What a worthless scumbag...DUMP, I'm talking about...
Birds of a feather: Why Trump wants to commute Rod Blagojevich's sentence
[FONT="][FONT="]Birds of a feather: Why Trump wants to commute Rod Blagojevich's sentence[/FONT]
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[FONT="][FONT="]Susan Grigsby for Daily Kos[/FONT][/FONT]
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Sunday November 17, 2019 · 4:30 PM PST
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It’s the hair. Obviously.
What man who requires an elaborate arrangement of dyed, styled, and sprayed strands of hair, would not want to have his own hairbrush treated like the nuclear football? A $12,000 hairbrush probably should be treated that way and probably should require a state security official to carry it around.
Donald Trump and Rod Blagojevich also appear to share a similar attitude about doing the jobs to which they were elected. In an interview about his book, a former aide to the convicted former Illinois governor explained Blagojevich’s work day after describing the time involved in dyeing his hair.
So it is no surprise that Trump keeps floating the idea of commuting the disgraced governor’s sentence. Which he did, once again, just a few weeks ago during a visit with Chicago donors.
In addition to a certain similarity in hair care and lack of an honest work ethic, they shared a similar attitude about their offices. They both believe that their job was to further their own interest at the expense of the people they were elected to serve. The crimes for which he is serving a 14-year sentence entail more than the attempt to sell Barack Obama’s Senate seat, although Donald Trump does not even see that as a crime:
The FBI affidavit upon which the case against Blagojevich was made covered crimes committed by him as far back as 2002, and included:
Ali Ata is identified in the affidavit as a businessman who was to be granted a seat on a state board in exchange for a $50,000 campaign contribution to Blagojevich’s first run for governor in 2002. Upon meeting the candidate, Ata told him he was considering joining his team. Blagojevich responded, according to the affidavit, that “it had better be a job where Ata could make some money.”
The quid pro quo of campaign contributions in exchange for official actions was reinforced by the testimony of Joseph Cari, a prominent Democratic fundraiser who eventually participated in an attempt to extort a real estate investment firm seeking business with a state board.
In November 2003, the governor held up approval for Mercy Hospital’s proposed new hospital in Illinois until he received a campaign contribution from them. Once the contribution was promised, the approval was granted.
More instances of such criminal behavior are outlined in the 76-page affidavit, including one incident in which the victim of extortion threatened exposure and was granted the ruling he sought in exchange for his silence.
Blagojevich’s criminal behavior increased markedly in 2008 in a race against time. The state had passed an ethics law that was due to take effect on Jan. 1, 2009 and prohibited “any individual or entity with existing state contracts of more than $50,000 from contributing to entities like Friends of Blagojevich.”
So the push was on to get as much as possible before the law kicked in, with a total goal of $2.5 million. Some $500,000 was expected to be raised by Highway Contractor 1, who wanted to supply concrete for a new toll road project. The CEO of Children’s Memorial Hospital had funding threatened over a $50,000 contribution.
Purchasing ambassadorships and other perks from the federal government seems to have become standard operating procedure for the current occupant of the Oval Office. My understanding is that Ambassador to the E.U. Gordon Sondland contributed $1 million to Trump’s inaugural committee. I do hope he found his purchase satisfactory.
But I am pretty sure that the crime committed against the Tribune Company had Trump cheering from the cheap seats. The editorial board of the Chicago Tribune was harshly critical of Blagojevich, and had called for his impeachment.
The owner of the Tribune also owned Wrigley Field, home field of the Chicago Cubs, as well as the team itself. In order to pay down debt, the owner wished to sell either or both entities and needed the state’s assistance with the sale of the ballpark. Blagojevich tied any state assistance, which he felt was worth at least $100 million, to the firing of members of the Tribune’s editorial board.
But the crime for which Blagojevich will long be remembered is the attempted sale of a U.S. Senate seat. It was breathtaking in its audacity.
