Rod Blagojevich was freed from a federal prison in Colorado in February 2020, 16 months after former President Donald Trump commuted the 14-year sentence of the former Illinois Gov. Nearly five years later, Trump granted a full pardon to the disgraced former governor.
Here is how Blagojevich’s saga unfolded — from arrest, through impeachment proceedings and the justice system.
Dec. 9, 2008: An early morning arrest
At 6:15 a.m., Gov. Rod Blagojevich is roused from his Ravenswood Manor home, arrested, handcuffed and hauled before a federal magistrate on sweeping charges that he conspired to sell his office many times over — including putting a price on the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.
“I intend to stay on the job, and I will fight this thing every step of the way. I will fight. I will fight. I will fight until I take my last breath. I have done nothing wrong,” Blagojevich says on Dec. 19, 2008, in his first news conference after his arrest.
Jan. 9, 2009: Impeached
In a historic display of anger and frustration, the Illinois House votes 114-1 to impeach Blagojevich and send him to trial in the Senate with the aim of removing the state’s 40th chief executive from public office forever.
Jan. 29, 2009: Removed from office
The Illinois Senate votes 59-0 to remove Blagojevich, who walks out of the silent chamber after delivering an impassioned plea for mercy, saying he “never, ever intended to violate the law.” Within hours they applaud his former running mate and lieutenant governor, Pat Quinn, who is sworn in as the state’s 41st governor.
April 2, 2009: Charged with racketeering, fraud and extortion
A federal grand jury indicts Blagojevich on 16 counts, including racketeering, fraud and extortion. Also indicted are his brother, Robert (his charges are later dropped); a close friend and fundraiser, Chris Kelly; his chief of staff, John Harris; and a former chief of staff, Alonzo Monk.
April 14, 2009: Pleads not guilty
The former governor is in the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse for a routine arraignment, entering a not guilty plea in his corruption case at a hearing that lasts just minutes. But his first appearance since his stunning arrest more than four months prior unleashes “Blagomania” on the sidewalk outside the courthouse.
June 8, 2010: Trial begins
Blagojevich hears himself described as naive, shallow, lacking in judgment and deeply insecure — and that was from his lawyer, Sam Adam Jr. But his defense strategy, as laid out by Adam, appears designed to portray Blagojevich as a victim of greedy and unprincipled schemers he had unwittingly surrounded himself with as Illinois governor.
Prosecutors paint a far different image of Blagojevich. Time and again, Assistant U.S. Attorney Carrie Hamilton says, Blagojevich put his own interests ahead of the people he was supposed to represent, adopting a mantra of “What about me?” and demanding campaign cash and other favors in exchange for official acts.
Aug. 17, 2010: Jury deadlocked on most counts
After 14 days of deliberations, the six-man, six-woman jury convicted Blagojevich on just one of the 24 felony counts he faced — a charge that he had lied to FBI agents about his intense involvement in campaign fundraising.
Prosecutors make it clear they intend to quickly retry Blagojevich on the 23 counts on which the jury deadlocked.
U.S. District Judge James Zagel declares a mistrial on the 23 disputed counts, including sweeping racketeering and conspiracy charges that accused him of running the state as a criminal enterprise.
April 21, 2011: Retrial begins
Blagojevich’s new corruption trial bumps into the old one, which received an avalanche of publicity, as many prospective jurors express disdain for politicians in general and the former governor in particular.
And Blagojevich has done his own bit to ratchet up publicity about the case, declaring himself the victim of a prosecution run amok in a series of media interviews that prosecutors have contended were aimed at swaying the jury pool.
June 27, 2011: Guilty on 17 of 20 counts
In its 10th day of deliberations, the 11-woman, one-man jury convicts Blagojevich of several shakedown attempts, including allegations that he brazenly tried to sell President Barack Obama’s old U.S. Senate seat in 2008.
“I, frankly, am stunned,” said Blagojevich, who was barred after the verdict from traveling outside northern Illinois without court permission. “There’s not much left to say other than we want to get home to our little girls and talk to them and explain things to them and try to sort things out.”
Dec. 7, 2011: Sentenced to 14 years
A contrite Blagojevich is sentenced to 14 years in federal prison — the second-longest term ever delivered in federal court in Chicago for a public corruption case.
U.S. District Judge James Zagel made it clear that the former governor’s position and the relentless history of corruption in Illinois demanded a harsh message.
“When it is the governor who goes bad, the fabric of Illinois is torn and disfigured and not easily repaired,” the judge lectured Blagojevich. “You did that damage.”
March 15, 2012: Reports to prison in Colorado
Blagojevich, center, walks with attorneys as he arrives at the Federal Correctional Institution-Englewood on March 15, 2012, in Littleton, Colo., where he began serving his 14-year sentence for corruption. (Ed Andrieski/AP)
After signing autographs and posing for photos at O’Hare International Airport, Blagojevich lands in Denver then hops into a black SUV with two of his attorneys to report to Federal Correctional Institution-Englewood — with a camera-toting helicopter tracking his movement and the image streamed live on TV websites.
