'From the beginning to end, this was persecution masquerading as prosecution,' the former Democratic governor of Illinois said during a Wednesday press conference.
Blagojevich added that he would"try to do" what he"can to improve" what he believes to be a"broken" and in"many cases" a"corrupt criminal justice system." He noted that the U.S."incarcerates six to 10 times more people than any other industrialized nation in the world."
Blagojevich in 2011 was convicted on corruption charges for attempting to sell former President Barack Obama's vacated Senate seat. In 2009, the former governor was unanimously removed from office by the Illinois state Senate. Prior to that, he was nearly unanimously impeached in the Illinois House, with only one state lawmaker voting against the indictment.
Trump said he was influenced to commute the sentence by Blagojevich's wife's defense of her husband in Fox News interviews. He also said that he felt that the disgraced Democratic politician was treated unfairly, similar to how he feels he has been treated through the Russian election interference investigation and the Democratic-led impeachment inquiry.
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