US: Trump pardons former governor jailed for corruption

US President Donald Trump on Monday pardoned Rod Blagojevich, a former Illinois governor who was jailed for corruption he commuted five years ago during his first term. Democrat Blagojevich was removed from his governor’s post in 2009 and later convicted of essentially selling the Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama when he won the US […]

US President Donald Trump on Monday pardoned Rod Blagojevich, a former Illinois governor who was jailed for corruption he commuted five years ago during his first term.
Democrat Blagojevich was removed from his governor’s post in 2009 and later convicted of essentially selling the Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama when he won the US presidency in 2008.
“It was sort of a terrible injustice. They just went after him, they go after a lot of people. These are bad people on the other side,” Trump told reporters as he signed the pardon in the Oval Office.
“I think he’s a very fine person, and this shouldn’t have happened.”
Asked whether he was considering Blagojevich to be US ambassador to Serbia, as US media had reported, Trump said: “No, but I would. He’s now cleaner than anybody in this room.”