It’s outrageous that Blagojevich goes to jail for 14 years when killers and sex offenders are out walking the (cont) http://t.co/O1FbaiGG
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 15, 2012
Dec. 13, 2013: 7th Circuit hears appeal arguments
Lawyers for Blagojevich appealed his conviction, arguing that U.S. District Judge James Zagel’s “one-sided evidentiary rulings” favored prosecutors and that the stiff sentence he imposed was based on vague and speculative evidence.
In one of the testiest exchanges of the hourlong hearing, Judge Frank Easterbrook pressed a federal prosecutor on how Blagojevich’s conduct differed from a famous political deal supposedly struck more than 60 years earlier: President Dwight Eisenhower’s nomination of Earl Warren to the U.S. Supreme Court in exchange for the California governor’s support in the 1952 election.
July 21, 2015: 5 counts thrown out
A federal appeals court in Chicago throws out five of the 18 counts against Blagojevich and orders his sentence vacated. The three-judge panel tempered the small legal victory by calling the evidence against Blagojevich “overwhelming” and making it clear he will likely remain locked up for years to come.
The same judge who imposed the original sentence — a frequent target of the defense for his alleged unfairness — will still decide his punishment.
March 28, 2016: U.S. Supreme Court declines to hear case
While the justices’ succinct denial is disappointing for Blagojevich, it’s not the end of his long legal road.
Aug. 9, 2016: Zagel resentences Blagojevich to 14 years
Saying Blagojevich’s corruption diminished the public’s “already taxed faith” in its elected leaders, U.S. District Judge James Zagel puts an emphatic point on the end of the case by imposing the same sentence he had in 2011. The judge did so even though Blagojevich apologized for his “mistakes,” claiming to be a changed man and model prisoner.
April 21, 2017: 7th Circuit upholds the resentence
The terse, six-page opinion by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals effectively slams the door on Blagojevich’s last real chance of either winning a new trial or reducing his time behind bars.
April 16, 2018: U.S. Supreme Court again declines to hear case
The announcement marks the end of the decadelong legal road and virtually guarantees Blagojevich will remain in prison until 2024 barring a presidential pardon or commutation.
May 31, 2018: Trump considers commuting Blagojevich’s sentence
President Donald Trump tells reporters aboard Air Force One he is considering commuting Blagojevich’s 14-year prison sentence, which he describes as an overly harsh penalty for what essentially amounted to a “foolish statement.”
June 5, 2018: Lawyers file request to commute sentence
The request for executive clemency was filed with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of the Pardon Attorney, which oversees official pardon and commutation requests.
There is no timetable for President Trump to act on the request, but if he decides to grant the commutation, Blagojevich could be released within days or even hours from the minimum-security facility outside Denver where he has served just more than six years.
If the president denies the request, Blagojevich, 61, would not be due for release until May 2024.
Aug. 7, 2019: Trump ‘very strongly’ considering commutation
Speaking to reporters after making visits to Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas, following mass shootings in those cities over the weekend, Trump says he thinks the former Democratic governor had been mistreated.
Rod Blagojevich, the former Governor of Illinois, was sentenced to 14 years in prison. He has served 7 years. Many people have asked that I study the possibility of commuting his sentence in that it was a very severe one. White House staff is continuing the review of this matter.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 8, 2019
Feb. 18, 2020: Blagojevich freed from prison
After Trump commuted his 14-year sentence, Blagojevich is released from a prison in Colorado.
Though free, the ex-governor is still a felon.
JUST IN: Pres. Trump says he has commuted former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s sentence, calling it a “tremendously powerful, ridiculous sentence” and claiming “it was a prosecution by the same people, Comey, Fitzpatrick, the same group” https://t.co/9oQG09bxZA pic.twitter.com/KnBmMrJsEl
— ABC News (@ABC) February 18, 2020
Feb. 19, 2020: Addresses the media
Outside his Northwest Side home with his wife, Patti, and two daughters, Blagojevich shook hands and hugged well-wishers. He repeatedly dabbed at his chin with a white handkercheif and explained that he cut himself while shaving with a real razor blade for the first time in nearly eight years.
In a so-called homecoming address that sounded more like a campaign stump speech, the former Illinois governor painted himself as a public servant persecuted for trying to help people. He insisted he did nothing wrong and did not profit off his office.
Rod Blagojevich did not sell the Senate seat. He served 8 years in prison, with many remaining. He paid a big price. Another Comey and gang deal! Thank you to @LisaMarieBoothe who really “gets” what’s going on! @FoxNews
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 19, 2020
June 1, 2021: Supervised release ends
A federal judge on granted Blagojevich an early end to his two-year period of supervised release, marking an official end to a criminal case that rocked Illinois when the FBI rousted the governor from bed 12 1/2 years ago.
Feb. 10, 2025: Pardoned
Nearly five years after commuting Blagojevich’s federal prison sentence, President Trump granted a full pardon to the disgraced former governor who was convicted more than 13 years ago on an array of corruption charges, including fundraising schemes and attempting to sell a U.S. Senate seat for his personal benefit.
How many presidential pardons or sentence commutations have been granted to people from Illinois?
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