President Trump Commutes Blagojevich Sentence, Pardons Others
President Trump got busy with his pen today, commuting and pardoning several people including former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and former NYC Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik.
President Trump commuted the 14-year prison sentence of former Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich of Illinois, the Democrat who was convicted of trying to essentially sell Barack Obama’s vacated Senate seat for personal gain, and pardoned the financier Michael R. Milken and Bernard B. Kerik, the former New York City police commissioner, the president announced on Tuesday.
“Yes, we commuted the sentence of Rod Blagojevich,” Mr. Trump told reporters just before boarding Air Force One for a four-day trip to the west coast where he is scheduled to hold three campaign rallies. “He served eight years in jail, a long time. He seems like a very nice person, don’t know him.”
Mr. Kerik, the former New York City police commissioner, was convicted of tax fraud and lying to the government. And he said he had also pardoned Mr. Milken, the investment banker who was known in the 1980s as the “junk bond king” and who has fought for decades to reverse his conviction for securities fraud.
Mr. Trump commuted the former governor’s sentence on Tuesday after saying for years that he was considering intervening in Mr. Blagojevich’s case. By commuting the sentence, the president would free Mr. Blagojevich from prison without wiping out the conviction. Republicans have advised the president against it, arguing that Mr. Blagojevich’s crime epitomizes the corruption that Mr. Trump had said he wanted to tackle as president.
The president’s decision came the same day that he pardoned or commuted the sentences of eight others including Edward J. DeBartolo Jr., a former owner of the San Francisco 49ers who pleaded guilty in 1998 to concealing an extortion attempt and eventually surrendered control of his team.
I’m of two – maybe three – minds on the subject of pardons and commutations. I hate the concept. It’s monarchical. But practically, I can understand how it serves as a last resort to prevent miscarriages of justice. When you get to the actual cases, though, I usually don’t think they merit the pardon or commutation.
I’m sure the selective outrage has already started. This is probably the last story about this that I’ll click on. I can’t picture a lot of fruitful conversations in the next few days.Report
These cases don’t merit commutation, much less pardon. They are setting up a pardon for Roger Stone – See I just did the same thing for all these other people so I’m not JUST protecting my friends – and they serve as a distraction. From what I can’t yet say, but the timing (especially after Fox cut away from his speech at Daytona to more lucrative commercials) is probably suspect. There’s also the issue of those being pardoned serving time for various tax and investment fraud convictions, which mirror the President’s own legal battles regarding his tax records and his charities.Report
Birds of a feather.Report
There should be sentencing guidelines for Illinois state officials, just as there are for other major categories of criminals.Report
After he left Vietnam and Colonel Kurtz’s camp, Captain Willard joined the FBI and moved to Chicago.
Report
When Donald Trump promised to drain the swamp, I didn’t realize that the swamp he had in mind was the federal prison system.Report
My instinct tells me that Blagojevich’s term is too long for what he did. I mean, I’m sure that’s what the law required, but 14 years just seems like too much. So in that sense, I believe commuting the sentence was the right decision.
Of course, the commutation can be criticized on other grounds. What about all the other people who are unfairly imprisoned, or imprisoned for an unfair amount of time, but who don’t have the personal connection to the president? And Mr.Trump’s decision (so I’ve heard) to bypass the regular vetting process for whom to commute merits criticism. There’s also the fact (or so I believe it’s a fact) that Mr. Trump is doing this either to somehow inflate his own ego or leverage some favorable publicity.
But I still think commuting the decision is right.Report
but 14 years just seems like too much
What’s the right amount of jail time for quite literally trying to sell a Senate seat?Report
Considering how we basically sell ambassadorships to major donors, should selling Senate seats even be a misdemeanor, other than the crime of straight up bribery for personal gain?
As a hypothetical, suppose some governor came out and said he give the Senate seat to whoever donated the most to the ASPCA, or whatever charity floats your boat (that isn’t called the Clinton Family Foundation or some other entity that’s basically a slush fund or front). I could see progressives or conservatives regarding that as some kind of merit based test, a simple contest measuring some kind of moral worth. It’s non-democratic, yet the alternative seems to be having a governor flip through his Rolodex of personal friends and political backers.
If you wanted to give the contest an air of democratic input, you could set it up like a talent show and have people text their votes to 1-800-SENATOR.
For background, five states avoid the issue entirely by not allowing the governor to make an appointment at all, leaving the seat vacant until a special election is held, and nine other states only allow the governor to make an interim appointment until a special election is held (or regular scheduled major election, such as for the House). 36 states allow the governor to appoint someone to finish the existing Senate term.
There are probably better ways to handle the interim, such as having a state’s oldest serving House member take over the role, but of course that just moves the vacant hole somewhere else.Report
I don’t know, but 14 years seems like too much.
(But to be fair, if I recall correctly, he was convicted for more than “merely” trying to sell a senate seat.)Report
Of course 14 years is too much, but that’s more the norm than the exception when it comes to American Federal sentencing law.Report
I agree with that (or rather, I believe you….it’s not like I’m an expert or anything).Report
Echoing Pinky below, I think there ought to be a special place in hell for public officials who abuse their office in ways that undermine the public trust. Politicians and cops deserve *harsher* sentences than ordinary citizens for similar crimes. Personally, I think the guillotine ought to be a live option. 🙂Report
Hard agree. Positions of high trust should be held to high standards. Abuse the public trust and get a serious punishment.Report
That conviction was overturned. The Court of Appeals ruled that its not bribery or extortion when political officials offer an exchange of political favors.
Blagojevich was guilty of extortion for offering to increase physician reimbursement rates for a children’s hospital for campaign contributions.Report
My gut says life without the possibility of parole.Report
I agree the sentence was too long (and commented so when the rumors of commuting circulated); the reasons matter though. He didn’t go to jail for “just politics,” but a shakedown of a children’s hospital.Report
I either didn’t know or had forgotten the specifics. Thanks for bringing them up.Report