Donald Trump refused to say that he wouldn’t pardon disgraced former Congressman George Santos and even sounded like he was considering it in an interview with the far-right outlet Newsmax.

Host Rob Finnerty asked Trump about whether he would pardon several high-profile criminals, including convicted child sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell and alleged rapist/child molester Sean “Diddy” Combs. Trump didn’t say no to pardoning either.

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Gay fraud & former Rep. George Santos throws away chance at presidential pardon
He called Trump’s inner circle “a bunch of guard dogs” who have told him to “go f—” himself.

Finnerty also asked about Santos, who pleaded guilty to identity theft and wire fraud charges in August 2024, connected to several schemes to steal funds from campaign donors in order to buy himself Botox treatments, adult web subscriptions, and fashion items from Hermès.

“He lied like hell, I have to tell you,” Trump said, laughing, referring to how Santos made up an entire life story when running for office that was false and was also accused of running multiple cons to enrich himself.

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Then Trump appeared to suggest that there was a chance: “And I didn’t know him, but he was 100% for Trump. I might have met him, maybe, maybe not, I don’t know.”

“He was a congressman, and his vote was solid.”

“Nobody has talked to me about it,” Trump said, then calling Santos’s seven-year sentence, “a long time.”

“With him, I have the right to do it.”

Last August, Santos pleaded guilty to two felony counts of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. The 23 charges he initially faced included wire fraud, identity theft, money laundering, theft of public funds, and making materially false statements to both the Federal Election Commission and the U.S. House of Representatives.

Santos, who won his bid to represent New York’s 3rd congressional district as a Republican in 2022, was accused of stealing campaign donors’ identities and charging tens of thousands of dollars in fraudulent purchases to their credit cards; faking a $500,000 loan to his own campaign; filing false campaign finance reports; and other offenses.

Shortly after taking office in 2022, Santos was the subject of a damning New York Times report exposing his flagrant and extensive lies about his own biography. Following a House Ethics Committee report that found “substantial evidence” that he used campaign funds for his personal expenses and “sought to fraudulently exploit every aspect of his House candidacy for his own personal financial profit,” the House voted to expel Santos from Congress in December 2023.

Santos recently claimed that House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) “blocked” his attempts to get Trump to pardon him.

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