President Trump on Monday signed a full and unconditional pardon for Rod Blagojevich, the previous Democratic governor of Illinois, who served eight years in jail on corruption prices till Trump commuted his sentence in 2020.
“It’s my honor to do it. I’ve watched him. He was set up by a lot of bad people,” Trump informed reporters within the Oval Workplace Monday, shortly after he signed the pardon.
The second got here almost 5 years after the president, in his first time period, commuted Blagojevich’s 14-year sentence, calling it a “tremendously powerful, ridiculous sentence” on the time.
Blagojevich was arrested by federal authorities in 2008 in an expansive corruption case that finally led to his impeachment within the state Home and his removing from workplace in 2009.
He was later convicted on corruption prices, together with tried extortion of a kids’s hospital for marketing campaign contributions and attempting to promote former President Obama’s Senate seat after he was elected to the White Home in 2008. The previous governor started serving a 14-year jail sentence in 2012.
He was infamously caught on tape talking concerning the pay-for-play scheme involving Obama’s seat.
“I’ve got this thing, and it’s f—–g golden. I’m just not giving it up for f—–g nothing,” Blagojevich mentioned in a recorded cellphone name.
Trump and Blagojevich have crossed paths earlier than. The 2 males knew one another when the previous governor appeared as a contestant on “Celebrity Apprentice.”
In 2020, upon his launch from jail, Blagojevich informed reporters that he had “profound and everlasting gratitude” for Trump, who’s “got obviously a big fan in me.”
“And if you happen to’re asking me what my occasion affiliation is, I’m a Trump-ocrat,” he added on the time.
In 2021, Blagojevich mentioned he was suing the state of Illinois in an try to run for workplace once more.
Politico just lately reported Blagojevich is being thought of to function Trump’s ambassador to Serbia. In a latest assertion, Blagojevich denied looking for the ambassadorship.
“I’m not asking President Trump for anything. I’m profoundly grateful to him for commuting my 14-year prison sentence and giving my daughter’s their father back,” Blagojevich posted on X. “What I am seeking is justice and for the truth of the corrupt prosecution against me to be exposed. If we are going to save our democracy, lawfare and the weaponization of prosecutors for political purposes must end and those who engage in it must be brought to account.”
