It might be hard to find someone to have your back in politics if you get caught lying about your life story, become one of a handful of people ever expelled from Congress and then are thrown into federal prison.

Ms. Greene, the hard-right House Republican from Georgia, called her former colleague’s seven-year sentence “excessive” in a letter to the U.S. pardon attorney.

Santos, who pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, has been in federal prison since July 25.