Defiant Rod Blagojevich calls himself a freed ‘political prisoner’ after Trump commutes sentence
Defiant and unapologetic, former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich called himself a freed “political prisoner” at a press conference following his release from prison.
Blagojevich walked out of federal prison late Tuesday evening after President Donald Trump commuted his 14-year sentence earlier in the day. The 63-year-old stood outside his Chicago home with his wife and children Wednesday afternoon, recounting his time in prison and thanking Trump.
Blagojevich, a one-time contestant on “The Celebrity Apprentice,” had been serving a 14-year sentence in a Colorado federal prison. He was convicted in 2011 of federal charges of using his powers as governor to extract campaign money and other political favors in exchange for naming a successor to fill the Illinois Senate seat left open when Barack Obama became president, but Trump objected to the length of his sentence.
Standing next to a stoop draped with a banner saying “Thanks, Mr. President,” with flowers and a heart-shaped balloon hanging from it, the former governor slammed “persecution masquerading as prosecution” in his case and the “racist criminal justice system”
Blagojevich expressed his “profound and everlasting gratitude” to Trump, saying “I’m a Trumpocrat,” adding he would vote for him if he had the ability to vote. “If I had the ability to vote, I’d vote for him.”
Reflecting on his time in a “six-foot by eight-foot prison cell,” Blagojevich said he would think about how “one day, I would make it back” to his wife and children.
“He served eight years in jail – a long time,” Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Tuesday. “Many people disagree with the sentence.”
On Tuesday, speaking to Chicago TV station WGN-TV, Blagojevich said he was “grateful” to Trump.
“He didn’t have to do this. He’s a Republican president, and I was a Democratic governor. I’ll have a lot more to say tomorrow,” Blagojevich, 63, told WGN-TV in an interview on the Denver airport tram on his way out of Colorado.
Rod Blagojevich:Trump commutes 14-year sentence of former Illinois Gov. Blagojevich amid blitz of pardons
“I didn’t do the things they said I did,” the former governor told WGN-TV as he arrived in Chicago’s O’Hare Airport.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Blagojevich shook hands and signed autographs with supporters as he left the airport and walked into a white van.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, said in a Twitter post that Trump “abused his pardon power in inexplicable ways to reward his friends and condone corruption,” and his predecessor’s pardon sent “the wrong message at the wrong time.”
More:Trump commutes 14-year sentence of former Illinois Gov. Blagojevich amid blitz of pardons
