Blagojevich Not On Trump's Latest List Of Pardons, Commutations
WASHINGTON (CBS/AP) -- President Donald Trump on Monday issued full pardons for five convicted criminals and commuted sentences for two others.
Not on the list was former Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
For months, Blagojevich's wife, Patti, and other high-profile people – including the Rev. Jesse Jackson and former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. – have been pushing for a pardon.
Blagojevich is more than halfway through a 14-year corruption sentence, following his 2011 conviction for, among other things, trying to sell an appointment to the U.S. Senate seat once held by Barack Obama before he was elected president in 2008.
Trump is Blagojevich's last hope to get out of prison early. Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his last-ditch appeal, leaving presidential clemency as his only option to go free before his sentence is over. He formally filed a petition for leniency last year.
In the past, Trump has said he would consider showing leniency to Blagojevich, calling his 14-year sentence "really unfair."
"[Fourteen] years in jail for being stupid and saying things that every other politician, you know that many other politicians say," Trump said last year. "What he did does not justify [14] years in a jail. If you read his statement, it was a foolish statement. There was a lot of bravado … but it does not … plenty of other politicians have said a lot worse. And it doesn't, he shouldn't have been put in jail."
After two trials in 2010 and 2011, Blagojevich was convicted of 18 corruption counts.
Trump on Monday commuted the sentences of Ted Suhl, who was convicted of bribery related to Medicaid fraud, and Ronen Nahmani, a Florida man convicted of selling synthetic marijuana. The White House says he has five young children and that his wife is suffering from terminal cancer.
Those pardoned by Trump on Monday had been convicted of drug trafficking, illegal gambling, fraud, and theft.
(© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
