President Donald Trump has signed an govt order pardoning Rod Blagojevich, the previous Illinois governor who was sentenced to 14 years in jail earlier than Trump commuted his sentence in 2020.
“It is my honor to do it,” Trump stated throughout remarks from the Oval Workplace on Monday. “He was arrange.”
Trump referred to as the Democratic former governor a “very effective individual” and stated he did not know him aside from that he was on his TV present, “Superstar Apprentice.”
When requested if Trump would take into account Blagojevich as ambassador to Serbia, Trump stated “no, however I’d,” including that “if he acquired a pardon, he is cleaner than anyone within the room.”
“Let me let you know — from the underside of my coronary heart — how deep my appreciation and gratitude is for President Trump,” Blagojevich stated in a press conference Monday night reacting to the information.
PHOTO: Former Illinois governor and convicted felon Rod Blagojevich speaks to the press outdoors of the Dirksen Federal Courthouse on Aug. 2, 2021 in Chicago. (Scott Olson/Getty Pictures, FILE)
The previous few months, Blagojevich has been lively on X, expressing his help for the president and reposting content material from Trump’s inside circle, together with Elon Musk and Kash Patel, Trump’s option to be director of the FBI.
“Trump freed me & Obama bought me out so I am biased, however I consider Trump has accomplished extra as President in his whirlwind first 8 days than Obama did in his whole 8 years. What do you suppose?” Balgojevich wrote on X final month.
Blagojevich, a Democrat and self-proclaimed “Trump-o-crat,” responded to former President Joe Biden’s preemptive pardons in January, telling Piers Morgan Uncensored that he believed such actions have been the “flawed issues to do.”
“I imply, President Biden weaponized the justice division towards Donald Trump. So he simply assumed that Trump’s going to do the identical factor to his those who he did to Trump and to Trump’s individuals,” he stated, including that “there is not any proof that President Trump goes to do something.”
MORE: Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich released after Trump commutes his sentence
On his first day again in workplace, Trump introduced sweeping pardons and commutations for practically all the rioters charged with the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol.
“I pardon those who have been assaulted themselves. They have been assaulted by our authorities,” Trump stated on Sunday with regard to his Jan. 6 pardons.
In 2011, Blagojevich was convicted on 17 counts of corruption, together with an try to promote the U.S. Senate seat that former President Barack Obama vacated after being elected to the White Home in 2008.
Throughout his first time period, Trump referred to as Blagojevich’s 14-year sentence a “tremendously highly effective, ridiculous” sentence, although he had additionally expressed that he didn’t know Blagojevich effectively.
PHOTO: President Donald Trump indicators a doc within the Oval Workplace of the White Home, Feb. 4, 2025, in Washington. (Evan Vucci/AP)
The previous governor was anticipated to be launched in 2024, factoring in two years of credit score for good conduct. He started serving time in 2012, and Trump commuted his sentence in 2020.
Upon launch, Blagojevich expressed his “profound and eternal gratitude for President Trump,” calling this an “act of kindness” that represented the “starting of the method to really flip an injustice right into a justice.”
MORE: Blagojevich thanks Trump for his ‘kindness’ in commuting prison sentence
“He did not have to do that, he is a Republican president, I used to be a Democratic governor,” Blagojevich additionally stated on the time.
In 2009 whereas showing on NBC’s “Superstar Apprentice,” Blagojevich may be seen getting “fired” by Trump.
Trump pardons former Democratic Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich initially appeared on abcnews.go.com
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