Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich holds news conference | USA TODAY

Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich holds a news conference after his release from federal prison.
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Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich walked out of federal prison late Tuesday evening and flew back to Chicago after President Donald Trump commuted his sentence.

Speaking to Chicago TV station WGN-TV, Blagojevich said he was "grateful" to Trump.

"He didn’t have to do this, he’s a Republican president and I was a Democratic governor. I’ll have a lot more to say tomorrow.” Blagojevich, 63, told WGN-TV in an interview on the Denver airport tram on his way out of Colorado.

Blagojevich, a Democrat and one-time contestant on "The Celebrity Apprentice," had been serving a 14-year sentence in a Colorado federal prison. He was convicted in 2011 of federal charges of using his powers as governor to extract campaign money and other political favors in exchange for naming a successor to fill the Illinois Senate seat left open when Barack Obama became president, but Trump objected to the length of his sentence.

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29 comments

    1. Yes I gave you a thumbs up on that…. is there any way you could let me know if I’ve been shadowbanned…. that is when a person puts in a comment and no one can see it only the person who put it there can see…. also they’ve been Burying my comments lately where it’ll show up 20 or even 40 spaces down as soon as I say it .
      The only way I normally nowadays can communicate with people is if I replied to their comments and we can chit chat in the thread but a number of my initial comments to begin a thread are being shadowbanned

  1. Selling seats is not illegal his mistake was talking about selling it behind closed doors which really is not the worst crime in history of US politics like some people are acting like

  2. Type “blago” into the search box and witness suppression of Google’s search algorithm in a remarkable way.

    1. Can you please tell me if you see the comment I made because I think I’ve been shadowbanned where only I can see it and no one else can…. could you please just check … I’m not talking about this reply to you but I’m talking about a new comment anywhere in the comment section where one would initiate one

  3. That was a really beautiful speech he made and I’m glad I watched it….. that was fascinating the story about his father . I’m so glad he also spoke out against the horrible privatized system of Prisons we have here and I’m glad he really pointed out some hard statistics .
    More people need to do their research and know about how horrible the privatized prison system is here and how it ties in with Manufacturing and I’m not just talkin about license plates .
    ( and Google YouTube have been demoting my comments for almost a week now… as soon as I post them I count down and they’re coming in around 21st when no new comments are coming in….. yesterday they were coming in 41 .
    Big brother is alive and well with the censorship and burying comments…. I have been discussing this with several people .)

    1. I’m really glad I watched this and that was a beautiful speech…. I am so glad he spoke out against the horrible corrupt privatized prison system we have here

  4. this inner city born viet vet chicagoan LOYOLA U. CLASS OF 72 SEZ WELCOME HOME MY BROTHER……HAIL TO THE CHIEF !! TRUMP THE MERCIFUL !!!

  5. Blago suffered mental anguish like Jesus had to suffer physical pain. He did no wrong.
    The REAL criminals of Illinois never had to serve a day in jail.

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