Rod Blagojevich

‘I’m back’: Ex-con Blagojevich sues for right to run again

By MICHAEL TARMAugust 3, 2021 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — Ex-con and former Gov. Rod Blagojevich sued his home state Monday for booting him from the governor’s seat after his 2008 arrest for corruption and stripping him of his right to run for elective office in Illinois.

Judge orders early end to Blagojevich’s supervised release

June 2, 2021 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday put an early end to the two-year period of supervised release of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, whose 14-year prison sentence for corruption was commuted by President Donald Trump.

TV analyst? Spokesman? Freed ex-governor goes job hunting

By MICHAEL TARMFebruary 21, 2020 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — Job wanted: Ex-governor and ex-con with strong speaking skills and good hair seeking employment...

Trump picks pardon requests from wealthy pals and GOP donors

By MICHAEL BIESECKERFebruary 20, 2020 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — There's a common thread among the 11 felons who found favor with President Donald Trump this week — all who were pardoned or set free had advocates among the president’s wealthy friends and political allies...

Blagojevich praises, endorses Trump as justice reformer

By MICHAEL TARM and KATHLEEN FOODYFebruary 20, 2020 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — Former Illinois Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich gushed about Donald Trump a day after the Republican president set him free from a federal prison, delivering a 20-minute monologue Wednesday outside his Chicago home that sounded like an extended campaign commercial...

2-year lobbying effort pays off in freedom for Blagojevich

By DON BABWINFebruary 20, 2020 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — When Patti Blagojevich made repeated public pleas for her husband's release from federal prison, there was no mistaking her intended audience: President Donald Trump...

Ex-Gov. Blagojevich returns to Chicago, maintains innocence

By MICHAEL TARMFebruary 19, 2020 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — Rod Blagojevich returned home to Chicago early Wednesday, shaking hands and signing autographs after President Donald Trump cut short the 14-year prison sentence handed to the former Illinois governor for political corruption...

10 Things to Know for Today

By The Associated PressFebruary 19, 2020 GMT

Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today: ...

GOP campaign donor in Texas among President Trump’s pardons

By PAUL J. WEBERFebruary 19, 2020 GMT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — One of President Donald Trump's clemency actions Tuesday included pardoning the former owner of a Texas construction company who pleaded guilty to underpaying his taxes and whose family has donated to Republicans, including the president's reelection campaign last year...

President Trump goes on clemency spree, and the list is long

By JILL COLVIN, ZEKE MILLER and MICHAEL TARMFebruary 18, 2020 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump went on a clemency blitz Tuesday, commuting former Illinois Gov...

Full Coverage: Trump

Blagojevich: House Democrats would’ve impeached Lincoln, too

January 2, 2020 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — Imprisoned former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich argued in a column that fellow Democrats in the U...

Trump, getting facts wrong, says he may free Blagojevich

By MICHAEL TARMAugust 9, 2019 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — President Donald Trump has sent his clearest signal yet that he may be about to sign commutation papers freeing former Illinois governor and one-time "Celebrity Apprentice" contestant Rod Blagojevich from federal prison in Colorado...

Rich governor, meet powerful speaker

Staff WriterNovember 11, 2018 GMT

Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan is about to see two things he never has seen before. And given he’s been in the Statehouse since 1971, that’s saying something.

Johnston-Yurgine: Should Blagojevich go or stay?

Ken JohnstonJune 17, 2018 GMT

Ken: We see daily the power of the federal prosecutor is the ace of trumps, thereby verifying the old expression, supposedly coined by a federal judge in 1985, prosecutors now have so much influence on grand juries they could get an indictment for a ham sandwich.

Blagojevich files paperwork asking Trump to commute sentence

June 5, 2018 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois' imprisoned ex-governor, Rod Blagojevich, has filed paperwork asking President Donald Trump to commute his 14-year prison term for corruption that included seeking to sell an appointment to the Senate seat Barack Obama vacated to become president...

Trump pardons favor the celeb-connected, conservative causes

By JILL COLVIN and DARLENE SUPERVILLEJune 1, 2018 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday pardoned a conservative commentator he claims "was treated very unfairly by our government...

The Latest: Trump pardons conservative commentator D’Souza

June 1, 2018 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump's consideration of pardons and sentence commutations (all times local):...

Report: State agency broke hiring rules for years

By JOHN O'CONNORAugust 23, 2014 GMT

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — The Illinois Department of Transportation circumvented rules devised to keep politics out of state jobs and improperly hired more than 250 people in the last decade, accelerating the practice under Democratic Gov.

Inspector: Hiring law broken at Ill. state agency

By JOHN O'CONNORNovember 17, 2012 GMT

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — One of Gov. Pat Quinn's agencies violated hiring laws by failing to review job applicants' credentials, improperly viewing candidates' names and, in one case, hiring an employee's husband after improper intervention by the employee, according to a report released Friday.

Blagojevich gets extra month before prison term

By NOMAAN MERCHANTDecember 13, 2011 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — A federal judge is allowing Rod Blagojevich an extra month of freedom before he must start a 14-year sentence for corruption and, at the ousted Illinois governor's request, recommended that he be sent to prison in Colorado, 1,000 miles away from his Chicago home.