Rod Blagojevich

Rod Blagojevich (born December 10, 1956, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.) is an American politician, lawyer, and the 40th governor of Illinois. In 2008 Blagojevich, a Democrat, was arrested by the FBI on charges related to his attempt to sell an appointment to the vacant U.S. Senate seat of newly elected Pres. Barack Obama. He was convicted and spent eight years in prison before Pres. Donald Trump commuted his sentence. Trump later pardoned him.

Early years

Blagojevich was the second child of Millie and Milorad (“Rade”) Blagojevich, a Chicago Transit Authority ticket agent and a steelworker, respectively. Rade Blagojevich had immigrated to the United States after World War II, during which he served in the Yugoslav Army and spent four years as a Nazi prisoner of war. After graduating from Foreman High School in Chicago, Rod Blagojevich briefly attended the University of Tampa in Florida before transferring to Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. After working as a Serbo-Croatian interpreter for the Cook county, Illinois, court system—Blagojevich had learned his father’s native language growing up—he enrolled in law school at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, graduating in 1983. In 1990 he married Patricia (“Patti”) Mell, daughter of longtime Chicago alderman Richard Mell. The couple has two children.

Political life

After a brief stint in the law office of Chicago alderman Edward Vrdolyak, Blagojevich accepted a role as Cook county assistant state’s attorney in 1986. He worked under state’s attorney Richard M. Daley, who would later serve as mayor of Chicago from 1989 to 2011. In 1993 Blagojevich won a seat in the Illinois state House of Representatives, representing the 33rd district, which at the time included portions of Chicago’s North Side. He served in the position until 1996, when he defeated Republican incumbent Michael Patrick Flanagan to win a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. In his three terms in the House, Blagojevich sponsored bills focused on education and gun-crime prevention. In 1999 he joined a coalition led by civil rights leader Jesse Jackson to negotiate the release of three American soldiers from what was then Yugoslavia during the Kosovo conflict.

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In 2002 Blagojevich launched his campaign for governor of Illinois. The Republican incumbent, George Ryan, was not running for reelection, opening an opportunity for a Democratic challenger in a state that had been led by Republican governors for some 25 years. Blagojevich won the Democratic nomination and secured an endorsement from then Chicago mayor Daley (as well as reluctant support from then Illinois state senator Obama). He ultimately defeated Republican nominee Jim Ryan to become the 40th governor of Illinois. As governor, Blagojevich supported death penalty reforms, mandated ethics trainings for state employees, and introduced a statewide “Preschool for All” program. He won reelection in 2006.

Corruption, conviction, and pardon

On December 9, 2008, Blagojevich was arrested at his home on federal charges of bribery and conspiracy to commit fraud brought by the U.S. Department of Justice. Blagojevich and his chief of staff, John Harris, were accused of “conspiring to obtain personal financial benefits” by leveraging Blagojevich’s authority to appoint a candidate to fill the newly vacant Senate seat of president-elect Obama. Wiretaps revealed the details of the scheme, which essentially involved Blagojevich “selling” the Senate seat to whomever was willing to procure a lucrative job for himself or his wife. In the process he threatened to withhold state assistance from the Tribune Company if Chicago Tribune editors critical of the governor were not fired. On the wiretaps Blagojevich described his motivation in expletive-filled language made public during his trial: “I’ve got this thing, and it’s f*****g golden. And I’m just not giving it up for f*****g nothing.” Blagojevich was impeached in January 2009 and replaced as governor by Democrat Pat Quinn.

Between his arrest and his trial, Blagojevich attempted to capitalize on the media attention garnered by the scandal. In September 2009, eight months after his impeachment, Blagojevich published his account of the saga in The Governor: Finally, the Truth Behind the Political Scandal That Continues to Rock the Nation. He also appeared on The Celebrity Apprentice, hosted by Trump; Patti Blagojevich, his wife, appeared on NBC reality show I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here. A federal judge had barred Rod Blagojevich from participating in I’m a Celebrity as it required international travel. Blagojevich’s trial began in June 2010 and stretched on for nearly two years. In August 2010 a jury convicted him on one count—lying to the FBI—but could not reach verdicts on the remaining 23 counts. A retrial began in May 2011. Ultimately, Blagojevich was found guilty on 17 charges and sentenced to 14 years in prison.

Blagojevich maintained his innocence throughout his sentence, which he served at a correctional facility in Colorado. He appealed his case to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2013, arguing that the judge had “misled the jury by failing to explain the legal distinction between campaign contributions and bribes.” In 2015 the appeals court overturned five charges but denied a rehearing; the next year, Blagojevich’s request for the U.S. Supreme Court to hear his case was denied, and a federal judge upheld his 14-year sentence. In 2018 Blagojevich filed for clemency, requesting that then president Trump commute his sentence. Trump fulfilled the request in February 2020, and Blagojevich was released from prison after serving eight years. After Blagojevich’s endorsement of Trump in the 2024 election, Trump pardoned him in February 2025.

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