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Presidential Clemency Record

Rod Blagojevich

Commutation

  /   2017–2021

Record at a Glance

Clemency type
Commutation
Presidential term
2017–2021
Federal district
Northern District of Illinois
Offense
Wire fraud under color of official right (eight counts); conspiracy/attempted extortion; attempt to commit extortion under color of official right; conspiracy to solicit and solicitation of a bribe (three counts); making false statements
Sentence
168 months' imprisonment (as amended); 24 months' supervised release; $20,000 fine (December 7, 2011)
Current status
Blagojevich received a full federal pardon in February 2025 after the earlier prison commutation. By July 2026, reporting identified him as lobbying for clemency for another former politician; that advocacy was not a new criminal matter or public appointment.

Original Case

Federal prosecutors accused Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich of using his office to obtain money, campaign support, and jobs for himself and others, including through efforts to trade the power to appoint Barack Obama’s successor in the U.S. Senate. His first trial in 2010 produced one false-statement conviction and deadlocks on the remaining counts. At a 2011 retrial, a jury convicted him on 17 additional corruption counts involving wire fraud, attempted extortion, extortion conspiracy, bribery solicitation, and related conspiracies. The Seventh Circuit later vacated five counts and prosecutors declined to retry them. Blagojevich remained convicted on 13 counts and was resentenced to the same 168-month prison term, with two years of supervised release and a $20,000 fine.

Clemency

Trump commuted Blagojevich’s 14-year prison sentence to time served on February 18, 2020. The commutation secured his release but left the surviving convictions, supervised release, and $20,000 fine in place. Trump later granted a separate full pardon on February 10, 2025; that second action belongs to Blagojevich’s second-term clemency record.

Trump Connection

Blagojevich appeared as a contestant on Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice in 2010. His wife, Patti Blagojevich, later mounted a sustained public campaign for clemency directed at Trump and conservative audiences. Trump described the sentence as excessive and the prosecution as unfair when commuting the prison term, while saying their personal association was limited to the television show.

Since Clemency

  • 2025-02-10 · clemency

    Trump granted a full and unconditional pardon after the first-term commutation.

    Legal Status: Federal pardon for U.S. v. Blagojevich, 1:08-cr-00888, N.D. Ill.; does not itself reverse Illinois impeachment/disqualification.

  • 2025-10-30 · foreign consulting disclosure

    An RRB Strategies FARA supplemental signed by Blagojevich identified Michael Flynn as a consultant for its Republic of Srpska engagement and disclosed a $100,000 payment to Resilient Patriotic LLC for a Flynn consulting fee.

    Legal Status: Foreign-principal business disclosure. The named principal is an entity within Bosnia and Herzegovina; this filing does not identify a Russian payer or find criminal misconduct.

  • 2026-10-06 · public appearance

    Reuters photographer Joshua Lott documented Blagojevich at his book-launch event in Chicago.

    Legal Status: Documented public appearance; no new criminal, civil, or public-office status is established.

Sources

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