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Youtube transcript 0:09 Former New York Republican Congressman 0:11 George Santos is out of prison. This 0:13 after President Trump commuted his 0:14 sentence on Friday. Santos had been 0:16 serving a 7-year sentence for wire fraud 0:19 and aggravated identity theft. In a 0:21 lengthy truth social post, President 0:23 Trump writing this, "George Santos was 0:25 somewhat of a rogue, but there are many 0:27 rogues throughout our country that 0:29 aren't forced to serve seven years in 0:30 prison. I started to think about George 0:33 when the subject of Democrat Senator 0:35 Richard Dunning Dick Blumenthal came up 0:38 again. As everyone remembers, Dunning 0:40 stated for almost 20 years that he was a 0:43 proud Vietnam veteran, having endured 0:45 the worst of the war, watching the 0:47 wounded and dead as he raced up the 0:48 hills and down the valleys. blood 0:50 streaming from his face. He was a great 0:54 hero and he would leak to any and all 0:56 who would listen. And then it happened. 0:58 He was a complete and total fraud. He 1:00 never went to Vietnam. He never saw 1:01 Vietnam. He never experienced the 1:03 battles there or elsewhere. Yeah. The 1:06 post goes on to say this. His war hero 1:08 status and even minimal service in our 1:11 military was totally and completely made 1:12 up. This is far worse than what George 1:15 Santos did. and at Lee Santos had the 1:17 courage, conviction, and intelligence to 1:19 always vote Republican. George has been 1:22 in solitary confinement for long 1:24 stretches of time and by all accounts 1:26 has been horribly mistreated. Therefore, 1:29 I just signed a commutation releasing 1:31 George Santos from prison immediately. 1:33 Good luck, George. Have a great life. 1:36 With that, we'll bring in Randy Zelen 1:3 7 and David Schwarz, both criminal defense 1:39 attorneys. Thank you, gentlemen, for for 1:40 being on. We do appreciate that. Um, and 1:43 David, if I'd like to start with you if 1:44 I can. Obviously, the president has the 1:46 powers to pardon or uh commute 1:49 sentences. He decided to do so moving 1:52 forward uh with former congressman uh 1:56 George Santos. Santos, overall thoughts 1:58 on that and maybe the president's 2:01 explanation of why he did it. Uh your 2:04 thoughts on that? 2:06 I wasn't in love with the explanation, 2:08 but certainly under the constitution, 2:10 article 2, section two gives the 2:13 president a a wide a wide spectrum to to 2:17 pardon or to uh give a reprieve to 2:21 whoever he wants. And that's the way the 2:23 criminal justice system is set up. It's 2:25 set up brilliantly. Hamilton spoke about 2:28 it that in in the criminal justice 2:30 system, we have excessive sentences. In 2:33 the criminal justice system, we have 2:35 unfair verdicts and that is the ultimate 2:38 check and balance over the criminal 2:40 justice system. I would like to see it 2:43 used even never heard of get a fair 2:47 shake in the system. 2:49 House Speaker Mike Johnson was asked 2:51 about it over the weekend. Here's how he 2:53 explained uh why George Santos was let 2:56 out. Watch. 2:59 10 former Republican members of Congress 3:02 who the president has either pardoned or 3:04 issued clemency for. 10. 3:06 Okay. You want to talk about what Joe B 3:08 Joe uh Biden did with that power. He 3:11 pardoned his own family. The only thing 3:12 he signed, by the way, with his own pen. 3:13 Everything else is autopinn. But 3:15 categories of hardened criminals that 3:17 they just released from prison. At least 3:19 President Trump is fully transparent. 3:21 Randy, what do you think of that 3:23 rebuttal? 