Former Rep. George Santos — just hours after being released from prison thanks to a commutation from President Donald Trump — said Sunday that he isn’t ruling out a future return run for Congress.
The convicted fraudster had only served three months of his seven-year sentence when Trump handed down the clemency on Friday, resulting in his immediate release from Fairton federal prison in New Jersey.
By Sunday, Santos was in the New York studios of several major networks, wearing a blue velvet dinner jacket and musing about a return to Washington.
“I’m not saying that I necessarily want to go to Congress,” Santos said on the “Fox & Friends” couch. “But I’m not ruling it out. I’m 37 years old, I have time.”
On CNN’s “State of the Union,” he clarified that he did not foresee another run for public office in the next few years. “I can tell you this, not that I can see of in the next decade,” he told host Dana Bash. “I‘m all politicked out now.”
In a separate interview on Fox News Sunday, House Speaker Mike Johnson said he would “welcome” Santos back to Congress should he choose to run again.
“I mean that’s our system, if the people duly elect a representative we will welcome them into the body,” Johnson told Fox’s Peter Doocy. “If we’re going to be intellectually consistent, and we’re going to follow scripture, if someone’s turned their life around, they want to do the right thing, then we should be open to that.”
Trump announced Santos’ commutation in a Friday night Truth Social post, in which he likened Santos’ crimes to Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who he accused of fabricating his military service.
“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 said in a Truth Social post. “At least Santos had the Courage, Conviction, and Intelligence to ALWAYS VOTE REPUBLICAN!”
Santos was elected to the House in 2022 and earned a mixed reputation after it was revealed that he fabricated key details of his background, including his educational and employment background. He also falsely claimed to have Jewish ancestry.
He was expelled from Congress in December 2023, after a lengthy Ethics Committee report found evidence that he may have stolen money from his campaign committee, as well as several other claims of fraud. In August 2024, Santos pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, resulting in a seven-year federal prison sentence.
Speaking on “Fox & Friends” Sunday morning, Santos argued the time he served more than matched his crimes.
“People want to make this into ‘He’s getting away with it.’ I’m not getting away with it,” Santos told Fox & Friends. “I was the first person to ever go to federal prison for this type of civil FEC violation, these are usually solved in penalties. I don’t want to focus on trying to rehash the past.”
Santos said he spoke to Trump on Saturday night at length about the conditions at the prison he served time in, saying it was in “disarray.” His time in prison was “humbling,” Santos said, and “dehumanizing” as he spent nearly half of his time in solitary confinement.
“I told this to the president, that I’d love to be involved with prison reform, and not in a partisan way, in real human ways,” Santos said on CNN. “In a way that we affect it, that it helps society, it helps these individuals rebuild their lives and we have a better system with less incarcerated people… If I can be a part of helping that, I think that would be a great road to follow in the future.”
Santos has already returned to public life, “I’m back!!!” reads Santos’ bio on Cameo, the website offering personalized video messages. Santos, whose Cameo messages start at $300 each, said he had more than two dozen pending requests as of Saturday evening.
Santos said he also would be open to television work, including the celebrity competition “Dancing with the Stars.”
“I have not been invited, but I wouldn’t say no,” he said.
By commuting his sentence, Trump effectively erased the $370,000 in restitution Santos agreed to pay to those he defrauded as part of his guilty plea. On Sunday, Santos said he would pay only “what is required by law.”
“I can do my best to do whatever the law requires of me. So I don’t know what that is, I’ve only been out of prison for two days,” Santos told CNN’s Dana Bash. “If it’s required of me by the law, yes. If it’s not, then no.”