President Donald Trump on Wednesday issued a statement of support for former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, whose 14-year prison sentence he commuted earlier this week.
Blagojevich, a former contestant on Trump’s “The Celebrity Apprentice,” was convicted in 2011 of using his powers as governor to obtain campaign money and political favors in exchange for naming the person to take the Senate seat vacated by former President Barack Obama.
Trump tweeted his support for Blagojevich, blaming former FBI Director James Comey because his friend, Patrick Fitzgerald, prosecuted the former governor.
“Rod Blagojevich did not sell the Senate seat,” Trump tweeted on Wednesday. “He served 8 years in prison, with many remaining. He paid a big price. Another Comey and gang deal! Thank you to Lisa Marie Boothe who really ‘gets’ what’s going on!”
Boothe, a Fox News contributor, wrote in a tweet that she “didn’t say Blagojevich was innocent. I said that 14 years is excessive.”
Trump added later, in comments to ABC News, that the former governor’s sentence was “tremendously powerful” and “ridiculous,” and claiming again that "it was a prosecution by the same people, Comey, Fitzpatrick, the same group."