a lawyer, and I don't know
if you're can answer this question. If your sentence is commuted,
that doesn't mean that your charges were reversed, right, You're
still found guilty of a felony.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
It looks like it, I believe that means that it's
still you know, on his record and everything. But you know,
I mean this person was very much in public light.
So I think no matter what President Trump was going
to do, people were going to remember what it was
all about and who he was and what he was
accused of. So I mean, the court of public opinion
is really the battle he's going to be fighting.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Yeah, boll you look a lot like that. George Santos
got Ryan Schmells with Box News Radio, Ian Washington, d C.
Thanks for your time this morning.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Of course, thank you
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