{"id":11659,"date":"2025-07-24T17:46:55","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T17:46:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/theyre-shutting-me-up-george-santos-has-a-few-final-thoughts-before-heading-to-prison\/"},"modified":"2025-07-24T17:46:55","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T17:46:55","slug":"theyre-shutting-me-up-george-santos-has-a-few-final-thoughts-before-heading-to-prison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/theyre-shutting-me-up-george-santos-has-a-few-final-thoughts-before-heading-to-prison\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018They\u2019re shutting me up\u2019: George Santos has a few final thoughts before heading to prison"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

NEW YORK \u2014 Convicted fraudster George Santos will report to federal prison Friday with no signs of clemency from President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

The former House member remains loyal to his president anyway \u2014 reserving his signature snark for politicians he views as getting off scot-free for comparable allegations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will not waver in my support for him,\u201d Santos told Blue Light News in a phone call this week.<\/p>\n

But does he hold out hope for an 11th-hour pardon or commutation from Trump?<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think he can,\u201d Santos said. \u201cHe\u2019s in a position where he needs to put the country ahead of one man, and that\u2019s just a fact. He would lose support in the House from Republicans who have already capitulated.\u201d<\/p>\n

The saga of Santos reaches a new \u2014 and perhaps final \u2014 public chapter this week as the serial liar begins his 87-month sentence<\/u><\/a> at an undisclosed facility for a bevy of fraud, embezzlement and identity theft crimes. He\u2019s going out with a whimper. New York GOP leaders who once boosted him as the party\u2019s future \u2014 then treated him like its biggest albatross \u2014 aren\u2019t even bothering to bid him good riddance.<\/p>\n

Santos won election to a Queens and Long Island seat in 2022 despite a falsified r\u00e9sum\u00e9<\/u><\/a> (selling himself as a Wall Street superstar) and served nearly all of 2023 in the House fighting allegations<\/u><\/a> of campaign fraud<\/u><\/a> (including spending on designer duds, lavish lodging and Botox<\/u><\/a>). His fellow Republicans kept their distance, and Democrats watched the implosion with glee.<\/p>\n

The Long Island federal courthouse where he was indicted in May and October of 2023 and pleaded guilty<\/u><\/a> last August served as his reality show set and runway. He faced reporters with performative defiance<\/u><\/a> and dressed to impress in Ferragamo.<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n

A White House spokesperson would not comment this week on whether there\u2019s a pending clemency request concerning Santos.<\/p>\n

Santos\u2019 fabulist-but-make-it-fabulous vibe has dissipated as his prison time nears. He said he\u2019s fearful of being targeted for violence in prison as a gay man \u2014 and a former politician at that. And while he has managed to reinvent himself in small ways since he was ousted from Congress, including with paid Cameo appearances<\/u><\/a> and as host of the \u201cPants on Fire\u201d<\/u><\/a> podcast, Santos said he sees \u201cno light\u201d at the end of his incarceration tunnel.<\/p>\n

But there are still glimmers of the outsized character who knocked political Washington and New York off their bearings a couple years ago.<\/p>\n

In recent social media posts, he raged over Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-Fla.), who is under investigation for alleged ethics<\/u><\/a> and campaign finance violations, and has targeted others he believes should share his fate. The obvious subtext: Why them and not me? He\u2019s also knocked Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy and former President Barack Obama.<\/p>\n

In his interview with Blue Light News, Santos expressed contempt for the one-time New York Republican colleagues who turned their backs on him, including Reps. Nick LaLota and Mike Lawler. He also slammed Attorney General Pam Bondi as part of a \u201cweaponized\u201d Justice Department, though he won\u2019t say a bad word against her boss, the president.<\/p>\n

He discussed his cosmetic procedures with the \u201cSources Say\u201d podcast<\/u><\/a>, including his lapsed use of \u201cfillers\u201d to smooth wrinkles while behind bars, and saw the disclosures get the tabloid treatment in the New York Post.<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n

He told Blue Light News that his song of the moment is Frank Sinatra\u2019s \u201cMy Way,\u201d then went on X to post a clip<\/u><\/a> of a particularly relevant verse: \u201cAnd now, the end is near. And so I face the final curtain.\u201d<\/p>\n

He wants credit for the nicknames he\u2019s bestowed on political rivals, including \u201cSenile Joe Biden\u201d and \u201cTemu Obama\u201d for House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, meaning a cheap ripoff of the original. He\u2019s also proud of \u201cMallio Stock Tips\u201d for his fellow New York Republican Nicole Malliotakis, who traded bank stocks in 2023<\/u><\/a> while working to address the banking crisis but was cleared of wrongdoing.<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n

Santos at points sounds like the eccentric dissembler who dressed in drag in Brazil,<\/u><\/a> claimed to be \u201cJew-ish\u201d<\/u><\/a> and accused other politicians who wear sweaters under suit jackets of stealing his look.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all a sort of last hurrah before heading to the slammer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not allowed technology at all, and I\u2019ve been notified that I will not be allowed to do interviews either,\u201d Santos said. \u201cThey\u2019re shutting me up essentially.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s not much left to say anyway, the one-time member of Congress said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess I put it all out there,\u201d Santos said. \u201cIt\u2019s essentially: sorry. To keep it simple, I should have done better, not for me, but for everyone else as well. Sorry to everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK \u2014 Convicted fraudster George Santos will report to federal prison Friday with no signs of clemency from President Donald Trump. The former House member remains loyal to his president anyway \u2014 reserving his signature snark for politicians he views as getting off scot-free for comparable allegations. \u201cI will not waver in my support […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11659\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}