ENUGU, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday pardoned Rod Blagojevich, the ex-governor of Illinois who was jailed for corruption.
This comes five years after Trump commuted his 14-year sentence during his first term in office.
Blagojevich, a Democrat, was impeached and removed from office in 2009 before being convicted of attempting to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama after he won the presidency in 2008.
“It was sort of a terrible injustice. They just went after him, they go after a lot of people. These are bad people on the other side,” Trump said while signing the pardon in the Oval Office.
Defending his decision, Trump added, “I think he’s a very fine person, and this shouldn’t have happened.”
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When asked about reports suggesting he was considering Blagojevich for a diplomatic post as the U.S. ambassador to Serbia, Trump responded, “No, but I would. He’s now cleaner than anybody in this room.”
Vanguard reports that during his first term, Trump was unclear about his reasons for commuting Blagojevich’s sentence. At the time, he noted that the former governor had appeared on his reality TV show, The Apprentice, and seemed like “a very nice person,” but admitted, “I don’t know him very well.”
“He served eight years in jail. He has a long time to go. Many people disagree with the sentence,” Trump said in 2020 when discussing his decision to commute Blagojevich’s sentence.
Since returning to the White House on January 20, Trump has used his presidential pardon powers on several occasions.
On the night of his inauguration, he granted clemency to around 1,500 people, including individuals accused of involvement in the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack, where his supporters sought to overturn his election loss to Joe Biden.
Additionally, Trump has pardoned two dozen anti-abortion protesters and Ross Ulbricht, the creator of the Silk Road online marketplace, which was used for millions of dollars in illegal drug transactions.