Trump Commutes Sentence Of Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich

[GMDino]

Busy day for DJT...

https://www.npr.org/2020/02/18/807057090/trump-commutes-sentence-of-former-illinois-gov-rod-blagojevich?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_term=nprnews&utm_campaign=npr&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR04l8OK0QahEVvoRuXCdJn9uYvZZhgW49aPxZfmtFtD9aNLxEy4_DKCPwA

Quote:President Trump has commuted the sentence of the ex-governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, who has been imprisoned since being convicted in 2010 on corruption charges over his attempt to sell the Senate seat vacated by then-President Obama.

"Yes, we commuted the sentence of Rod Blagojevich," Trump told reporters on Tuesday.

The move would free Blagojevich from prison four years before he would have been eligible for parole and clear his corruption convictions.

Blagojevich, once seen as a rising star in the Democratic party, was a contestant on Trump's former reality show "The Celebrity Apprentice."

For years, his family and allies have been attempting to curry favor with the White House, with his wife, Patti, making repeated pleas on Fox News and other national outlets for Trump to intervene in her husband's case after exhausting all legal appeals.

Trump has made sympathetic comments about Blagojevich, having said publicly multiple times that Blagojevich's sentence was unfair.

Blagojevich, Trump said in 2018, was convicted for "being stupid, saying things that every other politician, you know, that many other politicians say."

Among the evidence federal prosecutors gathered on Blagojevich was his now-famous profanity on a phone call secretly recorded by the FBI about his attempt to profit from Obama's vacated Illinois Senate seat.

Blagojevich, 63, has been serving a 12-year prison sentence since 2012, and he would be eligible for release in 2024.

In 2010, after Blagojevich was removed as governor of Illinois over the corruption scandal, he appeared on "Apprentice," where Trump fired Blagojevich before saying "I feel badly for him. He tried, but I feel badly."

A jury convicted Blagojevich in 2010 of one count of lying to FBI agents, not reaching a consensus on another 23 other charges. But then in 2011, another jury convicted him of 17 counts, including 10 of wire fraud, and one count of soliciting bribes.

A judge sentenced him to 14 years in federal prison.

Also...


https://www.foxnews.com/politics/nfl-greats-thank-trump-for-pardon-of-hall-of-fame-owner-eddie-debartolo-jr

Quote:The White House announced Tuesday that President Trump is granting a full pardon to former San Francisco 49ers owner Edward DeBartolo Jr., who was convicted of failing to report a bribe to the former governor of Louisiana when he pleaded guilty in 1998.


NFL greats including Jerry Rice, Ronnie Lott, Charles Haley, and Jim Brown were on hand at the White House, expressing their support for DeBartolo, who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2016.

"I take my hat off to Donald Trump for what he did," Rice said, crediting DeBartolo for his former team's success in the 1980s and 90s.

“He wanted us to win and I think he’s the main reason why we won so many Super Bowls," said Rice, who played on three of DeBartolo's Super Bowl-winning teams.

“I’m going to make it real simple," Brown said. "Ed DeBartolo is a great man.”

Brown spoke of his personal relationship with DeBartolo, calling him "a great, great friend of mine and to the league."