He attempted to sell it to the newly elected president in exchange for an appointment as the secretary of the Health and Human Services Department, even though his advisors warned him that the Department of Energy is where the real money was:
From a New York Times 2008 article:
In August of this year, Trump made clear his hope to commute the sentence
They never learn. Throughout our history there have been incidents of official corruption followed by exposure, trials, convictions, and punishments. And yet, they are sure, absolutely sure, that they are smarter and better than all the past grifters and they will be able to commit political crimes undetected.
The only reason I can think of for their confidence is their belief that we are not paying attention. And all too often, they are right.
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Birds of a feather: Why Trump wants to commute Rod Blagojevich's sentence
[FONT="][FONT="]Birds of a feather: Why Trump wants to commute Rod Blagojevich's sentence[/FONT]
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[FONT="][FONT="]Susan Grigsby for Daily Kos[/FONT][/FONT]
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Sunday November 17, 2019 · 4:30 PM PST
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https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?ur...p+wants+to+commute+Rod+Blagojevich's+sentence
It’s the hair. Obviously.
What man who requires an elaborate arrangement of dyed, styled, and sprayed strands of hair, would not want to have his own hairbrush treated like the nuclear football? A $12,000 hairbrush probably should be treated that way and probably should require a state security official to carry it around.
Donald Trump and Rod Blagojevich also appear to share a similar attitude about doing the jobs to which they were elected. In an interview about his book, a former aide to the convicted former Illinois governor explained Blagojevich’s work day after describing the time involved in dyeing his hair.
“I kind of knew he dyed his hair. I didn’t realize what that entailed,” Tusk said in an interview Monday.
“It clearly was like an all-day process, and it clearly was private or embarrassing or something enough that he did it on his own,” said Tusk, who is promoting a new book that devotes a couple of chapters to his work in the Blagojevich administration—part of it detailing the former governor’s lack of work.
...
Noting that Blagojevich preferred to work from home, he added: “ ‘Work’ meaning a loose mix of a few phone calls, watching SportsCenter, reading long biographies of Napoleon, preparing to go for a run, going for a run, stretching after the run, and then showering for at least 90 minutes after that.”
Although it is hard to imagine Trump running anywhere (and if you substitute Hitler’s My New Order for Napoleon biographies and Fox & Friends for SportsCenter), Blagojevich’s schedule looks pretty much like Trump’s scheduled “executive time.”“It clearly was like an all-day process, and it clearly was private or embarrassing or something enough that he did it on his own,” said Tusk, who is promoting a new book that devotes a couple of chapters to his work in the Blagojevich administration—part of it detailing the former governor’s lack of work.
...
Noting that Blagojevich preferred to work from home, he added: “ ‘Work’ meaning a loose mix of a few phone calls, watching SportsCenter, reading long biographies of Napoleon, preparing to go for a run, going for a run, stretching after the run, and then showering for at least 90 minutes after that.”
So it is no surprise that Trump keeps floating the idea of commuting the disgraced governor’s sentence. Which he did, once again, just a few weeks ago during a visit with Chicago donors.
In addition to a certain similarity in hair care and lack of an honest work ethic, they shared a similar attitude about their offices. They both believe that their job was to further their own interest at the expense of the people they were elected to serve. The crimes for which he is serving a 14-year sentence entail more than the attempt to sell Barack Obama’s Senate seat, although Donald Trump does not even see that as a crime:
He’s been in jail for seven years over a phone call where nothing happens — over a phone call which he shouldn’t have said what he said, but it was braggadocio you would say," Trump said. "I would think that there have been many politicians — I’m not one of them by the way — that have said a lot worse over the telephone.”
Another perfect phone call. Nothing happened! And actually, Trump is “one of them” that have said a lot worse over the telephone. The two men share an alternate reality, one in which the media can be bullied and profit can be made.
