Former Illinois Gov. and convicted felon Rod Blagojevich speaks to the press exterior of the Dirksen Federal Courthouse in August 2021 in Chicago.
Scott Olson/Getty Photographs
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Scott Olson/Getty Photographs
President Trump has pardoned former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was convicted of corruption-related crimes, together with making an attempt to promote a U.S. Senate seat vacated by former President Barack Obama.
Blagojevich served because the state’s governor from 2003-’09. It was a political saga towards the top of his time in workplace.
In 2008, federal prosecutors accused Blagojevich of turning Illinois’ authorities right into a moneymaking operation for himself by making an attempt to, amongst different issues, shake down a youngsters’s hospital and racetrack house owners. When prosecutors charged Blagojevich with corruption over the Senate seat, they introduced as proof a profanity-filled phone dialog he had that was secretly recorded by the FBI.
“I imply, I’ve received this factor, and it is [expletive] golden. And I am simply not giving it up for [expletive] nothing,” Blagojevich stated.
He argued that he merely engaged in political horse-trading, and he went on a nationwide publicity tour to proclaim his innocence.
Blagojevich was impeached and ousted as governor in January 2009 after which indicted that March. The next 12 months, he appeared and was booted off Donald Trump’s actuality TV present, Movie star Apprentice.
Blagojevich was convicted in 2011 and later sentenced to 14 years in jail. He served eight years, his time behind bars lower quick after President Trump commuted Blagojevich’s sentence throughout his first time period in workplace.
Many main Illinois Democrats and Republicans criticized the transfer. The then-chairman of Illinois’ Republican Social gathering stated in a press release that in a state the place corrupt machine type politics is all too widespread, it is essential that these discovered responsible serve their jail sentence in its entirety.
After he was launched from jail, Blagojevich and his spouse, Patti, held a information convention. He was a freed political prisoner, calling the prison justice system each damaged and unfair.
“We wish to categorical our most profound and eternal gratitude to President Trump,” Blagojevich stated. “How do you correctly thank somebody who has given you again the liberty that was stolen from you?”
The previous Democratic governor additionally declared himself a “Trump-ocrat.”
President Trump stated he was granting Blagojevich a full pardon. He known as Blagojevich’s sentence a “horrible injustice” and he known as the previous Illinois governor, a pleasant man.
