Trump stated on Wednesday that he is likely to commute the sentence of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who is serving time in federal prison on corruption charges.
Blagojevich, a Democrat, was convicted in 2011 on charges of corruption charges related to an attempt to “sell” the U.S. Senate seat of former President Barack Obama. He was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison which he has been serving since 2012.
“I thought he was treated unbelievably unfairly,” Trump said from Air Force One on Wednesday, according to the press pool report. “And a lot of people thought it was unfair, like a lot of other things — and it was the same gang, the Comey gang and all these sleazebags that did it. And his name is Rod Blagojevich. And I’m thinking about commuting his sentence.”
Trump also told reporters in May 2018 that he was considering commuting the penalty for Rod Blagojevich. “I am seriously thinking about — not pardoning — but I am seriously thinking of a curtailment of Blagojevich,” he said at the time.
Blagojevich was once a cast member of Trump’s reality show The Apprentice. “I think it’s enough, seven years,” he said on Wednesday.
“He’s been in jail for seven years over a phone call where nothing happens — over a phone call which he shouldn’t have said what he said, but it was braggadocio you would say,” The president said while traveling on Wednesday. “I would think that there have been many politicians — I’m not one of them by the way — that have said a lot worse over the telephone.”
