TJ Walker delivers an opinion monologue reacting to President Trump’s commutation of former congressman George Santos. Walker summarizes Santos’s criminal convictions (wire fraud, identity theft, unemployment fraud), notes Santos served less than three months of a seven-year sentence and had $370,000 in restitution cancelled, and argues the commutation rewards loyalty over the rule of law.
Questions this video answers
Wire fraud, identity theft, and unemployment fraud.
Seven years in prison.
Less than three months.
$370,000.
$11,000 for personal expenses (misused campaign/donor funds).
Chapters
Fraud is good. For lack of a better word, fraud is good, according to Trump. As long as you say I love Trump, you can steal, lie, grab elections that aren't yours. You get out of jail card free if you just say I love Trump. Trump phrase fraudster George Santos. According to the New York Times, George Santos, the disgraced ex congressman from New York, is out of prison tonight thanks to a computation from President Trump. Santos served less than three months of a seven year sentence for wire fraud, identity theft, and unemployment fraud. He had pled guilty to stealing donor money, using credit cards without consent, and spending campaign cash on Botox, designer clothes, and even only fans. Trump called the sentence excessive and said Santos was horribly mistreated in solitary confinement. The commutation cancels his remaining prison time and the $370,000 he owed victims. That's right. He doesn't have to pay back the victims. Republicans on Long island are furious, saying Santos stole millions and defrauded an election. But Trump praised him for being 100% for Trump. So a man expelled from Congress for lies and theft now walks free, rewarded not for honesty or public service, but for loyalty. Now the convictions still stand, only the punishment disappeared. What's the real message here? The message is coming through loud and clear. To paraphrase Gordon Gekko from Wall street, fraud is good. For lack of a better word, fraud is good, according to Trump. As long as you say I love Trump, you can steal, lie, grab elections that aren't yours, take money from anyone else, it all doesn't matter. You, you get out of jail card free. If you just say I love Trump. This means the end of the rule of law in America. So let's dig a little deeper here. This is troubling at many levels, and at some point you had to figure Trump knew it was troubling. Why else would this come out Friday night? That's generally when you're trying to bury news. This is disturbing at many levels. Now, as a personal note, I used to live in the district where George Santos was elected. I, I did. I wasn't there when the election happened, but I know people who did. And the people who voted for him were essentially defrauded. But also shame on them, too, because they didn't bother to learn anything about this guy. Local media didn't cover him for the most part. One tiny, tiny weekly newspaper did that nobody reads. And people just said, oh, he's a Republican. My team, my tribe, they voted for him, even though the guy sent all sorts of signals of being incredibly shady. Let's look at some of the facts now. Wire fraud. This is not just a guy who exaggerated because there is a popular perception out there that, well, you know, George Santos told some lies, but all politicians tell that, no, this is in a league of its own and it is criminality. He was, he was convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison. He stole donor credit card and used $11,000 for personal expenses. He misused campaign funds for Botox. He lied about being a part of a Holocaust survival family. I mean, is there really nothing sacred? He lied about where he was on 9 11, what college he went to, his Wall street career. He owed $370,000 in restitution, doesn't have to pay that anymore. And most important, he really defrauded the voters of not just his district in Long island, but of America. And at a time when so many of our decisions are often decided by one vote, indeed, control of the House may even come down to one vote very soon. Every vote matters. Every member of Congress matters. So we want our elections to have some integrity. And this, the all the scams he pulled. I don't know, I could spend an hour a day for the next 10 weeks just detailing this guy scams. But he is by all accounts a fraudster, a felonious fraudster. I guess it's only fitting that he's now been released from prison by another felonious fraudster. Make no mistake about it, Donald Trump is sending a clear message. Fraud is good, criminality is good. If you're on my team, if you're not on my team, you can be doing your job as Comey does, as Letitia James, you'll be doing your job and be an honest person, you're going to go to jail. But if you're caught outright stealing, thieving, stealing elections, committing all sorts of financial fraud, ripping off people, that's okay as long as you're on my team. Now, let's not forget he was expelled from Congress after an ethics committee found financial abuse. This was a bipartisan committee. So this is not one of these typical. Well, the Democrats say this and Republicans say that. No, this is something where every single person in the world who's actually looked at this guy's track record and what he did concluded this guy's a criminal fraudster. This is in no way like a politician who said, you know, I'm a good family man and they had an affair once five years ago. This is not a stretch. This is not looking at things through rose colored glasses. This is absolute fraud, absolute financial fraud as well. And electoral fraud, and now it's being rewarded. Now, part of me thinks, well, Trump's doing this just because he knows it will outrage centrists like me and moderates and right of censor Republicans as well as left of center Democrats, progressives. He knows it will outrage anyone who believes in the rule of law. Therefore, we're less likely to talk about Epstein and Epstein files. Well, maybe, maybe not, because that issue is coming up later today.
