Former Illinois first lady Patti Blagojevich has once again gotten the attention of President Donald Trump.
She’s been going on Fox News to argue for clemency for her imprisoned husband, former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich.
Patti Blagojevich likens the prosecution of her husband to the investigations into President Trump.
“I think that they just keep digging and digging and digging and they keep putting pressure on people that are close to the president, just like they did to us,” Patti Blagojevich said in her latest Fox appearance. “They find people that are close to you and that have committed wrongdoing that’s unassociated with you, and they put pressure on them to say whatever they want them to say.”
In a tweet, Trump called the appearance “required television watching.”
Required television watching is last weeks @marthamaccallum interview with the wonderful wife of Rod Blagojevich and the @trish_regan interview with a Jerome Corsi. If that doesn’t tell you something about what has been going on in our Country, nothing will. Very sad!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 16, 2018
“These same prosecutors — the same political assassins, as I like to call them — are taking legal fundraising contributions and legal requests for fundraising, and turning them into something that they’re trying to say are crimes. And they’re non-existent crimes,” Patti Blagojevich said on Fox.
A judge, jury, and appellate court disagreed. They thought it was criminal, for example, when Blagojevich demanded a $50,000 “campaign contribution” in exchange for increasing state payments to a children’s hospital. (Quotation marks from the 7th Circuit Appellate Court opinion.)
Without clemency or a pardon, Rod Blagojevich is scheduled to be in prison until May 23, 2024.
Copyright 2018 NPR Illinois | 91.9 UIS
