Blagojevich Jailbreak!

President Donald Trump has commuted the prison sentence of one-time Celebrity Apprentice contestant and disgraced former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, the Chicago Democrat who tried to sell Barack Obama’s vacant senate seat after the 2004 election. Mr. Blagojevich was also convicted of shaking down a childrens’ hospital to try to get a $50,000 contribution from the hospital CEO, and extorting a $100,000 bribe from a racetrack owner. He was convicted of the schemes on the evidence of his phone calls, so the president can surely relate.

“Blago,” a devoted Elvis fan, had been scheduled to do the Jailhouse Rock until May 2024.

More:

“Who Is Rod Blagojevich? And Why Did President Trump Commute His Sentence?” Monica Davey and Mitch Smith, New York Times

“The Rod Blagojevich scandal and Trump’s commutation of his sentence, explained,” Andrew Prokop, Vox

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Trump’s Celebrity Pardons

U.S. President and reality show host Donald Trump ramped up the “wow!” factor on the latest episode of Celebrity White House yesterday with a presidential pardon for confessed federal felon Dinesh D’Souza, the conservative troll, Twitter abuser, conspiracy theorist, adulterer, and Christian college official who admitted to making illegal campaign contributions. Ted Cruz is “positively gleeful.”

Mr. Trump, who prefers to govern by fiat, discovered his federal pardon power when he sprang racist Joe Arpaio from the pokey, pardoned perjurer Scooter Libby, and pardoned Sly Stallone’s pal Jack Johnson, “a person that, when people got to know him, they really liked him,” as the president put it. The chief executive is also eyeing relief for federal felons and former Celebrity Apprentice stars Martha Stewart and Rod Blagojevich.

Donald Trump isn’t all that interested in celebrity justice; he’s sending a message to his indicted collaborators Michael Cohen, Michael Flynn, and Paul Manafort that he can bust them out of prison with the stroke of a pen if they keep mum.