The FBI affidavit upon which the case against Blagojevich was made covered crimes committed by him as far back as 2002, and included:
(a) efforts to obtain campaign contributions in exchange for official actions by ROD BLAGOJEVICH; (b) efforts to use state funds for the private purpose of inducing the Tribune Company to fire Chicago Tribune editorial board members critical of ROD BLAGOJEVICH by making their firing a condition of state assistance to the Tribune Company in connection with Wrigley Field; and (c) efforts to obtain personal financial benefits for ROD BLAGOJEVICH in return for his appointment of a United States Senator.
The demands for campaign contributions in exchange for either state positions or favorable official actions predate the attempted sale of the Senate seat going back as far as 2002.
Ali Ata is identified in the affidavit as a businessman who was to be granted a seat on a state board in exchange for a $50,000 campaign contribution to Blagojevich’s first run for governor in 2002. Upon meeting the candidate, Ata told him he was considering joining his team. Blagojevich responded, according to the affidavit, that “it had better be a job where Ata could make some money.”
The quid pro quo of campaign contributions in exchange for official actions was reinforced by the testimony of Joseph Cari, a prominent Democratic fundraiser who eventually participated in an attempt to extort a real estate investment firm seeking business with a state board.
In November 2003, the governor held up approval for Mercy Hospital’s proposed new hospital in Illinois until he received a campaign contribution from them. Once the contribution was promised, the approval was granted.
More instances of such criminal behavior are outlined in the 76-page affidavit, including one incident in which the victim of extortion threatened exposure and was granted the ruling he sought in exchange for his silence.
Blagojevich’s criminal behavior increased markedly in 2008 in a race against time. The state had passed an ethics law that was due to take effect on Jan. 1, 2009 and prohibited “any individual or entity with existing state contracts of more than $50,000 from contributing to entities like Friends of Blagojevich.”
So the push was on to get as much as possible before the law kicked in, with a total goal of $2.5 million. Some $500,000 was expected to be raised by Highway Contractor 1, who wanted to supply concrete for a new toll road project. The CEO of Children’s Memorial Hospital had funding threatened over a $50,000 contribution.
Purchasing ambassadorships and other perks from the federal government seems to have become standard operating procedure for the current occupant of the Oval Office. My understanding is that Ambassador to the E.U. Gordon Sondland contributed $1 million to Trump’s inaugural committee. I do hope he found his purchase satisfactory.
But I am pretty sure that the crime committed against the Tribune Company had Trump cheering from the cheap seats. The editorial board of the Chicago Tribune was harshly critical of Blagojevich, and had called for his impeachment.
The owner of the Tribune also owned Wrigley Field, home field of the Chicago Cubs, as well as the team itself. In order to pay down debt, the owner wished to sell either or both entities and needed the state’s assistance with the sale of the ballpark. Blagojevich tied any state assistance, which he felt was worth at least $100 million, to the firing of members of the Tribune’s editorial board.
But the crime for which Blagojevich will long be remembered is the attempted sale of a U.S. Senate seat. It was breathtaking in its audacity.
He attempted to sell it to the newly elected president in exchange for an appointment as the secretary of the Health and Human Services Department, even though his advisors warned him that the Department of Energy is where the real money was:
In particular, ROD BLAGOJEVICH has been intercepted conspiring to trade the senate seat for particular positions that the President-elect has the power to appoint (e.g. the Secretary of Health and Human Services). ROD BLAGOJEVICH has also been intercepted conspiring to sell the Senate seat in exchange for his wife’s placement on paid corporate boards or ROD BLAGOJEVICH’s placement at a private foundation in a significant position with a substantial salary. ROD BLAGOJEVICH has also been intercepted conspiring to sell the Senate seat in exchange for millions of dollars in funding for a non-profit organization that he would start and that would employ him at a substantial salary after he left the governorship.
It was this sale that produced the headlines and the unforgettable quotes:
ROD BLAGOJEVICH stated, “unless I get something real good for [Senate Candidate 1], shit, I’ll just send myself, you know what I’m saying.” ROD BLAGOJEVICH later stated, “I’m going to keep this Senate option for me a real possibility, you know, and therefore I can drive a hard bargain. You hear what I’m saying. And if I don’t get what I want and I’m not satisfied with it, then I’ll just take the Senate seat myself.” Later, ROD BLAGOJEVICH stated that the Senate seat “is a fucking valuable thing, you just don’t give it away for nothing.”
