President Donald Trump appears to have backed off plans to commute former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s sentence, CNN is reporting.
Several GOP lawmakers had called acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney to voice their opposition to any commutation.
And at least two Republican members of Illinois’ congressional delegation, Reps. Darin LaHood and Mike Bost, personally urged the president not to go ahead with commuting the sentence, the news network reported.
They reportedly argued that commuting Blagojevich’s sentence would send the wrong message about corruption by public officials.
"I wish I had the perspective before," Trump responded, according to Bost, who served on the Illinois House's impeachment committee to remove Blagojevich from office.
"Those charges were so outrageously bad," Bost said.
LaHood called Trump and expressed serious concerns.
"I think this would have real ramifications," said LaHood, who also spoke with White House Counsel Pat Cipollone about the matter. "We're trying to send a message that this type of public corruption is terrible for Illinois."
The New York Times reported Trump was having second thoughts about commuting the sentence. But the White House insisted nothing had changed and that Trump was still looking at a handful of possible pardon and commutations, according to CNN.
Trump had said last week that he’s “very strongly” considering commuting the sentence of Blagojevich, who is serving a 14-year prison term on multiple federal corruption convictions.
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