President Trump grants clemency to imprisoned Celebrity Apprentice alum Rod Blagojevich

Mediaite

The former Illinois governor, who competed on Season 3 of Trump's Apprentice spinoff in 2009, has had his sentence commuted by the president. Speaking to reporters, Trump said he pardoned Blagojevich, who was convicted on federal corruption charges for trying to sell Barack Obama's U.S. Senate seat, in response to seeing the former governor's wife on Fox News. Patricia Blagojevich has been lobbying for Trump to commute her husband's sentence on various Fox News shows for years. Trump has been talking about commuting Blagojevich's sentence for nearly two years. Blagojevich began serving his 14-year-sentence in 2012, but he'll be out after serving eight years. “Yes, we have commuted the sentence of Rod Blagojevich, he served eight years in jail, it’s a long time," Trump said.. I watched his wife on television. I don’t know him very well; I’ve met him a couple of times." The president added: “He was on for a short while on Apprentice years ago. Seems like a nice person, don’t know him, but he served eight years in jail, a long time he had to go, many people disagree with the sentences. He’s not a Democrat; he’s not a Republican.” ALSO: Trump also pardoned Angela Stanton, author of the book Lies of a Real Housewife and the nemesis of Real Housewives of Atlanta's Phaedra Parks.