Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was indicted and arraigned, and whose sentence was commuted by former President Donald Trump in 2020, told Newsmax: "I was also arrested at 6 o'clock in the morning with SWAT teams around my house. President Trump is another example of these uncontrolled weaponized prosecutors who are abusing the rule of law. My heart bleeds for President Trump."
For his role in a corruption scandal, Blagojevich, a Democrat, was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison. After an appeal for his release, Trump formally commuted his sentence in 2020 after Blagojevich had been imprisoned for nearly eight years.
Appearing on Newsmax's "Wake Up America," Blagojevich said Monday: "To think that they would do something like this to an American president and things that are so clearly and obviously not crimes.
"If there's any crime here, Stormy Daniels was the one shaking down Trump. Horrible you know, perhaps money, right? So the idea that they would do this to President Trump is not only outrageous, it's alarming; and every American, Republican and Democrat, should be against this, and put our country first above our political party."
Blagojevich said Trump has the responsibility to speak to the American people Tuesday night, and the judge possibly giving him a gag order would be election interference. "It's also interference with free speech. It's also interference with the right of defendant to go out and articulate his or her innocence as I did.
"To my fellow Democrats out there, put your country above your hatred of President Trump. And don't be selfish and reckless, because to exploit this for political reasons ... is the sort of thing that's going to destroy our freedom, destroy democracy."