Tuesday, February 18, 2020 … President Donald Trump intervenes in the case of former Governor Rod Blagojevich and commutes the 14-year prison sentence handed down in 2012 following a conviction on 18 federal corruption charges, including an attempt to sell President Barack Obama’s vacated Senate seat for personal gain.

A commutation of sentence means a release from federal prison for Blagojevich, without wiping out his conviction.

In January 2009, the Illinois House of Representatives voted to impeach Blagojevich, while the Illinois Senate voted unanimously to remove the governor and bar him from ever holding political office in the state again.

In 2016, for the second time, a request from the ex-governor to appeal his corruption charge convictions was denied by the United States Supreme Court.

Blagojevich served as Illinois’ governor from 2003 to 2009.