Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s daughters Annie, center, and Amy smile during a news conference outside their home Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2020, in Chicago. On Tuesday, President Donald Trump commuted Blagojevich’s 14-year prison sentence for political corruption. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich said President Trump has his “everlasting gratitude,” following the president’s decision to commute his sentence.
While speaking at a Colorado airport Tuesday night, Blagojevich said the president has got a big fan in him and called himself a “Trump-o-crat.” He also said he is going to fight against the corrupt criminal justice system, which he believes all too often persecutes and prosecutes people who did nothing wrong.
Blagojevich acknowledged the president didn’t have to commute his sentence and called out his fellow Democrats for being unkind to the president. The former Illinois official made the following comments:
“He didn’t have to do this. He’s a Republican president; I was a Democratic governor. My fellow Democrats have not been very kind to him. They’ve, in fact, they’ve been very unkind to him. What he did was, I think, something that deserves a great amount of appreciation on my part personally. He has from me my deepest, most profound and everlasting gratitude.”
A large banner reading Thanks Mr. President adorns the porch of the home of former Ill. Gov. Rod Blagojevich as members of the media prepare for a news conference with with him, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2020, in Chicago, after his release from a Colorado prison late the night before. (AP Photo/Katie Foody)
The former governor had been more than halfway through serving a 14 year sentence in federal prison before the president’s action Tuesday. President Trump took to Twitter to state that “Blagojevich did not sell the Senate seat” and called it yet another (James) “Comey and gang deal.”
Pres. Trump: "Yes, we have commuted the sentence of Rod Blagojevich." pic.twitter.com/Ov9d0qhbww
— Alex Salvi (@alexsalvinews) February 19, 2020
The president issued pardons to 11 federal offenders on Tuesday, which commuted their sentences and expunged their records.
