US President Donald Trump has pardoned former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, a Democrat who served eight years in prison over corruption charges before it was cut short by Trump during his first term.
On multiple counts of corruption allegations, including extortion using state funds for a children’s hospital and attempting to sell Barack Obama’s vacant US Senate seat in 2008, Blagojevich, now 68, was given a 14-year jail sentence.
After being ousted from office in 2009, the former governor started serving his prison term in 2012.
Blagojevich participated in Trump’s “Celebrity Apprentice” reality TV show before his spectacular demise, where the now-President “fired” him.
When Blagojevich was in charge of selecting a successor to Obama’s Senate seat in 2008 as the state governor, he informed another official that he intended to sell or trade the “golden” seat.
“I’m just not giving it up… for nothing,” Blagojevich, who was well-known for his passion for photography, declared.
He also persuaded officials at a children’s hospital to donate to the campaign and attempted to secure campaign donations in exchange for legislation that would benefit the racetrack sector.
Reiterating long-standing statements made by the US President, the former governor of Illinois stated in a recent Joe Rogan podcast that he supported Trump’s efforts to remove the “corrupt” and “weaponised” justice department.
“If there’s anything that this administration can do to make America great again, it’s to protect our rights and our freedoms and to hold the people that do this accountable,” he said. “Not to be vengeful, but because it’s just.”
Trump sometimes compared Blagojevich’s legal struggles to his own during his first term in office.
For instance, the US Attorney who brought the Blagojevich case also represented James Comey, the former director of the FBI, after Trump fired him in 2017.
At the time of Blagojevich’s investigation, Robert Mueller, who spearheaded the probe into purported connections between Russia and Trump’s initial presidential campaign in 2016, was still the FBI director.
Trump granted “full, complete, and unconditional” pardons to nearly 1,600 individuals convicted or charged in relation to the 2021 US Capitol riots shortly after taking office on January 20.
Ross Ulbricht, the owner of Silk Road, the dark web marketplace where illegal substances were peddled, was also released by Trump.
A number of pardons were also granted by former US President Joe Biden, including preemptive pardons to stop what he described as “unjustified…politically motivated prosecutions” of public officials, such as former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Mark Milley and Anthony Fauci.
Several family members, including his sister Valerie Biden Owens and brothers James and Frank Biden, were also pardoned by the departing president.
