MAGA-pardoned governor paid six figures to lobby Trump to issue another pardon: report
President Donald Trump stunned political observers when he pardoned Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a Democrat who was convicted of trying to sell former President Barack Obama's Senate seat.
Now, according to the Chicago Tribune, Blagojevich is being paid $130,000 to lobby the Trump administration to issue a similar pardon to Anne Parmaggiore, the former CEO of ComEd, who was convicted of a scheme to bribe former Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan.
This comes as legal battles are still playing out in court over the exact nature of that scheme and whether the conviction was valid.
"On Thursday, attorneys for imprisoned former House Speaker Michael Madigan are expected to ask the appeals court for a reversal of his February 2025 conviction and 7 1/2-year sentence, arguing the prosecution flouted Supreme Court rulings reining in the use of the bribery and fraud statutes and instead stretched the laws 'past their breaking points,'" said the report. "Then, next week, separate legal teams representing Madigan’s former confidant, Michael McClain, and and ex-ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore are expected to make a similar argument to the same court in their consolidated appeal of their 2023 convictions for an alleged conspiracy to bribe Madigan."
The Supreme Court has issued rulings that have made it harder to convict politicians of bribery, in particular greenlighting the dispensation of "gratuities" to politicians as long as they are not attached to an official act.
Blagojevich's own attorneys made similar arguments at his appeal 13 years prior, the report said, "where Judge Frank Easterbrook invoked President Dwight Eisenhower’s nomination of Earl Warren to the U.S. Supreme Court in exchange for the California governor’s support in the 1952 election ... Ironically, Blagojevich has now figured into the appeal of Pramaggiore. Not only did she officially apply for clemency from the White House, she’s paid the former governor at least $130,000 to personally lobby Trump for a pardon."
"Federal lobbying records show that to accept the money, Blagojevich had to disclose his legal status with Congress, noting that the president had pardoned him 'for all convicted offenses,'" noted the report.