CNN’s Anderson Cooper engaged in a fiery debate with former Democratic Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich about his record on criminal justice reform.
Blagojevich appeared Friday on CNN with Cooper following his recently commuted 14-year criminal sentence by President Trump. As Blagojevich began discussing the sentences given to black and Latino Americans, Cooper sounded off on the former governor for his crimes and gubernatorial record.
“What’s sad is that you hadn’t actually learned that when you mattered, when you actually were the governor. You talk about working for the criminal justice reform. There’s a lot of people in Chicago, there’s a lot of people in Illinois, who actually, like, spit up when you say that,” Cooper said to Blagojevich, who was convicted for corruption and attempting to extort campaign donations from a children’s hospital. “You could have helped thousands of people with clemency cases. You blew it off. The governor after you inherited a huge backlog of nearly 3,000 clemency petitions that you failed to review.”
“It’s a little ironic and, frankly, a little sad and pathetic and hypocritical,” Cooper said of Blagojevich’s new interest in criminal justice reform. “I’d be happy to work with people on criminal justice reform, but I wouldn’t work with you.” Blagojevich said he regreted not doing more on the issue while he was governor. Cooper first attempted to end the interview on a positive note, wishing Blagojevich “the best.” However, the interview continued when Blagojevich questioned the authenticity of his wishes.
“You do have an obligation to, at least, admit what you did wrong, and you refuse to do that, and you’re creating a whole new alternate universe of facts,” the CNN host said. “That may be big in politics today, but it’s, still, frankly, just bullshit.”
