Rod Blagojevich

Sarah Sanders on Blagojevich clemency: No ‘formal decision’ yet

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said the president is still weighing granting clemency to imprisoned former Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

By Lynn Sweet

News

Durbin: Would support commutation of ‘outrageous’ Blagojevich sentence

“I thought the sentence was outrageous, and if there’s a way to reduce the sentence for him and his family, I would support it.”

By Mitch Dudek

News

Will Blagojevich be the beneficiary of Donald Trump’s clemency agenda?

My analysis is Trump supporters won’t care if Blagojevich’s sentence gets cut. He’s been in prison since 2011. It’s not like he hasn’t been punished.

By Lynn Sweet

News

Patti has ‘hope’ after Trump says he might commute Blagojevich’s sentence

President Donald Trump says he is considering commuting the sentence of ex-Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and pardoning Martha Stewart.

By Jon Seidel

News

Blagojevich family given new hope by Donald Trump’s talk of commutation

A commutation of Rod Blagojevich would fulfill a major family wish: the college graduation this June of his eldest daughter, Amy, from Northwestern.

By Michael Sneed

News

EDITORIAL: Trump schemes aside, Blagojevich deserves shorter sentence

Suddenly, Rod Blagojevich is caught up in another brewing scandal. This time, though, he’s not the schemer at the center of it.

By CST Editorial Board

Columnists

Blagojevich plays Trump card clumsily — but that doesn’t mean he won’t win trick

Somebody got the idea Blagojevich should whisper sweet nothings in Trump’s ear to coax a pardon. Instead, he stuck in his whole tongue.

By Mark Brown

News

Blagojevich, supporters craft pitch for only audience that matters: Trump

“This same cast of characters that did this to my family are out there trying to do it to the president,” Patti Blagojevich told the Sun-Times.

By Jon Seidel

Springfield

US Supreme Court won’t hear Blago appeal; Patti ‘could not be more disappointed’

The Supreme Court might have finally ended the long, futile legal fight waged by Blagojevich ever since his early-morning arrest in December 2008.

By Jon Seidel

News

Patti Blagojevich calls Rauner campaign Snapchat filter of Blago ‘disgusting’

A Snapchat filter featuring the famous hair — and federal inmate number — of imprisoned former Gov. Rod Blagojevich has Patti Blagojevich fuming.

By Tina Sfondeles

News

Newly leaked phone recording reveals Rod Blagojevich’s honest intentions: lawyer

Only a tiny fraction of these tapes have ever been released despite the governor’s repeated demand that the government “release them all.”

By Len Goodman

News

Imprisoned Blagojevich again asks U.S. Supreme Court to hear his case

The former governor’s bid to the high court is among the very few options the imprisoned Democrat has left.

By Jon Seidel

News

Blagojevich: Mops, sings, jokes — accepts ‘fate … assigned to me’

Showing little sign of remorse, Blagojevich insists he does not hate “the people who have done this to me.”

By Tina Sfondeles

News

Appeals court upholds Rod Blagojevich’s 14-year prison sentence

Friday’s six-page ruling rejects arguments that Blagojevich, 60, should have gotten a break in part because of glowing letters from fellow prisoners.

By Jon Seidel

News

Surviving Trump: Ex-Blagojevich aide’s tips for White House staff

“If you’re not willing to fight — and to be fired for it — don’t take the job,” Bradley Tusk writes in an article published on inc.com.

By Sun-Times staff

News

Obama to exit with no clemency for Blagojevich

President Barack Obama made his final grants of clemency Thursday and imprisoned former Gov. Rod Blagojevich was not on the list.

By Lynn Sweet and Jon Seidel

News

Blagojevich asks for presidential commutation

Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich is seeking a presidential commutation, according to a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Justice.

By Jon Seidel

News

Blago: Judge should not have blown off glowing inmate letters

The judge argued that the inmates didn’t know the ex-governor, in the context of him being a powerful officerholder.

By Jon Seidel

News

The people Rod Blagojevich left behind

In December 2011, before sentencing Rod Blagojevich to 14 years in prison, U.S. District Judge James Zagel scolded the former governor not only for

By David Mendell

News

Feds: Give Blago 14 years all over again

A hearing in Chicago Aug. 9 on a new sentence for former Gov. Rod Blagojevich could be his first public appearance since he went to prison in 2012.

By Jon Seidel

News

Hillary Clinton email on Blagojevich verdict: 'Puny outcome'

By Lynn Sweet

City Hall

Transcript: Rahm asks Blago to appoint Claypool to Congress

By Sun-Times staff

News

Blagojevich on leaving for prison: ‘I can't even think about it now '

Rod Blagojevich has left his Chicago home and is heading to Colorado to begin a 14-year federal prison term for corruption. Wednesday night Blagojevich held on to wife Patti through his 12-minute statement, squeezing her shoulder as he bid adieu to Illinois and talked about “a dark and hard journey” that would take him thousands of miles from his family.

By Natasha Korecki And Stefano Esposito Staff Reporters

Politics

8:35 p.m. at the Blagojevich/Quinn fest.

By Lynn Sweet

News

Blagojevich's new name: Prisoner No. 40892-424

Convicted former Gov. Rod Blagojevich now has another name he’ll be known by: federal prisoner No. 40892-424.

By Michael Sneed

News

Robert Blagojevich's tears for his brother: ‘It's just grossly unfair'

Robert Blagojevich said he’s cried three times in the last 25 years. When his mother died. When his father died. And when he heard his brother, former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, had been sentenced to 14 years in prison.

By Natasha Korecki Federal Courts

News

Judge: Blagojevich sentencing will take two days, even if lawyers wrap up sooner

Even though prosecutors and defense lawyers said Friday they can make their arguments in just one day and won’t need to a second day next week for convicted former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s sentencing hearing, the judge in the case said he won’t impose a sentence on Tuesday and still plans to do that on Wednesday.

By Natasha Korecki Federal Courts Reporter

‘Sorry' Blagojevich gets 14-year prison sentence

By Natasha Korecki, Lauren FitzPatrick, and 1 more