Anything with Barack Obama’s name on it attracts Donald Trump’s attention…
President Trump has commuted the 14-year prison sentence of former Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich of Illinois, the Democrat who was convicted of trying to essentially sell President Barack Obama’s vacated Senate seat for personal gain, according to a person briefed on the decision.
Mr. Trump commuted the former governor’s sentence on Tuesday and is planning on announcing it soon, taking the action after saying for years that he was considering intervening in Mr. Blagojevich’s case.
By commuting the sentence, the president would free Mr. Blagojevich from prison without wiping out the conviction. Republicans have advised the president against it, arguing that Mr. Blagojevich’s crime epitomizes the corruption that Mr. Trump had said he wanted to tackle as president.
The president’s decision came the same day that he pardoned Edward J. DeBartolo Jr., a former owner of the San Francisco 49ers who pleaded guilty in 1998 to concealing an extortion attempt and eventually surrendered control of his team….
image…chicagotribune.com
Blago post is HERE
Rod said today that he now considers himself a Trumpocrat. Figures. The man who idolized Richard Nixon has a new Republican hero. He also complained that very few Democrats spoke out in favor of his clemency.
For all his many faults, this dope deserved clemency even though some of our friends think “we should set an example” of him, supposedly by making him spend more time in jail when his life has already been ruined. In fact, as Jack pointed out, Corey got very worked up about the whole thing. It might have to do with the fact that Rod was the first Democratic Governor of California in 30 years, and even though he was a mess in office he got himself elected. Now that was something for a Republican to get worked up about.
is it certain this is a done deal? He could change his mind again.
Common Cause Illinois Executive Director Jay Young…
“While former Governor Rod Blagojevich will get to walk free, Illinois is still being held prisoner to the consequences of his long record of corruption, bribery, and abuse of power. President Trump’s commutation of Blagojevich’s sentence is the latest action by a lawless president to undermine ethics and accountability in our government. This decision is wrong and deprives the people of Illinois the justice they deserve. After consistently ignoring our nation’s ethics norms and laws for the last three years, President Trump has now chosen to side with the long line of Illinois politicians that have been imprisoned or had their careers ended due to corruption.”
Swamp the Drain.
“Swampy Pardon”
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/trumps-very-swampy-pardon-of-rod-blagojevich
Note that Trump uses Jim Comey as an excuse. Comey was not even FBI Director at the time and wasn’t until years later.
Here is part of what Blagojevich was convicted of. It goes far beyond just being a “jerk.”
(1) extorting the CEO of a children’s hospital by withholding important state funding to help sick children until the CEO provided campaign contributions;
(2) extorting the owners of a racetrack by intentionally holding up the signing of important state legislation until the owners provided campaign contributions in response to an explicit demand for them;
(3) extortionately demanding funding for a high-paying private sector job, as well as campaign contributions, in exchange for naming a replacement to an open U.S. Senate seat; and
(4) lying to the FBI to cover up his criminal activity.
It is said that the sentencing guidelines actually worked in his favor and was given many less years than he could have been given.
LOL, did he also use taxpayer dollars to get dirt on a political opponent from a foreign government?
Rod is a mean spirited jerk, but he’s a rank amateur when it comes to Trump.
Denny Hastert, at one time the country’s third in line to the Presidency, got 15 months for crimes related to the cover-up of years of his sexual abuse of little boys. Hopefully Gym Jordan won’t be so lucky.
So, 15 months as opposed to 14 years. Jack is right about those sentencing guidelines. Maybe Rod should have shown up in a wheel chair at sentencing. He got this type of sentence because he was so obnoxious. Can I prove that statement? No. But given he has served almost 10 years for trying to do some illegal things and Denny, in a much higher position of responsibility and trust, was sexually molesting little boys — does seem to be unfair.
Do I care if he gets out, not really. But, Jack does make a good point. These guidelines are very arbitrary. Thank God we have Trump to tell us how it should all work. It’s apparent Rod benefited from the fact that Trump needs to pardon a Democrat before he gets busy with the rest of his campaign staff.
If given Trump’s power, Rod would have done all that and more. It’s a shame you only see party labels and cannot see corruption as corruption.
So Blago served Eight Years.
You wanted him to serve ten ?
Ok ! Whatever.
I don’t see that it’s anything to get worked up about .Hes a convicted felon .He won’t be able to practice law and he’s finished in public life. So He gets to be with his family again.
I think he’s probably been punished enough your seeming desire for two more years not withstanding.
