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Trump commuted the remainder of Blagojevich’s 14-year prison term. the Illinois Democrat had begun serving that sentence in 2013 after he was found guilty of attempting to trade the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama for money or favors. The president announced that he had issued pardons to Kerik and DeBartolo. Kerik, who oversaw the NYPD during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, pleaded guilty in 2009 to charges of felony tax fraud and lying to the government. He was released from federal prison in 2013.

President Donald Trump is expected to commute the sentence of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, multiple senior level sources tell ABC News. Among the causes that lead to Blagojevich's original conviction was the charge that he sought to exchange an appointment to former President Barack Obama's vacated U.S. Senate seat in exchange for campaign money. Blagojevich, a Democrat, has been a resident of the Federal Correctional Institution, in Englewood -- near Littleton, Colorado -- since March 15, 2012, where he is known as Inmate No. 40892-424.

I, like most people from my home state of Illinois, am a great admirer of Abraham Lincoln. Recently I've wondered what would have happened had Nancy Pelosi been the Speaker of the House when Abraham Lincoln was president. Would Speaker Pelosi's House Democrats use the same flimsy impeachment standard they are currently using to impeach Honest Abe, one of the greatest presidents in the history of our country? In 1998 I was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives during the Clinton impeachment, and in 2009, as the 40th governor of Illinois, I had the unhappy experience of being...

The Rev. Jesse Jackson sent a personal appeal to President Trump last Friday, asking him to pardon the imprisoned former governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich. Jackson, the civil rights leader whose nonprofit Rainbow PUSH Coalition is based in Chicago, argued that Blagojevich’s 14-year sentence is “unfair and unnecessary.” “Rod Blagojevich was a governor that cared for the people in the state of Illinois,” Jackson said in a letter that was co-signed by former congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., his son. “We stand with his family as they seek a full pardon for a father and husband that has served most of...

In March 2004, the Illinois Gaming Board awarded the license to the City of Rosemont, Illinois, adjacent to O’Hare Airport. In response to allegations that criminal interests aligned with the “Chicago Outfit” (AKA “The Mob”) were active in Rosemont, then Illinois Governor Blagojevich, now prisoner #40892-424 in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, hired Eric Holder, former Deputy U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder during the Clinton Administration, to investigate, draft and release a report that would clear the Rosemont casino project with a clean bill of health. “‘The concern was Holder had a bias to do whatever Blagojevich...

The editors of the Washington Post are upset that President Trump pardoned Dinesh D’Souza. They also express concern that Trump might pardon Martha Stewart and Rod Blagojevich. I have no problem with the D’Souza pardon. The Obama administration threw the book at D’Souza for a relatively small campaign finance law offense that, as I understand it, normally results in a slap on the wrist. It did so, in all likelihood, for the same reason the Post is unhappy with the pardon — D’Souza was a strident and effective critic of the Obama administration and of liberalism in general. According to...

Rod Blagojevich makes no bones about it. He’s doing a great job in his current position. “I’ve been given the jurisdiction to sweep and mop two floors,” he says. “So my jurisdiction has shrunk from the fifth biggest state in America, to these two floors. But I don’t care what anybody says, I believe in clean government, and I believe in clean floors.” ... It is Blagojevich’s first public comment since he entered FCI Englewood five and a half years ago. .. “Do you realize, I have twice been given a longer prison sentence than Al Capone?” he says. “I’ve...

The beauty of being a billionaire in politics is that you can say you're not beholden to anyone. And J.B. Pritzker, Democrat and billionaire, is running for governor of Illinois. When you're a billionaire in politics, nobody can buy you. So you don't have to fall to your knees and beg the political money men, then bounce up like a medieval jester to tell voters you're an independent who'll speak truth to power. So being a billionaire isn't all that bad a thing in politics. But wealth can't save you from moronic self-inflicted wounds. If you're a Pritzker, you can...

Daughter of imprisoned IL Governor pens raw open letter to ‘spineless’ Obama for not pardoning her father January 27, 2017 | Carmine Sabia | The daughter of former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich laced into former President Barack Obama for not pardoning her father who is in prison for corruption. Amy Blagojevich, 20, called the former president “spineless” for not commuting her father’s sentence as he did for American traitor Chelsea Manning. “You’ve betrayed the concept of justice like many other heartless individuals have done before you. I thought you were different. I thought you had a moral compass. Turns out...

