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Blagojevich was convicted on charges including wire fraud,
extortion and soliciting bribes while governor. He served from
January 2003 to January 2009, when the Illinois Senate removed
him from office. Blagojevich began serving a 14-year prison
sentence in 2012.
“I thought he was treated unbelievably unfairly,” Trump told
reporters on Air Force One. “I am thinking about commuting his
sentence."
The U.S. Supreme Court last year turned away Blagojevich’s
latest bid to shorten his prison sentence.
Prosecutors in the case said Blagojevich, a Democrat and former
contestant on Trump’s “Celebrity Apprentice” reality TV show,
solicited campaign contributions in exchange for raising
pediatric healthcare reimbursement rates and legislation
supporting his state’s horse racing industry. Blagojevich also
tried to sell or trade the Senate seat that Barack Obama vacated
after winning the 2008 U.S. presidential election, prosecutors
said.
"I think it’s enough, seven years," Trump said, adding that
Blagojevich was not a friend and not a member of the same
political party. "Not a friend of mine. He’s a Democrat, not a
Republican. It’s Illinois. I think he was treated very very
unfairly, just as others were.”
The White House has suggested before that such a commutation was
possible. An official said last year that the president was
still considering the issue.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Shri
Navaratnam)
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