I’ve got much more important things to worry about ,including the daily corruption ofAmerican life and politics by one Donald Trump.
Personally, I find the the presentation before a joint session of Congress of a Medal to the likes of Rush Limbaugh far more offensive than Blago getting a few years off his sentence.
He’s not finished in public life. He can’t run for office again in Illinois but will have a plethora of media opportunities. Will probably get a Reality Show.
I’m not “worked up” over everything. I just think he was let go too early for the wrong reasons by someone with the wrong motives and that this will do nothing to help alleviate the corruption problems that plague Illinois politics.
I find it somewhat mystifying that you ,and many other people, apparently feel that persons in political office in Illinois will not be “deterred” by Blago having spent eight years in jail but would be if he had just spent a few years more.
I’ve never been convinced of the merits of “deterrence” as regards persons with a criminal intent.
I’ve represented a lot of criminals over the past forty years or so .Ive found that they spend little time considering the possible punishment that might await them before commiting a crime.Rather their “concern” only arises as that punishment appears imminent.
I doubt there are many budding politicians in the state of Illinois contemplating actions against the public trust that will be influenced one way or the other by either Blagojevichs imprisonment or his early release.
I think you have to set an example. There has been a longstanding issue of Illinois Governors (of both parties) being sentenced to prison (and many other examples of corruption in Illinois politics). Those who seek the office run against those acts and then proceed to commit worse ones.
Rod had his appeals and lost. He is getting off at least a little bit easy, He can claim that the President has exonerated him since Trump seems to think Blago did nothing wrong… (because Mrs. Blago spent years buttering up Trump on Fox News shows and in newspaper op-eds precisely for this result…… can’t blame her for the tactic.)
It is also true that prosecutors probably had enough to charge her as well (as the former Mrs. Jesse Jackson Jr was charged and convicted alongside her husband) but decided not to prosecute Patti Blagojevich for humanitarian reasons.
Blago Has Time served …
The conviction stays on the books…
Yea…
He’ll probably get a media gig
BTW?
Trump is holding a pardon sale…..
More coming…
EX-NYC Police Boss Bernie Kerik…
If ya was convicted during Obama’s 8 years send ur request to the White House and make sure u mention Barack Obama so Trump see’s it!
Amen Jack….
Please spar us all your moralizing on this topic.
Next we’ll hear, once again, about Ted Kennedy having sex on the floor of a DC restaurant.
It’s clear that Rod committed a crime, just as it’s clear Trump is probably committing one as I type this. Doesn’t have to do with political labels, it has to do with a uniform application of the rule of law.
That was my point, but your obsession with me doesn’t allow you to agree. I understand that.
My analogy was correct. Everyone basically likes Denny Hastert, I do, and we feel sorry for him having to go to jail at his age. That doesn’t take away his crimes, just as Rod’s sentence doesn’t take away his. But, I still content Rod got a much heavier sentence simply because he was so hated. I think most objective observers would admit that.
So Denny Hastert got 15 months for sucking little boys dicks and Rod got 14 years (10 of that he has already served) for trying, but not succeeding, to shake down Illinois institutions and fellow political leaders. Doesn’t seem like a uniform application of the law to me.
As far as Rod “doing all that and more” you may be right. But, I am sure Denny did molest all those boys and more. The court records prove it.
Got to go. Beautiful day here, we need rain though, and the gym and an evening political meeting are on the schedule.
Have a good day everyone.
In addition to having had sex on the floor of a restaurant or wherever else he was caught in the act those days, on at least one occasion, Ted Kennedy committed a well-documented sexual assault against an unwilling woman who was partaking in her job at the time. “When you’re a Kennedy, they let you get away with it.”
It speaks volumes that you do not find that remotely troubling.
We should be factual about what Hastert was convicted of but I didn’t feel sorry for him when he was sent to prison. Maybe you did. He got away with being a criminal for decades and yes, nobody really had any inkling of that. He was always on “borrowed time.”
(I felt some sympathy for his sons whom I once knew a bit personally)
Rod has not served 10 years. If he served 10 years, this would be less of an issue. He hasn’t even served eight years. Wait a month and it will be eight years. That way we can all say he got his “two terms” in.
It should be noted that Blagojevich has never showed an inch of remorse or contrition or any acknowledgement of wrongdoing. I guess Trump admires that.
Here’s a thread from a popular Illinois political blog (left-leaning) that explains that Blagojevich was given many breaks in his sentencing.
https://capitolfax.com/2020/02/18/flashback-any-error-in-the-guidelines-calculation-went-in-blagojevich%e2%80%99s-favor/
The Hastert case has nothing to do with the Blagojevich case. Nobody was arguing for Hastert to have his sentence commuted.
