CHICAGO (AP) — President Barack Obama is leaving office without granting early prison release to former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
Obama released a list of his final acts of clemency Thursday, Jan. 19, and the list didn’t include Blagojevich, who is in the fourth year of a 14-year prison term after being convicted of trying to sell Obama’s Illinois seat in the U.S. Senate when Obama became president. A presidential commutation was one of Blagojevich’s last chances to be released from prison early.
Blagojevich last year submitted a request to have his sentence on wide-ranging corruption convictions commuted. In federal cases, only presidents have the power to reduce a sentence.
Obama’s decision means President-elect Donald Trump could be left to decide the fate of Blagojevich, who appeared on Trump’s “Celebrity Apprentice” TV show in 2010.
