Trump Has Pardoned Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich — But Why?

The presidential pardon power is an immense responsibility, and can be used to pardon people who were unjustly convicted, or people who were convicted of crimes that we might not longer consider criminal. There's also the way Donald Trump uses it, which is to pardon fellow politicians who were facing corruption allegations or had been convicted of some sort of corruption.

That's the best explanation for the president's pardon of Rod Blagojevich, the former Illinois governor who was caught trying to sell Barack Obama's Senate seat after he was elected president in 2008. The news was surprising to some, in part because of which party they thought Blagojevich was a part of. Here's what we know.

At the time of his conviction, Blagojevich was a Democrat, but in more recent months, he has been active on X (formerly Twitter) openly supporting both Trump and Elon Musk. In pardoning Blagojevich, Trump said that he did not know the former governor other than from his appearance on The Celebrity Apprentice.

"It's my honor to do it," Trump said during remarks from the Oval Office on Monday. "He was set up."

"Trump freed me and Obama sold me out so I'm biased, but I believe Trump has done more as President in his whirlwind first eight days than Obama did in his entire eight years. What do you think?" Blagojevich wrote on X in 2024.

Blagojevich has also been outspoken in suggesting that President Biden "weaponized" the justice system against Donald Trump, suggesting that the crimes Trump was charged with were somehow inappropriate.

What seems clear, then, is that Blagojevich was pardoned not because his politics have always aligned perfectly with Trump's, but because Blagojevich has been hugely complimentary to Trump in public.

Trump's history as a politician suggests that he responds quite well to that kind of flattery, and it seems that Blagojevich was able to use it effectively to win favor with the president and earn himself a pardon.

As has been the case throughout Trump's entire time in political life, what matters most to him is not what party you identify with, but how closely you align yourself with him personally and with his worldview. What seems clear is that Blagojevich, through posts online and appearances on television, has made it clear that he sympathizes with Trump's feelings that he is being persecuted and decided to curry favor with the president.

We don't know who Blagojevich voted for in the last election. What seems clear, though, is that he supports Donald Trump publicly and is unafraid of saying so. While Trump has never said that that was the reason he was pardoned, it seems like the likeliest explanation. He might still be a registered Democrat, but Blagojevich knew how to say all the right things to ensure that Donald Trump would take a sympathetic look at his case and ultimately grant him a pardon.