3:25 I it it it's legitimate. Uh, I think 3:28 David's point is well taken. Uh, I would 3:30 leave the partisan politics out of it if 3:33 I were the president and I would simply 3:35 focus in on two critical things that the 3:37 criminal justice system and federal 3:39 sentencing looks to avoid. One, we want 3:42 to avoid unwanted sentencing 3:44 disparities. And for George Santos to 3:47 get seven years while Shawn Combmes got 3:50 a little more than four years, I would 3:52 say that that is an unwanted sentencing 3:55 disparity. We also look for a sentence 3:57 that is sufficient 3:59 but not greater than seven years for a 4:02 nonviolent white collar more or less 4:05 firsttime offender. That's kind of an 4:08 excessive sentence. So I think President 4:11 Trump got it right by saying seven years 4:14 that's a bit much. Just let this guy go 4:17 home. 4:17 Yeah. And he focused too on how he was 4:19 treated in prison. According to the 4:21 president, he was in solitary 4:22 confinement. Uh Mr. Santos appeared on 4:26 CNN State of the Union following his 4:28 release. He spoke about how he found out 4:31 about the commutation in that moment. 4:33 Here's that. 4:36 I had no expectations. I wasn't even 4:38 aware until I learned it off of the 4:40 Chiron of mainstream media inside of the 4:43 prison myself. Uh I was I had just been 4:46 released from uh segregated isolation 4:48 after 41 days for absolute no valid 4:53 reason. 4:54 So that is wild. I mean, just imagining 4:57 you're in his position and seeing your 4:59 name flash on the screen, learning that 5:01 your sentence has been commuted, that 5:03 must have been the moment. Santos now 5:05 going on to say that he's done with 5:07 politics for now. Instead, he's uh 5:10 focusing on making prisons more humane. 5:14 Um, and that's David, that's interesting 5:17 in itself because he has a firsthand 5:19 look at how you're treated within the 5:21 prison walls, within confinement, and 5:24 he's got a new what appears to be lease 5:27 on life. 5:28 Sure. Hopefully, he adds something to 5:30 society. And that moment, it is an 5:33 incredible moment. And I I had the 5:34 fortune of having a client that received 5:37 a presidential pardon. And it's just an 5:40 incredible moment uh to think that 5:42 you're going to be serving this long 5:44 jail sentence and your your sentence is 5:47 commuted. And keep in mind this is just 5:49 a commutation. It's not a complete 5:51 pardon. So he still has a criminal 5:54 conviction. It's just that the sentence 5:56 was commuted. 5:58 Yeah. Um, Santos also speaking about 6:01 whether or not he received special 6:03 treatment because of his voting record. 6:06 Here's what he had to say about that. 6:08 You know what? Um, I say this and and I 6:11 hate that we have to go down this road. 6:13 And then there's a lot of people who 6:15 were upset with President Biden who 6:17 pardoned his entire family before he 6:20 left office in an unprecedented move. So 6:22 I pardon me if I'm I'm I'm not paying 6:24 too much attention to the curl clutching 6:26 of the outrage of my of my critics and 6:29 of the people predominantly on the left 6:31 who are going to go out there and try to 6:34 make a big deal out of something like 6:36 this. 6:38 So uh kind of to Speaker Johnson's 6:40 point, Randy, as we hear there, right? 6:42 Um you know, President Trump obviously 6:44 has the ability to do so. Uh it is 6:46 interesting that of course, you know, 6:48 George Santos did vote down the line 6:49 with Republicans, but he was a 6:52 Republican congressman. He was, you 6:53 know, in theory representing voters in 6:56 his district who wanted him to serve. 6:58 Your thoughts? 6:58 Right. Right. Right place at the right 7:00 time. And and again, if we're going to 7:02 be transparent, if it were your son, if 7:05 it were your husband, if it were your 7:08 brother, uh you sure as hell would want 7:12 him to be able to take advantage of 7:14 every opportunity to be able to get that 7:16 commutation or that pardon. So, it's 7:19 simply a matter of what side of the 7:21 aisle you're on. If you're in the right 7:23 place, then you're happy with it. And if 7:25 you're not one of the lucky ones, then 7:27 you're unhappy with it. But that should 7:28 not be the litmus test. 7:30 Yeah. But interesting point Santos 7:32 brought up about the preemptive pardon 7:33 signed by President Biden uh in his 7:35 final hours in office. Randy Zelen 7:37 joining us. David Schwarz, thank you 7:39 both. Appreciate it. Thank you.

NY Criminal Defense Attorney David Schwartz ⁨‪@NewsmaxTV‬ Talking About @George Santos Pardon.

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