Blagojevich Officially Asks Trump To Commute Sentence

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A week after President Donald Trump told reporters he was "seriously thinking about" commuting the former Illinois governor's sentence, an imprisoned Rod Blagojevich filed official paperwork asking the president to commute his 14-year sentence for corruption. Blagojevich has been serving time at a federal prison in Colorado since 2012, despite several failed attempts to get a shorter sentence.

Last week, Trump blasted the length of the sentence handed down twice to Blagojevich. "(Fourteen) years in jail for being stupid and saying things that every other politician, you know that many other politicians say," the president said during a conversation in which he also stated he was thinking of pardoning lifestyle guru Martha Stewart — who "used to be (Trump's) biggest fan" — for her 2004 conspiracy and obstruction conviction.

On Tuesday, Blagojevich filed a request for executive clemency with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of the Pardon Attorney, the State Journal-Register reported.

In 2010, two years before Blagojevich went to prison, Trump "fired" him from his show, "Celebrity Apprentice."

• Blagojevich Says He's In Prison For 'Practicing Politics'
• Trump 'Seriously Thinking About' Commutation For Blagojevich

There's no set timetable for Trump to respond to the request, but if he grants it, the ex-governor could be released within days or even hours, according to the Journal-Register.

Chicago Sun-Times columnist Michael Sneed speculated Blagojevich's release could even come in time for him to attend eldest daughter Amy's June 22 graduation from Northwestern University.

Photo: Convicted former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich walks through a hoard of media toward his house before giving a news conference outside his home March 14, 2012 in Chicago, a day before he had to report to a federal prison in Colorado. (Photo by Frank Polich/Getty Images)