Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich says he is “profoundly grateful” to President Donald Trump for pardoning him.
Blagojevich spent nearly eight years in prison on corruption charges, for, among other things, trying to sell or trade former President Barack Obama’s former Senate seat. Five years after commuting Blagojevich’s sentence, Trump pardoned him on Monday.
“I just wanna say again how profoundly grateful my family and I are for what President Trump did for us,” he told “The Story.” “I have unbelievably warm affection for him. He’s been nothing but kind to me.”
Blagojevich discussed what it was like talking to the president via phone call about his pardon, before describing their relationship. The former governor appeared as a contestant on Trump’s reality TV show “The Celebrity Apprentice” before his conviction in 2011.
TRUMP PARDONS FORMER ILLINOIS GOV. ROD BLAGOJEVICH: ‘HE WAS SET UP BY A LOT OF BAD PEOPLE’
“My relationship with him has really been basically him doing good things for me,” Blagojevich said. “I didn’t break a law. That so-called sale of the Senate seat was reversed by the appellate court many years later, after I sat in prison for a long time…And my goal is to get full and complete vindication and show just how corrupt those prosecutors were who threw me in jail for eight years.“
When Fox News anchor and executive editor of “The Story” Martha MacCallum asked the former governor if he ever brokered with or promised anyone to get Obama’s former Senate seat, Blagojevich doubled down on why he feels his alleged crime was “a big lie from the beginning.”
FILE – Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, right, speaks, Oct. 21, 2020, during a news conference in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)
“No, there was none of those things that would be nefarious and criminal,” he said. “These were political conversations. Obama started them. He sent an emissary to me on election night and said he wanted a Valerie Jarrett for the United States Senate, what do you want? So we discussed political deals. That’s why the appellate court eventually reversed it. It was never a crime, it was a big lie from the beginning.“
Blagojevich went on to further insist on his innocence before reiterating his gratitude to President Trump.
“For 14 years, I never took a penny,” Blagojevich added. “Nobody said I did. And eventually, here I am today, grateful to President Trump and so excited about my new beginning.”
The former governor, who has called himself a “Trump-ocrat,” gave an ambiguous answer on whether he would accept an ambassadorship to Serbia. Trump has suggested he would consider nominating him to be U.S. ambassador to Serbia.
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“I had a chance to be in Serbia last week,” Blagojevich said. “It’s a country under President [Aleksandar] Vučić that’s living an economic miracle. Real wages have gone up 270% for working people there. I’m excited about what they’re doing there. I just want to do the best I can here and be friendly to President Trump, and do whatever I can to show my gratitude to him for what he’s done and root him on to make our country great.”
