Posted on 02/18/2020 12:57:11 PM PST by simpson96
WASHINGTON — President Trump commuted the 14-year prison sentence of former Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich of Illinois, the Democrat who was convicted of trying to essentially sell Barack Obama’s vacated Senate seat for personal gain, and pardoned the financier Michael R. Milken and Bernard B. Kerik, the former New York City police commissioner, the president announced on Tuesday.
“Yes, we commuted the sentence of Rod Blagojevich,” Mr. Trump told reporters just before boarding Air Force One for a four-day trip to the west coast where he is scheduled to hold three campaign rallies. “He served eight years in jail, a long time. He seems like a very nice person, don’t know him.”
Mr. Kerik, the former New York City police commissioner, was convicted of tax fraud and lying to the government. And he said he had also pardoned Mr. Milken, the investment banker who was known in the 1980s as the “junk bond king” and who has fought for decades to reverse his conviction for securities fraud.
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Mr. Trump commuted the former governor’s sentence on Tuesday after saying for years that he was considering intervening in Mr. Blagojevich’s case. By commuting the sentence, the president would free Mr. Blagojevich from prison without wiping out the conviction. Republicans have advised the president against it, arguing that Mr. Blagojevich’s crime epitomizes the corruption that Mr. Trump had said he wanted to tackle as president.
The president’s decision came the same day that he pardoned or commuted the sentences of eight others including Edward J. DeBartolo Jr., a former owner of the San Francisco 49ers who pleaded guilty in 1998 to concealing an extortion attempt and eventually surrendered control of his team.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
“Blago may have dirt on the Obamas?”
I was thinking the same thing. But it is a little strange the President pardons Blago the day after Obama shoots off his mouth about the economic recovery.
Trump may be telling Obama to “stuff it”.
The complete meltdown of Milken’s junk bonds was caused by government panic which *forced* the devaluation of the bonds for which devaluation Milken was prosecuted and convicted.
They did much less than the current crop of Dims and RINOs.
Maybe that is where President Trump is coming from?
History of Blagojevich trials.
(From Ballotpedia)
“ Blagojevich faced more than 400 years in prison if convicted of the more than 20 corruption charges, including racketeering.[7] He was sentenced to 14 years in prison.[8]
On July 21, 2015, a federal appeals court tossed out five of Blagojevich’s 18 convictions and vacated his sentence based on an appeal by the former governor. The evidence in the case was “overwhelming,” according to the three-judge panel that issued the ruling. The prosecutors then had two options: retry the five thrown out counts or move forward to resentencing on the remaining 13 counts against Blagojevich. The prosecutors decided the latter. Blagojevich’s appellate attorney called the ruling by the appeals court “shocking” and legally “unsound”.[8]
In August 2015, Blagojevich asked the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reconsider the case and was denied. A week later, he asked the same court to delay resentencing while he and his lawyers could petition the U.S. Supreme Court. This motion was also denied, and a resentencing date was not set.[9] On March 28, 2016, the Supreme Court denied Blagojevich’s request to hear his appeal.[10]
Blagojevich’s next court date was his resentencing hearing on August 9, 2016, in which Judge Zagel decided to uphold the former Governor’s original 14-year sentence, meaning that he would not be released until 2024. In his decision, Zagel noted that Blagojevich’s actions had damaged the public’s “already taxed faith” in elected officials and that the governor’s actions had merited a 14-year sentence, despite the five dropped charges.[11] After his resentencing, Blagojevich’s next attempt at appeal, before three judges from the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, was rejected on April 21, 2017.[12] On May 22, 2017, Blagojevich again requested an en banc hearing before the entire 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.[13] On June 5, 2017, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals denied Blagojevich’s request.[14]
On November 2, 2017, Blagojevich issued another appeal before the U.S. Supreme Court, asking that his sentence be revisited or overturned, contending that the earlier trials had not used the correct legal standard in delineating what spending was legal and what was illegal: “It is all too easy to cast entirely lawful interactions as having an illegal subtext, particularly when jurors may find the reality of campaign fundraising distasteful or the defendant is politically unpopular.”[15][16]
On April 16, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Blagojevich’s appeal. According to ABC 7, “The court’s refusal to hear Blagojevich’s appeal effectively puts an end to his conventional legal options.” The Supreme Court did not provide an explanation for its decision.[17][18]
On February 18, 2020, President Trump (R) commuted Blagojevich’s remaining prison sentence.[19]
Because the lousy pardon of one Democrat is far more important than everything else President Trump has accomplished despite being harassed every day in office, and being impeached by liberal losers.
Actually Michael Milken and his brother Lowell set up hundreds of limited partnerships to make it much more difficult to detect the profits they were making by front-running stocks and to make it much more difficult to be sued for damages.
Look, I support the President.
There are times like this, that I just don't understand him.
Blago is the ENEMY of everything good in America. He committed a felony. Why shouldn't he rot in prison?
Blago knows where all and I mean ALL bodies are buried in Illinois politics. If I was Ed Burke, another indicted alderman, or a Cook Co pol under investigation I would be changing my drawers right about now..
Ask me about this 3 years ago and I would have completely different thoughts. But after seeing how corrupt the DOJ and FBI are, I have no problem seeing just about anyone getting clemency.
Kerik was convicted of tax fraud? Oh, so how long was Rangel and Shapton’s sentences?
Yeah, didn’t think so.
Madigan ( who runs all things DEM in Ill. ! )ran this crap and has committed actual CRIMES fodr which he will NEVER be convicted, for decades!
Jesse Jackson Jr. and his wife, for example, actually DID steal money and commit other crimes, for which they got a mostly slap on the wrist sentence. HOW IS THAT "FAIR"?
Blago NEVER tried to "sell" Obama's seat, nor did he solicit bribes, etc.!
Chicago/Ill. politics is a filthy, very corrupt thing, which is somewhat complicated and mostly hidden from people who don't live there and/or the oblivious people who do live there.
I’d say the real problem was that the success of Drexel meant losses for Lazard Freres, and Felix Rohatyn still had a lot of pull in the city of New York and got this done.
Parking stock is against the law, but it is usually not the level of crime that Milken got sent up for.
SPOT ON!
Another newbie here...that more than likely is a liberal poster...
What has happened to this website?????
“”I’ll probably get flamed for this but I thought Blago got way too much time for the crime. I would have given him 2 years, a fine and community service.””
If you’ll take the chance, I will also. I agree with you. It’s been some time since I read the book about that case and I seem to remember that he did a lot of talking but he wasn’t very successful at carrying out any of the things he talked about. I thought it was all pretty one sided at the time he went to prison. For Chicago politics, his crime was pretty mild IMO.
Payback, because Blago sold Obama’s vacated Senate seat, and Obama was upset because it wasn’t Blago’s to sell. It was Obama’s to sell!
Hopefully this is just laying the “foundation work” for additional pardons soon for Flynn, Manafort, and Stone. Although it won’t stop the media, will make it a little harder to make out Trump as totally biased after letting some dems loose.
I also think on Stone and Flynn, Trump is waiting for at least their sentences to be set....
I don’t claim to understand any of it technically. But I did trust the WSJ reporting.
Otherwise its like the ‘climate change’ debate. Each side sounds convincing to the layman - until you listen to the other side.
“Blago may have dirt on the Obamas?”
Yup, he would almost certainly know where a lot of the bodies are buried. Bozzo and Jarret can not be happy about this.
POTUS should have a picture of Blago with Durham taken and post it on Twitter. Lib heads would go sploddy!
Blogovich wqanr railroaded
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