George Santos is defending his recent social media tirade to a federal judge who will be sentencing the disgraced former New York congressman later this week on fraud charges, the AP reports. In a lengthy letter ahead of the Friday court date, Santos, 36, said he remains "profoundly sorry" for his crimes but protests that the seven-year prison sentence sought by prosecutors is "ridiculous" and overly harsh. "Every sunrise since that plea has carried the same realization: I did this, me. I am responsible," wrote the former Republican lawmaker, who pleaded guilty last summer. "But saying I'm sorry doesn't require me to sit quietly while these prosecutors try to drop an anvil on my head."
Prosecutors, in a filing last week, argued Santos "remains unrepentant" and has not shown genuine remorse, as his lawyers have claimed in their own filing seeking a lighter, two-year prison stint. They cited a series of posts on X, in which he disparaged the US Department of Justice as a "cabal of pedophiles" and cast himself as a victim of prosecutorial overreach. Santos, who admitted he deceived donors and stole the identities of nearly a dozen people to fund his congressional campaign, countered that his "colorful" posts are being wrongly "repurposed as a sword against me" by prosecutors.
"Contesting the severity of a proposed sentence is not the same as contesting guilt, and punishing protected speech because it questions punishment should trouble anyone who values fair prosecution over personal vindication," he wrote. Santos said calling himself the "scapegoat" in social media posts was in reference to prosecutors claiming he was the "organizer/leader" of his campaign's financial fraud and warranted a stiffer sentence. He argued his former campaign treasurer, Nancy Marks, who has also pleaded guilty and faces sentencing next month, shares equal part in the blame.
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