President Donald Trump said Friday that he commuted the sentence of former U.S. Rep. George Santos, who is serving more than seven years in federal prison after pleading guilty to fraud and identity theft charges.

The New York Republican was sentenced in April after admitting last year to deceiving donors and stealing the identities of 11 people — including his own family members — to make donations to his campaign.

“I just signed a Commutation, releasing George Santos from prison, IMMEDIATELY,” Trump posted on his social media platform.

The latest:

“George Santos was somewhat of a ‘rogue,’” the president said of the former congressman from New York, who pleaded guilty to fraud charges.

He added, “but there are many rogues throughout our Country that aren’t forced to serve seven years in prison.”

The remark came Friday on Trump’s social media platform as he announced the commutation of Santos’ sentence.

Not long after hosting Ukraine’s Zelenskyy and his team for talks, Trump posted online: “Enough blood has been shed, with property lines being defined by War and Guts.”

He added, “They should stop where they are. Let both claim Victory, let History decide!”

Later, after arriving in Florida for the weekend, Trump urged both sides to “stop the war immediately” and implied that Moscow would keep territory taken from Kyiv.

“You go by the battle line wherever it is — otherwise it’s too complicated,” Trump told reporters.

In recent weeks he had shown growing impatience with Russian President Vladimir Putin and expressed greater openness to helping Ukraine win the war.

But with his latest comments, he appeared to be edging back in the direction of pressing Ukraine to give up on retaking land lost to Russia.

The lawsuit was filed by Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris and other officials. It argues that Gov. Bill Lee unilaterally sending the troops into the city at Trump’s request violated the state constitution.

The lawsuit cites the state constitution, which says the guard “shall not be called into service except in case of rebellion or invasion, and then only when the General Assembly shall declare, by law, that the public safety requires it.” The General Assembly is the state Legislature.

Lee and state Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti are named as defendants. They did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Trump announced last month that the guard would be combat crime in Memphis alongside authorities from federal agencies as part of a Memphis Safe Task Force.

The governor recently praised the task force ands said Memphis was in a unique spot to have the resources available “to remove the crime element.”

“The defense team applauds President Trump for doing the right thing,” Andrew Mancilla said by phone. “The sentence was far too long.”

He added that it is unclear at this point when Santos will be released.

On Monday, Santos published what he called a “passionate plea to President Trump,” praising him and pleading for “the opportunity to return to my family, my friends, and my community.”

In an open letter published by the South Shore Press on Long Island, Santos said he had been in isolation in prison since late August while the FBI investigated a death threat against him and the experience left him “in limbo, caught between uncertainty and silence.”

“Mr. President, I am not asking for sympathy. I am asking for fairness — for the chance to rebuild,” Santos wrote.

He acknowledged making mistakes in his past and said he has faced his share of consequences and takes full responsibility, but nobody “deserves to be lost in the system, forgotten and unseen, enduring punishment far beyond what justice requires.”

“I want nothing more than to begin again — to contribute, to serve, and to rebuild my life from the ashes of my past.”

Former U.S. Rep. Santos appealed to the administration within hours of receiving his sentence, insisting in social media posts and interviews that it was overly harsh and politically motivated.

A prominent former colleague, U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, also urged the White House to commute his sentence, saying in a letter days into his prison term that it was “a grave injustice” and a product of judicial overreach.

Santos was serving more than seven years in federal prison after pleading guilty to fraud and identity theft charges.

The judge in Santos’ case agreed with prosecutors that a stiffer sentence was warranted because he did not seem remorseful, despite what he and his lawyers claimed.

Friday’s commutation is Trump’s latest high-profile act of clemency for former Republican politicians. Others include pardons for former Rep. Michael Grimm and former Connecticut Gov. John Rowland.

The president made the announcement Friday about commutation for George Santos, who is serving more than seven years in federal prison after pleading guilty to fraud and identity theft charges.

The New York Republican was sentenced in April after admitting last year to deceiving donors and stealing the identities of 11 people — including his own family members — to make donations to his campaign.

He reported to Federal Correctional Institution in Fairton, in southern New Jersey, on July 25 and is being housed in a minimum-security prison camp with fewer than 50 other inmates.

“I just signed a Commutation, releasing George Santos from prison, IMMEDIATELY,” Trump posted on his social media platform.

The S&P 500 rose 0.5%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 238 points, or 0.5%, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.5%.

The gains capped the best week for the S&P 500 since early August, but it was a roller-coaster ride. Indexes careened through several jarring swings as worries built about the financial health of small and midsized banks as well as the souring trade relationship between the United States and China.

Some of the nervousness around those trade tensions eased Friday after Trump said the very high tariffs he threatened for Chinese imports are not sustainable.

Trump also told Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures” that he would meet with China’s leader, Xi Jinping, at an upcoming conference in South Korea. That was counter to an earlier, angry post he made on social media in which he said there seemed to be “no reason” for such a meeting.

Zelenskyy told reporters after the meeting that it is time for a ceasefire and negotiations. He appeared to stop short of embracing Trump’s call for an immediate end to the war and for the two sides to “stop where they are.”

“The president is right, we have to stop where we are, and then to speak,” Zelenskyy said.

Trump said again Friday that Putin and Zelenskyy feel hatred toward each other, making direct negotiations difficult.

“It’s not about feelings, to me or any other Ukrainian,” Zelenskyy said. “They attacked us, so they are an enemy for us. They don’t intend to stop. So they are an enemy. It is not about someone just hating someone else. Although, undoubtedly, we hate the enemy. Undoubtedly.”

“Enough blood has been shed, with property lines being defined by War and Guts,” Trump said in a Truth Social post following his meeting with Zelenskyy. “They should stop where they are. Let both claim Victory, let History decide.”

