Former Illinois Gov. and convicted felon Rod Blagojevich speaks to the press outside of the Dirksen Federal Courthouse in August 2021 in Chicago.
Scott Olson/Getty Images
President Trump has pardoned former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was convicted of corruption-related crimes, including trying to sell a U.S. Senate seat vacated by former President Barack Obama.
Blagojevich served as the state’s governor from 2003-’09. It was a political saga toward the end of his time in office.
In 2008, federal prosecutors accused Blagojevich of turning Illinois’ government into a moneymaking operation for himself by trying to, among other things, shake down a children’s hospital and racetrack owners. When prosecutors charged Blagojevich with corruption over the Senate seat, they presented as evidence a profanity-filled telephone conversation he had that was secretly recorded by the FBI.
“I mean, I’ve got this thing, and it’s [expletive] golden. And I’m just not giving it up for [expletive] nothing,” Blagojevich said.
He argued that he simply engaged in political horse-trading, and he went on a national publicity tour to proclaim his innocence.
Blagojevich was impeached and ousted as governor in January 2009 and then indicted that March. The following year, he appeared and was booted off Donald Trump’s reality TV show, Celebrity Apprentice.
Blagojevich was convicted in 2011 and later sentenced to 14 years in prison. He served eight years, his time behind bars cut short after President Trump commuted Blagojevich’s sentence during his first term in office.
Many leading Illinois Democrats and Republicans criticized the move. The then-chairman of Illinois’ Republican Party said in a statement that in a state where corrupt machine style politics is all too common, it’s important that those found guilty serve their prison sentence in its entirety.
After he was released from prison, Blagojevich and his wife, Patti, held a news conference. He was a freed political prisoner, calling the criminal justice system both broken and unfair.
“We want to express our most profound and everlasting gratitude to President Trump,” Blagojevich said. “How do you properly thank someone who has given you back the freedom that was stolen from you?”
The former Democratic governor also declared himself a “Trump-ocrat.”
President Trump said he was granting Blagojevich a full pardon. He called Blagojevich’s sentence a “terrible injustice” and he called the former Illinois governor, a nice man.
