Ex-Gov. Blagojevich released from prison after Trump pardon

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Rod Blagojevich walked out of prison Tuesday after President Donald Trump cut short the 14-year prison sentence handed to the former Illinois governor for political corruption.

The Republican president said the punishment imposed on the Chicago Democrat and one-time contestant on Trump's reality TV show "Celebrity Apprentice" was excessive.

So he'll be able to go back home with his family, Trump told reporters in Washington.

That was a tremendously powerful, ridiculous sentence in my opinion and in the opinion of many others. Blagojevich landed at Chicago's O'Hare airport early Wednesday a free man, promising judicial and criminal justice reform while maintaining his innocence.

didn't do the things they said I did and they lied on me, Blagojevich told WGN-TV as he walked through the airport shaking the hands of travelers who welcomed him home.

He again thanked Trump for commuting his sentence, saying I think he saw a wrong and corrected it." As he exited the airport doors he was rushed by media and supporters, signing a few autographs before getting into a white SUV and speeding out of the airport toward his Ravenswood home. There he was rushed through a crowd of journalists and supporters to his front door. He said he was happy to be home with his wife and children before disappearing into the house.

The Chicago Tribune on Tuesday night posted a photo of thesilver-haired Blagojevich at Denver International Airport, where he later boarded a plane for Chicago.Blagojevich was famously fastidious about his dark hair as governor, but it went all white because hair dyes are banned in prison.

Promising he will have more to say in a Wednesday news conference, Blagojevich told WGN-TV he appreciated the president's action.

I'm profoundly grateful to President Trump and it's a profound and everlasting gratitude, Blagojevich said. He didn't have to do this, he's a Republican president and I was a Democratic governor. I'll have a lot more to say tomorrow. Blagojevich wouldn't say what plans he had for the future, however he did talk a bit about his time in prison.

"I've learned a lot about the criminal justice system, how unfair it can be, how unjust it is to people of color, he said. I've drawn closer to God. There is divine intervention in all of this. Blagojevich said he heard about his commutation when other inmates told him they saw it on the news,'' he said, adding that he had no inkling it was coming.''