At a lively gathering for Serbs for Trump 2024 held at the RWB Milwaukee bar during the Republican National Convention on July 17, 2024, former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich made an appearance, engaging with attendees. The event, marked by its political undertones, garnered significant attention.
In a noteworthy political maneuver, President Donald Trump extended a full pardon to Rod Blagojevich on Monday. Blagojevich, now 68 and a former Democrat in office, had spent eight years behind bars after being embroiled in a scandal involving the sale of Barack Obama’s Senate seat following the 2008 presidential election triumph of Obama.
Reflecting on his decision in the Oval Office, Trump remarked, “It’s my pleasure,” further stating, “I think he’s a very fine person, and this should not have happened to him.” This pardon follows Trump’s earlier decision in 2020 to commute Blagojevich’s 14-year sentence.
Breaking the news initially was Axios, who reported on Trump’s intention to pardon Blagojevich. Back in 2009, Blagojevich faced charges of lying to an FBI agent, with jurors unable to reach a consensus on other accusations. However, a retrial in 2011 sealed his fate with a guilty verdict on all counts, after incriminating government recordings surfaced, revealing his attempts to profit from Obama’s seat. The scandal didn’t stop there—other charges involved soliciting campaign contributions from a children’s hospital executive and leveraging legislation regarding the horse-racing industry for financial gains.
Amidst his legal battles, Blagojevich found himself in the spotlight via an unexpected route, participating as a contestant on Trump’s “The Celebrity Apprentice” in 2010. Despite mounting pressure, Blagojevich refused to step down following his arrest in 2008, leading to his impeachment and subsequent removal from office in early 2009 due to a slew of corruption charges.
Shelly Sorosky, Blagojevich’s long-time attorney, noted that a pardon had been “on the radar” for a while, highlighting the “good, friendly relationship” between Blagojevich and Trump. However, NBC News reported that they could not reach Blagojevich for comments on the matter.
Once akin to a poster child for Illinois corruption, Blagojevich’s name became notorious after FBI recordings exposed his transactional view of governance for personal gain. In 2019, Illinois’ Republican Congressional members had voiced their concern, urging Trump through a letter not to reduce the former governor’s sentence, emphasizing the need for a strong stance against ‘pay-to-play’ politics, especially given Illinois’ troubling history where four out of its last eight governors ended up in federal prison for public corruption.
The letter stressed, “Commuting the sentence of Rod Blagojevich, who has a clear and documented record of egregious corruption, sets a dangerous precedent and goes against the trust voters place in elected officials.” Nonetheless, Trump, undeterred, granted the commutation during his first term.