Three bishops who chair important committees for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops assailed new moves by the Trump administration to reduce the cost of in vitro fertilization.

“We strongly reject the promotion of procedures like IVF that instead freeze or destroy precious human beings and treat them like property,” the bishops said Friday.

“Without diminishing the dignity of people born through IVF, we must recognize that children have a right to be born of a natural and exclusive act of married love, rather than a business’s technological intervention,” their statement said. “And harmful government action to expand access to IVF must not also push people of faith to be complicit in its evils.”

The bishops were Robert Barron, chairman of the Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth; Kevin Rhoades, chairman of the Committee for Religious Liberty; and Daniel Thomas, chairman of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities.

The Trump administration’s request Friday escalates the president’s conflict with Democratic governors over using the military on U.S. soil.

The emergency appeal to the high court came after a judge prevented, for at least two weeks, the deployment of Guard members from Illinois and Texas to assist immigration enforcement.

The two spent more than two hours with top advisers.

The lunch meeting went much longer than planned, according to a senior Ukrainian official who was not authorized to talk to the media and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

— Susie Blann

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he will speak with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng on Friday evening and that the delegations led by the two men will meet in Malaysia “probably a week from tomorrow” to prepare for a leaders summit.

“I think that things have de-escalated,” Bessent said Friday in the White House.

Tensions flared last week when Beijing expanded export controls on rare earths materials, a move Bessent called an “unprovoked escalation.” In response, Trump threatened to impose a new 100% tariff on China.

But tensions appear to have eased this week. Trump on Friday said he would meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in “a couple of weeks” in South Korea.

Bessent said he and He, when meeting in Malaysia, will prepare for the two presidents to meet. “I am confident that President Trump, because of his relationship with President Xi, will be able to get things back on a good course,” Bessent said.

Trump budget chief Russ Vought says that as part of the government shutdown the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will pause more than $11 billion in “lower-priority projects” and consider them for cancellation.

He specifically blamed Democrats for the shutdown and listed New York City, San Francisco, Boston and Baltimore as locations where projects would be paused.

He said more information would come from the Corps, which maintains waterways to support navigation, helps communities protect against storm damage and cleans sites with hazardous materials.

Vought’s announcement on X follows the administration’s announcement that it would put on hold roughly $18 billion in transportation funding for the New York City area and the cancellation of $7.6 billion in grants for clean energy projects in 16 states, all of which voted for Democrat Kamala Harris in last year’s presidential election.

The building will remain open for official business and the justices’ work will be unaffected, court spokeswoman Patricia McCabe said Friday.

But beginning Monday, visitors to Washington will no longer have access to the 90-year-old courthouse atop Capitol Hill while the government remains shut down.

The next round of arguments, including a big test of President Donald Trump’s authority to levy tariffs, takes place the first week of November. Those arguments will take place as scheduled, even if the government hasn’t reopened, McCabe said.

In a pro-forma session, the House is briefly opened but legislative business is not typically conducted. Republicans closed another such session Friday without allowing the swearing in of Adelita Grijalva, who won a special election last month.

House Speaker Mike Johnson has refused to allow Grijalva to take her office while he keeps the House out of Washington during the shutdown. Grijalva would also provide the last signature needed to force a vote on a bill to make the Department of Justice release case files on Jeffrey Epstein — legislation that Johnson opposes.

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said earlier that the Arizona attorney general would take legal action against Johnson if Grijalva was not sworn in Friday.

The White House asked five universities to join a Friday call to discuss the offer, which would provide favorable access to federal funding in return for commitments in line with Trump’s priorities.

It follows rejections from four of the nine universities invited to sign on. The White House asked college leaders to provide initial feedback by Oct. 20, yet so far none have agreed to the deal.

Those that have not yet announced a decision are Dartmouth College, the University of Arizona, the University of Texas, the University of Virginia and Vanderbilt University.

The compact has stirred a wave of pushback from critics who say it would restrict free speech and cede sweeping control to the government.

Trump was asked about reports that the Venezuelan government offered a plan rejected by the U.S. in which President Nicolás Maduro would agree to eventually leave power.

“He’s offered everything, Trump said. He added, “Because he doesn’t want to f--- around with the United States.”

In June, when Trump was frustrated with Israel and Iran attacking each other after a ceasefire, he told a group of reporters that the countries had “been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the f--- they’re doing.”

“We attacked a submarine, and that was a drug-carrying submarine built specifically for the transportation of massive amounts of drugs” Trump said while hosting the Ukrainian president at the White House.

Secretary of State Rubio did not dispute that there were survivors, but he repeatedly said details would be forthcoming.

Current and former staff of the Federal Emergency Management Agency demonstrated against workforce and program cuts during a “FEMA Solidarity Rally” on Friday, a potentially risky act of protest because some of the same staffers were placed on leave after signing a public dissent letter in August.

A few dozen people gathered outside the agency’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., calling on Trump to stop dismantling the agency and for its acting chief, David Richardson, to resign, among other demands.

The agency has been in upheaval since January, with some states waiting nearly two months for disaster declarations to be approved and huge cuts to resilience and preparedness funding. About 18% of the agency’s permanent full-time employees had departed as of June, including 24 senior-level staffers.

The president said his Russian counterpart was speaking on their call Thursday about Trump’s efforts to solve global conflicts and “said it was amazing.”

Trump then again complained that he didn’t get the Nobel Peace Prize this year, saying, “Somebody got it who’s a very nice woman.”

Despite his complaint, he then insisted he was unbothered.

“I don’t care about all that stuff. I just care about saving lives,” he said.