President Trump is getting an earful from Illinois Republicans in Congress after the president told reporters he might let Rod Blagojevich out of prison.
Blagojevich is the former governor of Illinois — a Democrat — who’s about halfway through a 14-year federal prison term after being convicted of felony corruption while he was in office.
Trump has said he’s considering commuting the rest of Blagojevich’s sentence.
CNN reports that “publicly and privately, Republicans from Illinois say that doing so would be a huge mistake — and send the wrong message to politicians who abuse their public offices for personal gain.”
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) put it bluntly:
“I’m not going to talk about [Trump’s] thinking, but I think pardoning Blagojevich would be stupid,” Kinzinger said.
Rep. Darin LaHood (R-IL), who represents the area around the Illinois capital of Springfield, agreed: “It would send the absolute wrong message that the behavior that was engaged in by Rod Blagojevich somehow is acceptable or forgivable.”
“Blagojevich was arrested in 2008 for engaging in a pay-to-play scheme that included an effort to sell an appointment to the Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama when he became president,” says CNN.
“Federal prosecutors, who had recordings of Blagojevich discussing favors in exchange for the appointment, also laid out what they said was a wide-ranging corruption scheme where the governor sought to award political handouts in exchange for campaign cash.”
Trump knows Blagojevich because the former governor appeared on four episodes of “The Celebrity Apprentice” in 2010, before his trial and conviction.
Trump told reporters Wednesday aboard Air Force One that he thinks Blagojevich has been “treated unbelievably unfairly,” reports Politico.
Blagojevich’s wife, Patti, has fought for her husband’s release for years — and that got Trump’s attention, Politico says.
“His wife I think is fantastic,” Trump said, “and I’m thinking about commuting his sentence very strongly.”