DOJ requests hard sentence for George Santos, citing 'unrepentant' tweets

Brian Niemietz, New York Daily News on Apr 17, 2025

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The Department of Justice on Thursday asked the courts to go hard on disgraced former New York Rep. George Santos when he’s sentenced next week, citing his remorseless behavior on social media.

“The government respectfully submits this letter to advise the Court that Santos’s recent behavior continues to demonstrate that he remains unrepentant for his crimes,” prosecutors wrote in a legal filing on Thursday, asking the judge to hit Santos with more than seven years in federal prison.

Among the examples of his unacceptable behavior was a social media post from April 4 in which Santos portrayed himself as a victim being targeted by prosecutors wanting to “break [his] spirit.”

The following day, he denied using campaign cash to purchase luxury goods from Hermes, despite stating no objection to that charge when it was included in a pre-sentencing report to the court.

The letter also cites several other social media posts from earlier this month, in which Santos claimed he’s being made into a “scapegoat” while the DOJ “let[s] sex traffickers walk freely, [gives] drug lords slaps on the wrist and “refuse[s] to prosecute the cabal of pedophiles running around … the U.S. government.”

Santos again attacked the DOJ on Thursday, with a tweet accusing prosecutors of submitting “a bunch of nonsense memos to the court” ahead of his sentencing.

Santos — who was elected to the House of Representatives in 2022 following a campaign built on fraud and lies about almost every significant aspect of his life — was expelled from Congress in December 2023.

The MAGA loyalist pleaded guilty to committing wire fraud and aggravated identity theft in August of last year, admitting “that he did in fact lie, cheat and steal his way to elected office,” the feds said at the time.

He faces a minimum of two years behind bars, but U.S. Attorney John Durham’s office believes an 87-month sentence is in order.

“His actions speak louder than any words, and they cry out for a significant carceral sentence in this case,” prosecutors said. “Put plainly, Santos is not genuinely remorseful, despite accepting responsibility as part of his allocution.”

Santos will be sentenced on April 25 in Long Island federal court.