WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump granted ex-Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich a full and unconditional pardon on Monday, five years after commuting his 14-year sentence for political corruption, telling reporters after erasing his conviction that he’s now “cleaner than anybody in this room.”
Blagojevich’s pardon and earlier commutation are a product of Trump’s grievances against Justice Department prosecutors, particularly former Special Counsel Robert Mueller and former FBI Director James Comey, who also played a role in pursuing Blagojevich for trying to “sell” the Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama when he won the presidency.
After signing the Blagojevich pardon in the Oval Office, along with a slew of other executive orders, Trump said, “It’s my honor to do it. I’ve watched him. He was set up by a lot of bad people, some of the same people that I had to deal with. He wasn’t quite as successful.”
Trump’s signature ended a saga that started on Dec. 9, 2008, when federal agents arrested Blagojevich on corruption charges at his Ravenswood home a few weeks after Obama’s election. He became the first Illinois governor to be impeached and, in 2009, removed from office.
Blagojevich, 68, met Trump when he was a contestant on Trump’s “Celebrity Apprentice” show in 2010, before his court case was fully resolved. Though he ended up being “fired,” Trump took a liking to the outgoing former governor.
Trump on Monday did not mention Blagojevich was released from a federal prison after serving eight years following the commutation he issued to the former governor in 2020. It is not known why Trump, who did not pardon Blagojevich in 2020, did so Monday.
“I didn’t know him other than, I believe, he was on ‘The Apprentice’ for a little while. He was a very nice person. He had a fantastic wife, she fought like hell to get him out,” Trump said about Patti Blagojevich, who used interviews on Fox News during Trump’s first term to send appeals to Trump to free her husband.
Misstating the sentence, Trump said, “He was given a sentence of like 18 years and it was sort of a terrible injustice. They were just after him. They go after a lot of people. These are bad people, the other side, so I think he’s a very fine person and this should never have happened. And it should not have happened to him. Let him have a normal life and go out and do what he has to do.”
Politico recently reported that Trump was considering nominating Blagojevich, a Serbian American, to be U.S. ambassador to Serbia. Asked by a reporter in the Oval Office if that’s what Trump intended to do, the president said, “No, but I would. He’s now cleaner than anybody in this room. He got a pardon. He’s cleaner than anybody in the room.”
On Monday night, Blagojevich appeared outside his home and said he and Trump have both been victims of “lawfare” and politically motivated prosecutors who hit them with “fake charges.” He said he never wavered “in my determination to prove to the people of Illinois and everybody else who was listening that I broke no laws, crossed no lines, never took a penny.“
He referred to his relationship with the president, saying, “He’s always doing things for me and he never asks for me to do anything for him.”
Blagojevich declined to comment on rumors that he is being considered to become ambassador to Serbia, and he brushed aside speculation that he might seek elected office again.
“Patti has made it abundantly clear that if I ever do that again, she said I’ll be doing that with my second wife, and I don’t want to lose her,” he said. His focus now is on continuing to help people and to work on a book.
The pardon comes in the larger context of Trump’s condemnation of federal and state prosecutors who indicted him in multiple cases, as well as others he deemed unjustly pursued. Since retaking the White House on Jan. 20, Trump has ordered probes of prosecutors who handled cases against him and called for the firings of other prosecutors assigned to cases of people accused of crimes related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol to prevent Joe Biden from becoming president. Trump commuted or pardoned everyone with a Jan. 6-related conviction.
New York Mayor Eric Adams, who has increasingly aligned himself with Trump, especially on the issue of migrants and sanctuary cities, on Monday saw the Justice Department drop his corruption indictment.
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., blasted the pardon — and the potential of Blagojevich being tapped to be the ambassador to Serbia.
“In a state with more than its fair share of public corruption, the Blagojevich chapter still looms as one of the worst. America and Serbia deserve better,” Durbin said in a statement.
Blagojevich’s political career was launched after he married Patti Mell, the daughter of then-Ald. Dick Mell, the powerful 33rd Ward boss.
In 1993, Blagojevich was elected to the state House; in 1997 won a congressional seat anchored on Chicago’s North Side. He won his first term as governor in 2002, with the first sign of trouble coming in 2004, when reports surfaced that his administration was under federal investigation.
Still, he was re-elected in 2006, with his downfall starting with the 2008 arrest at his home. His first trial in 2010 ended in a verdict on only one count, lying to the FBI. A 2011 retrial ended with a jury finding him guilty on 18 counts — with five of them dismissed in 2015 after appeals. Blagojevich was never found guilty of taking any money while in office.
“I made sure Rod Blagojevich was barred from holding state or local in office after I voted to remove him as governor. Our disgraced ex-governor held hostage funds for sick kids in a campaign cash shakedown. It’s no surprise Trump doesn’t think Blagojevich committed any crimes,” state Treasurer Michael W. Frerichs said.
The Illinois General Assembly impeachment of Blagojevich means he cannot seek a state office. A pardon does not change that.