Trump's USA

Sentence against George Santos
Convicted Republican Santos is released by Trump

US President Donald Trump has decided that former Republican congressman George Santos should be released from prison. The president writes this on Truth Social, several media outlets report.

Santos was sentenced in April to just over seven years in prison after he admitted to stealing personal information, including from his own family members, to finance his election campaign.

He had already been expelled from the House of Representatives in December 2023 due to "overwhelming evidence" of lies and financial fraud, writes TT. 

Indicted Trump critics
Prosecutors said no to charges against James - reportedly fired

A prosecutor who opposed Donald Trump's demand to prosecute New York State Attorney Letitia James has been fired. This is reported by three sources with insight into the matter to the New York Times.

According to the sources, the prosecutor, Elizabeth Yusi, had told colleagues that she had found no reason to bring charges against James. Shortly afterwards, she was fired. Yusi's deputy was also reportedly fired.

Ultimately, Trump's handpicked Virginia district attorney, Lindsey Halligan, pushed through an indictment against James. James is accused of mortgage fraud.

Trump Critics
Analysis: The indictment differs from Comey's and James's

For the third time in as many weeks, indictments have been brought against one of Donald Trump's political enemies. This time against the president's former national security adviser John Bolton.

But there are some circumstances that make the indictment against Bolton different from the indictments against former FBI director James Comey and state attorney Letitia James, writes CNN's Aaron Blake in an analysis.

Trump has previously accused Bolton of crimes, but the president does not seem to have played as clear a role in the actual prosecution of Bolton as in the cases of Comey and James. According to Blake, experienced and apolitical prosecutors are also pursuing the case against Bolton – and not prosecutors handpicked by Trump himself.

In an analysis in the New York Times, Charlie Savage instead compares the indictment against Bolton with the indictment against Trump and his handling of classified material in 2021. Savage writes that there are many similarities between the cases – not least because the charges against Bolton are similar to those against Trump.

Regardless, both cases raise questions about how classified information is handled by people at the very highest political level, writes Savage.