Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was issued a pardon by President Donald Trump on Monday, nearly five years after his sentence was commuted.
Blagojevich, convicted of trying to sell the Senate seat of then-President-elect Barack Obama, had his 14-year prison sentence commuted by Trump in Feb. 2020, but now the president has gone a step further and granted the former governor a full pardon.
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"I want to simply to say that I'm determined to whatever I can as a private citizen, volunteer my time and efforts to the best I could to fight for justice and do what I think is right," Blagojevich said Monday night outside his Ravenswood Manor home.
The news comes as Trump reportedly weighs the idea of appointing Blagojevich the United States’ ambassador to Serbia, according to multiple outlets, including Politico.
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During the 2024 election season, Blagojevich headed up efforts among Serbian-Americans to help Trump get back to the White House, and also attended events around the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee to help whip up support for his campaign.
Blagojevich was removed from his office as Illinois’ governor in 2009 after he was indicted in connection with a scheme to sell Obama’s Senate seat. He was later convicted of making false statements in the case in Aug. 2010, and then was convicted in a subsequent retrial on multiple felony charges, including wire fraud and attempted extortion.
He was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison, and ultimately served eight years of that sentence before it was commuted by Trump in February 2020.
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The president called the sentence “really unfair,” and was lobbied by multiple individuals on Blagojevich’s behalf, including by his wife Patti and advisor Jared Kushner.
Blagojevich also appeared as a contestant on Trump's "Celebrity Apprentice" while his legal case played out.
"I think about my relationship with President Trump, and it's really - well he's always doing things for me, and he never asks me to do anything for him," he said Monday.
The conviction had left Blagojevich unable to seek public office again, and he was also stripped of his law license when he was disbarred by the Illinois Supreme Court in 2020.
