Netflix Rod and Patti Blagojevich
The final episode of Netflix’s new series Trial by Media focuses on disgraced former governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich. The show aims to “examine some of the most dramatic and memorable trials in recent history” through the lens of the idea that “courtroom dramas have increasingly been transformed into a form of entertainment.”
In this case, Blagojevich was convicted on corruption charges, sentenced to 14 years in federal prison. Here’s what you need to know about the trial and where “Blago” is now.
Trump Commuted Blagojevich’s Sentence
During his on-going trial, Blagojevich appeared in the spring 2010 season of Donald Trump’s reality show The Celebrity Apprentice. He was fired in week four, but he must have made an impression because after Trump became president, he commuted Blagojevich’s sentence in February 2020.
Trump’s commutation erased the sentence but not the conviction. The president said of Blago’s sentencing, “That was a tremendously powerful, ridiculous sentence, in my opinion … many people disagreed with the sentence.”
Since the quarantine began, Blago and his wife, Patti, have been making videos of themselves talking about hazard pay for healthcare workers or demonstrating how to make protective masks. He has also called on Ellen DeGeneres to help in his fight for criminal justice reform. And in a recent interview with CNN, Blagojevich referred to himself as a “political prisoner,” with which Anderson Cooper took umbrage.
Blagojevich Was Elected Illinois Governor in 2002
In 2002, Blagojevich was elected as the 40th Governor of Illinois, following a six-year stint serving as the Illinois’ 5th district representative in the House of Representatives in Congress. In the governor’s race, he defeated Republican Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan by running on a platform of “ending business as usual,” according to the New York Times.
Blago was reelected in 2006 and then in 2008, he was arrested by federal agents and charged with corruption. The complaint alleged that the governor was involved in several “pay to play” schemes, including corrupt dealings in filling the vacant U.S. Senate seat after Barack Obama was elected president.
According to the New York Times transcript of the Justice Department briefing on the investigation, examples of Blago’s corruption included asking for a $50,000 personal contribution from the CEO of a children’s hospital in exchange for the hospital funding, or offering up Obama’s Senate seat to the “highest bidder for campaign contributions.” Blago also tried to extort the Chicago Tribune newspaper after unflattering editorials had been written there about him.
“Governor Blagojevich and defendant Jonathan — John Harris, his chief of staff, schemed to send a message to the Chicago Tribune that if the Tribune Company wanted to sell its ballfield, Wrigley Field, in order to complete a business venture, the price of doing so was to fire certain editors, including one editor by name.”
Blago was impeached by the Illinois legislature in January 2009, the first impeachment in Illinois government history. He was indicted by a federal grand jury in April 2009. In August 2010, he was convicted of 24 federal charges, and over a year later, he was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison. He reported to prison in March 2012.
Trial By Media is out now on Netflix.
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