President Trump is considering cutting former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s prison sentence short, citing how “fantastic” the imprisoned politician’s wife is and the fact that he was on Trump’s former show “Celebrity Apprentice.”
Blagojevich was impeached and imprisoned for attempting to use his office for personal and financial gain, including by attempting to sell the former Senate seat held by then-President-elect Barack Obama.
“His wife I think is fantastic and I’m thinking about commuting his sentence very strongly. I think it’s enough, seven years,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One during his travels on Wednesday. “A man who is a Democrat, not a Republican—who I don’t know very well, but he was on ‘The Apprentice’ … I thought he was treated unbelievably unfairly.”
“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 I’m thinking about commuting his sentence,” Trump reportedly told reporters.
Blagojevich was convicted in 2010 and 2011 on 18 counts related to his efforts to sell Obama’s seat. He was sentenced to 14 years in prison. According to the New York Times’ Maggie Habberman, Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner has been pushing Trump to pardon Blagojevich in recent months in order to throw a bone at Democrats. Aides got President Trump to agree to a commutation.