“Everyone seems to be mourning your exit from office,” Amy wrote in the lengthy screed, posted on her mom Patti’s Facebook page. “I’m glad you’re gone. I’m not delusional — you’re not a saint. You were a mediocre president with unoriginal ideas.” “I thought you would finally right this wrong,” she told Obama. “You didn’t have to pardon him, only commute the sentence. You just had to let him come home. You didn’t. You released others, like Chelsea Manning or FALN terrorists, who actually committed reprehensible crimes, but you failed to release an innocent man.”

Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich is seeking a presidential commutation, according to a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Justice. The longshot request comes more than four months after U.S. District Judge James Zagel reinstated the 14-year prison sentence Blagojevich, 60, is serving for a series of schemes that included his attempt to sell then-President-elect Barack Obama’s U.S. Senate seat. The news of Blagojevich’s commutation request also comes days after Blagojevich’s lawyer, Leonard Goodman, filed a brief with the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals asking for yet another sentencing hearing.

A federal judge on Tuesday upheld Rod Blagojevich's 14-year prison sentence on corruption counts, setting aside pleas for leniency by the former Illinois governor's wife and daughters during his resentencing.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A lawyer for former media baron Conrad Black urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday to overturn his fraud conviction, and several justices asked whether the federal law at issue was too vague. The Canadian-born Black, a member of Britain's House of Lords, has been in prison since March 2008, when he began serving a 6 1/2-year sentence for fraud and obstruction of justice. Attorney Miguel Estrada, representing Black and two ex-colleagues who were found guilty of defrauding shareholders of one-time newspaper publishing giant Hollinger International Inc, argued before the Supreme Court that all convictions in the...

The nation’s highest court first rejected Blagojevich’s request in March, but his attorneys filed a petition for rehearing in April. The Supreme Court turned down that petition Monday without comment.

The Fight over Financial Aid to Illegal Alien Students Continues Congress Supports Judicial Watch Taxpayer Lawsuit against DC Government What Does the FBI Have on the Obama Gang? The Fight over Financial Aid to Illegal Alien Students Continues Too often, politicians at every level will ignore the clear language of a law if it doesn’t let them do as they wish. This is evident on two fronts this week: in California and here in the District of Columbia. First California. You will recall that we filed a taxpayer lawsuit in August 2014 challenging a decision by the University of...

[picture of Robert Creamer] Looks like the Marxist architect of Obamacare also had a major say in putting forth the Iran Deal. Robert Creamer was convicted in 2005 for tax violations and bank fraud. He served time and was under house arrest. While in prison, he crafted the core underpinnings of Obamacare. Creamer is a political consultant who is very close to Barack Obama and is married to Jan Schakowsky, the Marxist Congresswoman from Illinois. While on the inside, he wrote, Listen to Your Mother: Stand Up Straight! How Progressives Can Win. Obamacare was only the first major step in...

DEVELOPING: An appeals court has overturned some of the corruption convictions of imprisoned former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. he 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago released its ruling Tuesday.

Everyone missed what is now, in hindsight, a crystal clear signal that the White House knew that the buffalo chips were about to hit the fan; and that they are very worried.On April 21, the White House announced that Neil Eggleston would be the new counsel to the president. It didn't get much notice, but in light of recent events, it's a really big deal.

Revelations in the Peoria Journal Star earlier this week that the Peoria/Champaign area is one of seven in the United States on a terrorist “circuit” were frightening. “Terrorists enter the United States in San Francisco and Los Angeles, then move to Phoenix, then Denver," reported Phil Luciano of the PJS. "From there some head to Peoria and Champaign. Some terrorists remain in those communities, while others head on to New York City" (emphasis added). Luciano was provided this information by Peoria County Sheriff Mike McCoy, who received it at a recent FBI conference held in Springfield. Names of larger cities...

Illinois' only two harness horse racing tracks kept their promise to the Illinois Racing Board as they filed for bankruptcy on Wednesday to continue operations into 2015 and protect themselves against property seizure. Balmoral Racing Club Inc. and Maywood Park Trotting Association Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after a state court handed down a $78 million lawsuit judgment earlier this month for the tracks' ownership's role in an extortion scandal involving former Gov. Rod Blagojevich. **SNIP** The ruling stems from a federal racketeering suit that claims that John Johnston acquiesced to Blagojevich's request for a $100,000 campaign contribution in...