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Originally Posted by WaPo
“You know, oftentimes — pretty much all the time — I really rely on the recommendations of people that know them,” Trump told reporters as he prepared to board Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews. He was explaining why, and how, he’d just issued seven pardons and four commutations
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As he explained why he commuted former Democratic Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich’s sentence, Trump told reporters: “I watched his wife on television.”
Patti Blagojevich made at least seven appearances over the past two years on Fox News, appearing on the shows of Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham and Jeanine Pirro, to praise the president and plead for his mercy. (Blagojevich was also a contestant on Trump's show “The Celebrity Apprentice” in 2010.)
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The president said the 14-year prison sentence for Blagojevich, who was caught on a wiretap talking about trying to sell Barack Obama’s vacated Senate seat to the highest bidder, was “ridiculous.”
“It was a prosecution by the same people – Comey, Fitzpatrick – the same group,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday. Last year, Trump also falsely blamed Blagojevich’s treatment on “the Comey gang and all these sleazebags.”
In fact, however, former FBI director James Comey was in the private sector during Blagojevich’s prosecution. And “Fitzpatrick” seems to be a mistaken reference to Patrick Fitzgerald, who as U.S. attorney in Chicago did prosecute Blagojevich and is indeed good friends with Comey.
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“Paul Pogue, a construction company owner who pleaded guilty to underpaying his taxes by $473,000 and received three years probation, was issued a full pardon and clemency by the president,” the Daily Beast notes. “According to FEC filings, Pogue’s family has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars in direct contributions and in-kind air travel to the Trump Victory Committee. Beginning in August 2019, Ben Pogue—CEO of Pogue Construction and son of Paul Pogue—and his wife Ashleigh made over $200,000 in contributions to the campaign.
“In August alone, Ben Pogue donated $85,000 to Trump Victory while Ashleigh Pogue contributed $50,000 that month. The following month, Ben Pogue made an in-kind air travel contribution of $75,404.40. The couple also made several large donations to the Republican National Committee and each donated $5,600 to Donald Trump for President Inc. On the day of their first donation to the Trump campaign, Ashleigh posted an Instagram photo of her and her husband posing with Donald Trump Jr. and his girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle, at the Hamptons.
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