From Prison to Pardon: The Untold Journey of Governor Rod Blagojevich After Trump’s Intervention

These days, former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich is relishing a fresh opportunity to rebuild his career.

Once living in a sprawling 50,000-square-foot mansion, the Democrat found himself in a starkly different setting—a 6-by-8-foot prison cell—after being caught by the FBI attempting to sell Barack Obama’s vacated Senate seat to the highest bidder back in 2008.

In a twist of fate, Blagojevich was granted a full pardon by Republican President Donald Trump in February 2020, an act for which Blagojevich expresses profound gratitude, as he shared in a phone interview with the Daily Mail this week.

“Every day feels like a new adventure,” said the 69-year-old former governor. “President Trump gave me a new beginning, and I truly believe he was an instrument of divine intervention. It was nothing short of a miracle that brought me back from the depths of despair.”

Returning home to his wife and two daughters just as the COVID pandemic hit, Blagojevich faced some challenges in getting back on his feet—especially after earning a mere $62 annually while incarcerated.

So, what has life been like for Blagojevich in the six years since leaving prison?

‘I do consulting, I do some lobbying, and I have a book coming out … called “Framed, F***ed and Freed,”‘ he revealed. 

Yes, that really is the title, with the four-letter word slightly obscured on the cover. 

Blagojevich said the book, due for release this fall, ‘is the story that starts with one president, Obama, ends with another, Donald Trump.

‘And most of it’s about a governor in prison with Crips and Bloods and Gangster Disciples and Sinaloa Cartel drug dealers, who look up to the drug lord El Chapo like my daughters look up to Taylor Swift.

‘I was in there with murderers. I went from a 50,000-square-foot governor’s mansion to a six-foot-by-eight-foot prison cell. I went from talking to Obama one day to Smelly Socks and Mr B on another day,’ he said, in reference to the nicknames of fellow inmates.

Blagojevich said he felt an obligation to help his ‘long-suffering family’ financially after leaving prison. 

He has done so, in part, by registering to become a foreign lobbyist, representing the Republic of Srpska. 

‘It’s the part of the former Yugoslavia where my grandparents on my mother’s side come from,’ he explained. 

There is also the work he is doing to help Anne Pramaggiore, the former CEO of Illinois utility giant Commonwealth Edison, through the clemency process. 

Pramaggiore, he contends, was scapegoated by the political powers and is ‘completely innocent.’ 

The former CEO was convicted in a bribery scandal involving the ex-Illinois House Speaker. 

She reported to federal prison in January for a two-year sentence but was released in April after being granted a new trial on appeal. 

Others seeking pardons from the President have come to Blagojevich, too, though he wouldn’t name names.

‘I turn down most of them because I don’t feel like I should ask the Trump administration for anything that’s not worthy, right?’ he said. 

Blagojevich is also involved with Weaponization Watch, a group that provides resources to people who believe they have been treated unfairly by a ‘rogue’ government.  

As a side hustle, he continues to do Cameos – those custom video messages for fans made by an assortment of celebrities for money. 

‘I think the most wild one was when I got a request from a guy… to send to his boss to tell him that he’s quitting his job. And that he didn’t like how the boss treated him at the job,’ the former governor recalled. 

Asked if the man was a happy customer, Blagojevich said: ‘I got a five-star rating and like a $20 tip or something.’

As for a political future, he said he was approached about running for the US Senate after Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin announced his retirement. 

He declined.

Blagojevich considers himself a ‘Trumpocrat’ – a Trump supporter who is still willing to back some Democrats. 

In the Illinois Democratic Senate primary, he supported Representative Robin Kelly, who lost to Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton, the candidate backed by the state’s billionaire governor, JB Pritzker. 

‘I hope I didn’t hurt her. I don’t think I did,’ he said, describing Kelly as a ‘good, good person’ who he got to know while serving as governor. 

‘I’m for good people. After going through what I’ve gone through, I’m for a Democrat if the Democrat is good, I’m for a Republican if a Republican is good,’ he explained. 

‘And I call myself a “Trumpocrat” because I do believe President Trump is a great president doing great things for America, and I truly think he is making America great again.’

He said he supports Trump’s decision to go to war with Iran, arguing that the nuclear threat is real. 

Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich attends a service for the late civil rights activist Jesse Jackson in Chicago, Illinois in March 

But he did have one gripe about the man who granted him his freedom.  

‘Well, I mean, look, I love Trump and almost everything he does. I think it’s great,’ he said. ‘However, not everything do I agree with. For example, my daughters love Taylor Swift. I wish he didn’t say he hated Taylor Swift.’

Blagojevich’s case was already on Trump’s radar because the two men had filmed a season of Celebrity Apprentice in 2009. 

He said he had also been courted to do Dancing with the Stars but the filming would have clashed with one of his cases going to trial. 

With talk of an Apprentice reboot, Blagojevich said he would be open to doing it again – but only if asked. 

‘Now, would I do another reality show? You know, I don’t know. I wouldn’t rule it out. Reality shows have been good to me and my family, right?’ he mused. 

‘Look, if Trump asked me to do almost anything, I would do it,’ he said, ‘because I’m so grateful.’ 

He called it an ‘improbable convergence of events’ that first brought him into Trump’s orbit ‘way before he was President or anybody even thought he would be.’ 

Blagojevich also marveled that ‘they would do to Trump what they did to me.’ 

Trump has long complained that he has been unfairly targeted by the government. 

During his four years out of office, he was indicted on 88 criminal counts, a mix of state and federal charges. 

‘All of that has to serve some larger purpose,’ Blagojevich said. ‘That’s why it’s important for me to be active in the Weaponization Watch organization and to advocate and try to be helpful in areas of criminal justice reform.’