Dismissing what Blagojevich did as merely “him being a jerk” is to cast a blind eye to corruption. He actually went further in abusing his office than Trump did. It took a “whistleblower” to stop Trump. It took the FBI to stop Blagojevich. Plenty of people voted to reelect Blagojevich in Illinois knowing darn well he was under investigation and was likely to be indicted. They simply chose to look the other way, just like people do now for Trump..
(and it turns out now that his defeated opponent, the late Judy Baar Topinka, who is almost viewed as a saint like figure among guilty conscience Illinois Democrats these days was an FBI informant for decades trying to root out corruption in government)
My recollection is that Saint Topinka supported convicted Gov. Ryan and never publicly said it was a mistake to support him despite frequent Blagojevich tying her to him.
I can understand CG’s point about some Illinois voters supporting Gov. Blagojevich’s re-election even believing him to be corrupt.
The late Providence Mayor Vincent A. (“Buddy”) Cianci ran for and won re-election twice after conviction of crimes. In 2000, he ran and won.
In 2014, he ran again, after serving 5 Federal years for corruption RICO. Had not the affluent East Side of Providence (only 1/5 of the City’s population) turned out in droves to defeat him, swamping the pro-Cianci votes of minority and lower-middle-class citizens on the other side of the Providence River, Cianci would have returned to City Hall for yet a third term. (He died a free man out of public office in early 2016, or about one year into the mayoral term he failed to win.)
Many of those Cianci voters fully acknowledged his crimes, but probably voted for him (a) because of some very real positive achievements over his 21 years in office, and (b) because he was able to convince ordinary working-class and white-ethnic voters that he was on their side and somehow (although a doctor’s son who went to my prep school) one of them (cf. James Michael Curley, a totally-authentic working-class son of Roxbury.)
When he died, many of the Atwells Avenue stores and restaurants in Italian-American Federal Hill carried memorial displays or old Cianci campaign posters.
It’s a little reminiscent of Amy Klobuchar’s oft-repeated anecdote about the man waiting for FDR’s funeral train who told a reporter that while he never knew FDR, “he knew me”.
Much the same could be said about the crowds waiting for the train carrying the body of Robert F. Kennedy from Los Angeles to Washington in June 1968. Or about the grief-stricken crowds of ordinary Bostonians that poured out to mourn ex-Mayor Curley in 1958.
¶ It’s a very sad and tragic fact that Donald Trump can arouse similar feelings of sympathy among millions of ordinary American citizens who long felt left-out by the establishment parties but now feel they have a real friend and champion in the White House who empathizes with them, will listen to them at last, finally help them and restore American Greatness (MAGA).
Whenever death finally visits the present President (in or out of office, in or out of prison), it’s almost certain that millions will mourn.
The Freed Blago is calling himself a “Trumpocrat.” He has a press conference scheduled outside his home at the top of the hour where he is promising to (once again) prove his innocence and expose corrupt Democrats.
He’s always been late for everything though, so it will probably get pushed back to compete exactly at the same time that Pritzker is giving the Budget Address in Springfield.
Press Conference about to begin. Already looks like a circus.
He hasn’t dyed his hair back yet but seems to be bleeding from the chin.
No remorse for his crimes. Says his “freedom was stolen.”
Why should he?
Trump didn’t
The Good guys ARE THE BAD GUY theses days…
Effusive in praise for Trump.
“If I had a vote, I’d vote for him.”
(Bernie would let him do so, even when he was still locked up)
He must have cut himself shaving or something.
MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
I was wrong…..
Bernie Sanders IS NOW PEAKING across all known universes!
Blago blasts Biden and the “racist 1994 Crime Bill.”
He thanks Jesse Jackson for helping to get him released.
He hasn’t lost a step in eight years with this press conference besides for the chin thing. He’s as big a sociopath as Trump.
Now, he’s bragging about the bus rides for grandmas! (but without the profanity)
I believe he has now compared his time in prison to Mandela and those imprisoned by the Soviets.
I have a third cousin who is in a relationship with someone named “Blagojevich.” I am told no relation though…
Let’s revisit a classic moment in Blago History:
“I (expletive) busted my ass and pissed people off and gave your grandmother a free (expletive) ride on a bus. OK? I gave your (expletive) baby a chance to have health care. And what do I get for that? Only 13 percent of you all out there think I’m doing a good job. So (expletive) all of you.”