…
“I’ve got this thing and it’s fucking golden, and, uh, uh, I’m just not giving it up for fuckin’ nothing. I’m not gonna do it. And, and I can always use it. I can parachute me there.”
...
ROD BLAGOJEVICH said he knows that the President-elect wants Senate Candidate 1 for the Senate seat but “they’re not willing to give me anything except appreciation. Fuck them.”
Senate Candidate 1 is presumed to have been Valerie Jarret. …
“I’ve got this thing and it’s fucking golden, and, uh, uh, I’m just not giving it up for fuckin’ nothing. I’m not gonna do it. And, and I can always use it. I can parachute me there.”
...
ROD BLAGOJEVICH said he knows that the President-elect wants Senate Candidate 1 for the Senate seat but “they’re not willing to give me anything except appreciation. Fuck them.”
From a New York Times 2008 article:
Mr. Blagojevich, whose administration has for years been known to be the subject of a federal corruption investigation, also spoke of his family’s financial woes and said he had three criteria for selecting the new senator: “Our legal situation, our personal situation, my political situation — this decision, like every other one, needs to be based on that.”
And this is the man whose sentence Trump wants to commute. Is 14 years too much for abusing the trust of the people of Illinois? I don’t know. The judge apparently felt it was, as he sentenced Blagojevich twice to the same 14-year sentence.
In August of this year, Trump made clear his hope to commute the sentence
“I am thinking very seriously about commuting his sentence so that he can go home to his family after seven years. You have drug dealers that get not even 30 days, and they’ve killed 25 people,” Trump said.
Before his conviction on corruption charges, Blagojevich was a contestant on Trump’s “Celebrity Apprentice” reality show.
“I thought he was treated unbelievably unfairly. He was given close to 18 years in prison, and a lot of people thought it was unfair, like a lot of other things. And it was the same gang — the Comey gang and all these sleazebags — that did it,” Trump said.
Trump floated the idea of commutation in August 2018 as well as just a few weeks ago in Chicago on October 28, 2019. While speaking to a group of donors who paid between $2,800 and $35,000, Trump asked for ...Before his conviction on corruption charges, Blagojevich was a contestant on Trump’s “Celebrity Apprentice” reality show.
“I thought he was treated unbelievably unfairly. He was given close to 18 years in prison, and a lot of people thought it was unfair, like a lot of other things. And it was the same gang — the Comey gang and all these sleazebags — that did it,” Trump said.
… a show of hands at a fundraiser at Chicago's Trump International Hotel of those who supported clemency for the 62-year-old Democrat. Most of the 200 to 300 attendees raised their hands, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing several people at Monday's event.
On the same day, Trump told Chicago’s WLS-TV that — despite bringing up the possibility of freeing Blagojevich in August and then appearing to back away from the idea — Blagojevich shouldn’t abandon hope of an early release.
"No, he should not at all give up hope, at all," Trump said. "We are looking at it.”
It does seem that if Rod is to get any help at all from a fellow grifter, it is going to have to come very soon as there is a clear possibility that Trump may not survive his first term in office. On the same day, Trump told Chicago’s WLS-TV that — despite bringing up the possibility of freeing Blagojevich in August and then appearing to back away from the idea — Blagojevich shouldn’t abandon hope of an early release.
"No, he should not at all give up hope, at all," Trump said. "We are looking at it.”
They never learn. Throughout our history there have been incidents of official corruption followed by exposure, trials, convictions, and punishments. And yet, they are sure, absolutely sure, that they are smarter and better than all the past grifters and they will be able to commit political crimes undetected.
The only reason I can think of for their confidence is their belief that we are not paying attention. And all too often, they are right.
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