Illinois Republicans are fuming over President Trump's announcement that he may commute the 14-year prison sentence of former Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
Almost as soon as the president hinted he was considering commuting the sentence of Blagojevich (who was charged with and convicted of trying to sell Barack Obama’s former Senate seat to highest bidder), a spokesman for Rep. Randy Hultgren, R-Ill., contacted Newsmax to say “the congressman is very much against it.”
Rep. Darin LaHood, R-Ill., agreed, telling reporters, “There was nothing alleged in any of the court processes that said this was not done the right way, and you know we have a real problem with public corruption in the state of Illinois.”
“This would send the wrong message,” said LaHood, a former federal prosecutor.
Asked by Newsmax whether the president was aware of Republican sentiment in the Land of Lincoln regarding Blagojevich, press secretary Sarah Sanders told me, "The president hasn’t made a final decision on that. But as you know, the president doesn’t base his decisions off of the criticism of others but on what he thinks is the right decision to make. And that’s what he’ll base it on.”
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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