Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich said Wednesday he hopes to “fight to help people who have been wrongly incarcerated” and over-sentenced in what he called a “broken,” “racist” and “corrupt” criminal justice system.
“I saw what they do to families because I saw it happen to my own,” Blagojevich said.
Blagojevich emerged from his Ravenswood Manor home to make a speech — dabbing his chin with a tissue after cutting himself shaving — and also expressed his family’s “most profound and everlasting gratitude to President Trump.”
“He didn’t have to do this,” Blagojevich said. “He’s a Republican president. I was a Democratic governor. Doing this does nothing to help his politics.”
Blagojevich took no questions. About the time his speech ended, President Donald Trump tweeted: “Rod Blagojevich did not sell the Senate seat. He served 8 years in prison, with many remaining. He paid a big price. Another Comey and gang deal!”
Despite the president’s statement, a federal jury did, in fact, find that Blagojevich tried to sell the Senate.
At his speech, Blagojevich called his commutation the “beginning of the process to actually turn an injustice into a justice.” He called himself “a freed political prisoner.”
He also thanked Trump “for giving my daughters their father back,” telling Trump, “the kindest gift they’ve ever received in their lives came from you.”
The former governor and his wife joked about how much had changed in the eight years he was behind bars. Patti Blagojevich said their news conference began late because he couldn’t find his socks. Rod Blagojevich said he still had to get used to shaving with a normal razor. They were joined at speech by their two daughters, Amy and Annie.
A crowd of about 50 media members and a dozen or so curious onlookers posted up outside the Blagojeviches’ home before the disgraced ex-governor planned to make his first comments after returning to his Chicago home.
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A handful of Blagojevich’s vocal supporters—who had hung around the house for most of the nearly 24 hours since news of the commutation leaked—banded ribbon around a railing to the front door and let out sporadic cheers.
Among them was unofficial Cubs cheerleader Ronnie Woo Woo.
“He got rolled. I’m happy for him. I hope to go to a Cubs game with him,” Woo Woo said.
A steady stream of dog walkers in the upscale neighborhood shifted their routes for a glance of the spectacle.
Kevin Riley said he looked forward to having Blagojevich back in the neighborhood and potentially joining him on some morning jogs as he did before the governor’s imprisonment.
“I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep up though. He looks like he’s been keeping in pretty good shape out there,” Riley said.
WATCH LIVE: Rod Blagojevich, family, speak at ex-governor’s North Side home on prison release https://abc7.ws/32aHKtx
Posted by ABC 7 Chicago on Wednesday, February 19, 2020
