Trump to commute sentence of disgraced ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich: ABC News

ABC News is reporting that President Donald Trump is planning to commute the prison sentence of Rod Blagojevich, the disgraced former governor of Illinois who tried to sell off the Senate seat once held by former President Barack Obama.

Blagojevich, who was impeached for allegedly extorting the Chicago Tribune unless it fired writers who were critical of his administration, was convicted in 2011 on 17 different corruption charges that included charges of wire fraud, extortion, and bribery.

Blogojevich spent the past eight years behind bars after he was sentenced to 14 years in prison in 2012. In between his impeachment and his imprisonment, Blagojevich also was a contestant on Trump's "Celebrity Apprentice" reality TV show, where the future president would fire him for his insufficient knowledge of "Harry Potter" lore.

The former Illinois governor's wife, Patricia Blagojevich, has repeatedly gone on Fox News to lobby the president for a pardon of her convicted husband.