Just hours after President Donald Trump commuted the federal sentence of ex-Congressman George Santos, New York prosecutors may be preparing to pick up where the feds left off.
Santos, the disgraced former Republican representative from Long Island, had his seven-year prison term slashed down to less than three months thanks to Trump’s intervention. But his victory lap might be short-lived. Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly made it clear in a pointed public statement that her office isn’t closing the book on Santos just yet.
“I am proud of the work my office has done, and the conviction achieved in partnership with the U.S. Attorney’s office,” Donnelly posted to X. “While the office cannot comment on ongoing investigations, suffice it to say that I remain focused on prosecuting political corruption wherever it exists regardless of political affiliation.”
That kind of language isn’t usually tossed around unless something is brewing. And with Donnelly having jurisdiction over part of Santos’s old congressional district, a state-level prosecution could effectively nullify Trump’s commutation. Federal pardons and commutations don’t protect against state charges—something Trump himself is all too familiar with.
Donnelly’s office hasn’t confirmed whether new charges are coming, but her statement reads like a warning shot.
Santos, the former GOP congressman from Long Island, pleaded guilty to a laundry list of federal crimes last summer—23 counts in total, including wire fraud, identity theft, money laundering, theft of public funds, false statements to Congress and the FEC, and obstruction of justice. He was sentenced to more than seven years behind bars.
He ended up serving just 84 days.
Trump made the commutation official in a Truth Social post Friday, praising Santos’s “Courage, Conviction, and Intelligence to ALWAYS VOTE REPUBLICAN!” He brushed off the crimes and painted Santos as a victim of selective justice.
“George Santos was somewhat of a ‘rogue,’ but there are many rogues throughout our Country that aren’t forced to serve seven years in prison,” Trump wrote.
Santos, who initially said he wouldn’t seek clemency, had changed his tone earlier this year. In a May interview with Piers Morgan, he said, “I’ll take a commutation, clemency, whatever the president is willing to give me.” Trump obliged.
But now, the immunity bubble from that favor could be about to burst.
Because presidential pardons and commutations only apply to federal convictions, a state prosecution would effectively override Trump’s action. And in this case, Donnelly has jurisdiction—Santos’s former congressional district includes parts of Nassau County.
If charges come down, Santos would be back in court, this time facing a prosecutor who doesn’t seem remotely interested in presidential opinions or party lines.
Trump may have cut Santos loose from federal time, but New York isn’t necessarily letting him off the hook.
