https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/trump-commutation-blagojevich-64847532 Trump says he's considering commutation for Blagojevich President Donald Trump says he's "very strongly" considering commuting the sentence of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (blah-GOY'-uh-vich), who is serving a 14-year prison term for multiple federal corruption convictions. Trump suggested more than a year ago that he was considering a commutation for Blagojevich, who then filed paperwork requesting one.
His sentence should be commuted. The poor dumb bastard never even received a dime for the hustle he was trying to pull, and corrupt politicians in Illinois are par for the course. Others have done far worse and did little or no time. Seven years for what he did is plenty. And lets not forget, Blago was just another corrupt democrat is a state full of corrupt democrats. Hell, Jesse Jackson Jr. did far less time for tax fraud and stealing campaign funds. And let not forget Mel Reynolds sexual assault and sex with a minor. His sentence was commuted by fellow sex offender Bill Clinton. Don't recall much media hub bub about that. Reynolds was sentenced to five years in prison, thus he expected to be released in 1998. However, in April 1997, he was convicted on 16 unrelated counts of bank fraud, misusing campaign funds for personal use and lying to FEC investigators. Specifically, one count of bank fraud, two counts of wire fraud, eight counts of making false statements on loan applications, one count of conspiracy to defraud the Federal Election Commission, and four counts of making false statements to the FEC. These charges resulted in an additional sentence of 78 months in federal prison. Reynolds served all of his first sentence, and served 42 months in prison for the later charges. At that point, President Bill Clinton commuted the sentence for bank fraud. As a result, Reynolds was released from prison and served the remaining time in a halfway house
As much as I like Trump, I think Blagojevich was the worst kind of politician and should not be pardoned. If it was just about the Senate seat, I could be a little more forgiving. But he extorted a childrens hospital and wouldn't release $8m of state funds to the hospital unless the CEO gave him $50k. He also shookdown that racetrack owner for $100k I believe. Pay to play are the worst type of politicians. Blago is where he should be. Funny this story didn't get as much traction when Trump first said it in 2018. https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/31/politics/martha-stewart-rod-blagojevich-trump-pardons/index.html
It was influence peddling that got Obama his Senate seat over the objections of several of his more established opponents. Trump would either be truly clueless to commute Blagojevich’s sentence or as utterly corrupt.
Obama was duly elected to the US senate, it was him leaving the seat vacant when he campaigned for the presidency that allowed this miscreant to try to traffic his seat for profit.