President Donald Trump signed a full pardon for former Democratic Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Monday after commuting his sentence back in 2020.
Blagojevich developed a relationship with Trump when he appeared as a contestant on the ninth season of Celebrity Apprentice. Blagojevich was eventually “fired” by the president in the fourth episode of that season.
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“It’s my honor to do it. I’ve watched him,” Trump told reporters Monday of his decision to extend clemency to Blagojevich a second time. “He was set up by a lot of bad people.”
Trump was reportedly weighing naming Blagojevich his ambassador to Serbia but tamped down on that idea in the Oval Office.
“No, but I would,” the president responded when asked if he was considering Blagojevich to serve as ambassador.
Back in 2009, Blagojevich was impeached and removed from office after an investigation found that he had sought to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by former President Barack Obama after winning the 2008 general election.
In 2012, Blagojevich was sentenced to 14 years in prison before the president commuted his sentence in late 2020.
Trump on Monday also instituted a new set of 25% tariffs for all steel and aluminum imports, including a lengthy list of downstream, related products and two separate executive orders.
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One order rolled back the federal government’s use of paper straws in place of plastic, while the second order directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to pause enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
According to the Justice Department, the 1977 law “was enacted for the purpose of making it unlawful for certain classes of persons and entities to make payments to foreign government officials to assist in obtaining or retaining business.”
