The radical right is already trashing Jeffrey Toobin for his op-ed piece in the New York Times denouncing Trump’s grant of clemency to George Santos. Writing in the conservative platform Townhall, columnist Jeff Charles criticizes Toobin’s “whining” and accuses him of “shedding crocodile tears” over the commutation.
I do not always agree with Toobin, who like me writes about the intersection of law and politics. But in this op-ed headed “The Santos Commutation Is No Joke,” he is telling the truth about the commutation. It is an execration.
In case you don’t remember Santos, the former Republican congressman from Long Island pleaded guilty in federal court to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. Prosecutors said Santos was responsible for a “mountain of lies, theft, and fraud” aimed at enriching himself and deceiving campaign donors.
That’s right. No trial, no controversial jury verdict by citizens of the woke New York community, no “lawfare” decisions by liberal judges. He pleaded guilty, admitted his guilt and was justly sentenced by a seasoned federal judge to 87 months in jail.
So, forget about the fact that a bipartisan vote of House members in December 2023 expelled Santos from the chamber, making him only the sixth member in history to be expelled and the first in over 20 years.
Trump’s commutation meant that Santos was released from prison after serving 84 days of an 87-month term of imprisonment, roughly 3 percent of his sentence.
Trump’s pardons and commutation of sentences not only reek of corruption but totally undermine the rule of law. Trump has pardoned the Jan. 6 rioters, including convicted violent criminals who assaulted police officers. He also pardoned Charles Kushner, his daughter’s father-in-law, for offenses involving moral turpitude during his first term and has since appointed him as ambassador to France this term.
Trump also pardoned former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D), who had engaged in a criminal scheme to sell the vacant Senate seat of Barack Obama, after the Democrat pledged allegiance to the leader.
And just in, add to the list of corruptly inspired pardons China-born Changpeng Zhao, who admitted money laundering violations and was serving a prison sentence. Zhao was founder of the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, which had struck a lucrative business deal with World Liberty Financial, a Trump family crypto enterprise.
As Toobin points out, over his two terms, Trump’s commutations include:
- Duke Cunningham of California, “convicted of taking over $2 million in bribes;”
- Duncan Hunter of California, “who pocketed thousands of dollars of campaign contributions” and spent some of it on extramarital affairs;
- Arizona’s Rick Renzi, “convicted of racketeering and extortion;”
- North Carolina’s Robin Hayes, “who lied to investigators in a bribery investigation;”
- New York’s Chris Collins “who pleaded guilty to insider trading and false statements;”
- New York’s Michael Grimm, “who pleaded guilty to tax evasion and also admitted in court that he had committed perjury and hired undocumented immigrants;”
- Former Republican Governor and Connecticut Rep. John Rowland, “who pleaded guilty to election fraud after going to prison years earlier in a separate scandal;”
- Texas’s Steve Stockman, “who was released after serving only two years of a 10-year sentence for stealing upward of $1 million.”
There can be no conceivable rationalization for extending clemency to Santos, apart from his political loyalty to Trump. This is not surmise or speculation. Comparing Santos’s criminality to the misstatements of Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) about his Vietnam war record, Trump rationalized the commutation on social media with the big reveal, “Santos had the Courage, Conviction, and Intelligence to ALWAYS VOTE REPUBLICAN!”
As Toobin notes, Trump’s abuse of his clemency powers conflicts with the reason the power was included in the Constitution. Alexander Hamilton, the leading advocate for its inclusion, said the pardon power was necessary to temper justice with mercy.
The Santos pardon had nothing to do with mercy. The core case against him was about using the credit card numbers of campaign contributors to purchase luxury goods for himself. The victims of his larceny were MAGA Republicans.
And Trump not only handed Santos the keys to his prison cell, he also excused Santos from paying $370,000 in court-ordered restitution to his victims. Santos said he would return the money only if the law required it. The leopard never changes its spots.
Political figures on both sides of the aisle disparaged Trump’s pardon. Rep. Nick LaLota, a Long Island Republican who led the charge for Santos’s expulsion, decried the commutation. In a social media post, LaLota wrote that Santos’s “crimes … warrant more than a three-month sentence.”
We inherited the pardon power from the king of England, but Hamilton was thinking of a George Washington, not a Trump. Trump’s Roy Cohn ethos is based on rewarding his friends and destroying his enemies.
In a valuable insight into the corrupt story unfolding before our eyes, Toobin concludes: “Clemency for Mr. Santos wasn’t even really about the former congressman but rather about the president who granted it.”
This is not whining or “crocodile tears.” This is not fake news. Sadly, this is the unvarnished truth.
James D. Zirin, author and legal analyst, is a former federal prosecutor in New York’s Southern District. He is also the host of the public television talk show and podcast Conversations with Jim Zirin.