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Washington — A federal judge agreed Wednesday to ease GOP Rep. George Santos’ pretrial travel restrictions and allow the congressman to move further outside the District of Columbia.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Anne Shields granted a request made earlier Wednesday by Santos’ lawyer, Joseph Murray, to let the Republican, who was indicted on federal charges in May, travel within a 30-mile radius of Washington, D.C.
Murray told Shields in a letter that Santos has a “good faith basis” for requesting the change to the conditions of his release, which restricted his travel to Washington, D.C., New York’s Long Island and New York City.
“In light of the small geographical area of the District of Columbia, there is a frequent need to travel outside the District of Columbia for usual and customary functions of someone who lives and works in the District of Columbia, such as dining, shopping, meetings, events, and even use of the local airports,” Joseph Murray, Santos’ lawyer said.
Murray added that this has led to “unnecessary notifications” to the government and Pretrial Services of Santos’ travel, which can be “easily remedied” by extending the area where the congressman can move without advance notice to anywhere within 30 miles of the district.
The letter noted that neither the government nor Pretrial Services, an office that supervises defendants who are released pending trial, objected to the request. Shields issued an order approving the modification later Wednesday.
Santos, who has been under scrutiny since he was elected to represent New York’s 3rd Congressional District last November, was charged in a 13-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in May. He faces seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, two counts of lying to the House and one count of theft of public funds.
Santos pleaded not guilty to all charges and was released on a $500,000 bond, cosigned by two family members. As part of the conditions of his release, the freshman lawmaker surrendered his passport, and his travel was limited to New York City, Long Island and the District of Columbia. Other travel in the U.S. requires advanced notice to the government and Pretrial Services.
Santos is running for reelection, and Murray said during the congressman’s arraignment in May that he would need the freedom to attend campaign events and fundraisers.
