CHICAGO (CN) — Republican President Donald Trump pardoned former Democratic Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich on Monday evening, confirming rumors that began circulating earlier in the day.
The former governor spoke to the press outside his home on Monday night, thanking Trump for the pardon. He said he and his wife Patricia Mell Blagojevich knew for a few weeks that he would receive one.
Blagojevich also took the opportunity to rail against “lawfare” and speak about what he said he believed was “the greatest constitutional crisis in American history since the civil war.”
“That is this: weaponization of prosecutors for political purposes,” Blagojevich said. “Rigged courts. A broken justice system that has historically been racist in America, now has become weaponized in America.”
Blagojevich served as governor of Illinois from 2003 to 2009, when he was impeached and removed from office. He was subsequently convicted on 18 corruption counts across two trials between 2010 and 2011, stemming from, among other things, attempting in late 2008 to sell then-president elect Barack Obama’s former Senate seat. Blagojevich served about eight years of a 14-year prison sentence before Trump, in his first term, commuted the sentence in February 2020.
According to records maintained by the U.S. Office of the Pardon Attorney, Blagojevich filed for a commutation of sentence in both 2016 and 2018.
Blagojevich maintained his innocence to the press Monday night. He also called his second trial, which resulted in 17 of his 18 guilty verdicts, a “rigged, corrupt trial run by a judge who was a political hack,” referencing now-deceased Ronald Reagan appointee U.S. District Judge James Zagel.
Blagojevich declined to comment on whether he thought former Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan, who took steps to launch Blagojevich’s impeachment in 2008 and is now awaiting a jury verdict on 23 of his own federal corruption charges, was also a victim of weaponized prosecutors.
“I haven’t been following that,” Blagojevich said regarding Madigan’s case.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino released video of Trump officially pardoning Blagojevich on X, formerly Twitter, late Monday afternoon.
“It’s my honor to do it,” Trump told press before signing Blagojevich’s pardon Monday. “I watched him, he was set up by a lot of bad people, some of the same people that I had to deal with.”
Trump also alluded to Blagojevich’s appearance on season 3 of the “Celebrity Apprentice” reality show in 2010, before his first federal corruption trial began. He was “fired” four episodes into the season.
“He wasn’t quite as successful but he had somebody that saw what was going on. I didn’t know him other than I believe he was on The Apprentice,” Trump told press.
Despite his tenure as a Democrat, Blagojevich supported Trump during the 2024 presidential campaign. He appeared at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this past July, and called Trump’s reelection this past November “the greatest political comeback in American history” on social media.
Politico recently reported that Trump was considering Blagojevich for ambassador to Serbia, in addition to pardoning him. Blagojevich’s father hails from Serbia, and this month the former governor met with Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić. The previous ambassador to Serbia, Biden appointee Christopher Hill, vacated the post in January.
When press asked Trump directly if he was considering Blagojevich for the ambassador role, the president reportedly said “No, but I would. He’s now cleaner than anybody in this room.”
Blagojevich also denied he was “eyeing an ambassadorship” in a social media post in January.
“I’m not eyeing it. I’m not asking President Trump for anything,” Blagojevich said. “I’m profoundly grateful to him for commuting my 14-year prison sentence and giving my daughters their father back.”
Reporters outside Blagojevich’s home on Monday night nevertheless pressed him on whether he would take the Serbian ambassadorship. The former governor declined to comment on the issue.
Blagojevich is meanwhile barred from running for any state or local office in Illinois, per a January 2009 vote by the state Senate. He challenged that prohibition in an August 2021 federal complaint, claiming it violated his Sixth and 14th Amendment rights. He also claimed his not being able to run for office violated Illinois voters’ First Amendment rights.
U.S. District Judge Steven Seeger dismissed the suit this past March, deriding the former governor’s complaint as a publicity stunt.
“Sometimes cases in the federal courthouse attract publicity. But the courthouse is no place for a publicity stunt,” Seeger wrote. “He wants back. But he’s already gone. Case dismissed.”
Blagojevich declined to comment on Monday if he would seek public office again despite that ruling. He told reporters he is now writing a book about his experiences and doing consulting work, though he wouldn’t say for whom.
