Donald Trump has been hinting that he would commute the sentence for former Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich and today he did just that, saying: “Yes, we commuted the sentence of Rod Blagojevich. He served eight years in jail, a long time… He was on for a short while on the Apprentice. He seems like a very nice person, don’t know him.”
Blagojevich was serving 14 years for wire fraud, attempted extortion, and conspiracy to solicit bribes. It was in connection with a scheme to basically sell Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat for his personal benefit.
Blagojevich wasn’t the only one receiving Trump’s favor on Tuesday, there were 11 people Trump helped.
He also pardoned former New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, disgraced former Wall Street financier Michael Milken and the former owner of the San Francisco 49ers, Edward J. DeBartolo Jr.
President Trump pardons former New York police commissioner Bernie Kerik, who served time in prison for tax fraud and lying to officials https://t.co/FYoOrEuExt pic.twitter.com/N7lCXxztCr
— CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) February 18, 2020
Thank you President @realDonaldTrump. pic.twitter.com/nnDGa55Hgo
— Bernard B. Kerik (@BernardKerik) February 18, 2020
The New York Times says DeBartolo “pleaded guilty in 1998 to concealing an extortion attempt and eventually surrendered control of his team.”:
Mr. DeBartolo, the scion of a prominent real estate development family who created one of the National Football League’s greatest dynasties, was prosecuted after agreeing to pay $400,000 in brand-new $100 bills to Edwin W. Edwards, the influential former governor of Louisiana, to secure a riverboat gambling license for his gambling consortium.
Mr. DeBartolo avoided prison but was fined $1 million and suspended for a year by the N.F.L. He later handed over the 49ers to his sister Denise DeBartolo York. His nephew Jed York currently runs the team, which made it back to the Super Bowl this year only to fall to the Kansas City Chiefs.
BREAKING: Trump pardons Michael Milken, face of 1980s financial scandals https://t.co/DBXQTWPYe8
— CNBC Now (@CNBCnow) February 18, 2020
Here is a full list of the pardons and commutations Trump granted today, courtesy of the New York Times.