President Trump goes on clemency spree
President Trump has gone on a clemency blitz, commuting what he called a “ridiculous” 14-year prison sentence for former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and pardoning financier Michael Milken, former New York Police Department commissioner Bernie Kerik and others.
Others who got a break from Trump include Edward DeBartolo Jr., the former San Francisco 49ers owner convicted in a gambling fraud scandal after building one of the most successful NFL teams in history.
In all, Trump took clemency actions related to 11 people. Trump made clear that he saw similarities between investigations he faced and those that took down Blagojevich, a Democrat who appeared on Trump’s reality TV show, “Celebrity Apprentice.”
“It was a prosecution by the same people — Comey, Fitzpatrick, the same group,” Trump said.
He was referring to Patrick
Fitzgerald, the former U.S. attorney who prosecuted Blagojevich and now represents former FBI Director James Comey, whom Trump fired from the agency in May 2017.
Blagojevich was convicted on charges of political corruption, including seeking to sell an appointment to Barack Obama’s old Senate seat and trying to shake down a children’s hospital.
But Trump said the former governor had been subjected to a “ridiculous sentence” that didn’t fit his crimes.
Kerik served three years for tax fraud and lying to the White House while being interviewed to serve as homeland security secretary. Trump’s White House lauded Kerik for having “courageously led the New York Police Department’s heroic response to the horrific attacks of September 11, 2001” and said that, “Since his conviction, he has focused on improving the lives of others, including as a passionate advocate for criminal justice and prisoner reentry reform.”
And it hailed Milken for having “democratized corporate finance by providing women and minorities access to capital that would have been unavailable to them otherwise.” Milken served two years in prison in the early 1990s after pleading guilty to violating U.S. securities laws.
Trump said he had yet to think about pardoning his longtime confidant Roger Stone, who is due to be sentenced Thursday, or granting clemency to several former aides, including former campaign manager Paul Manafort and former national security adviser Mike Flynn.