GOP/PARDONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Illinois’ delegation of House Republicans on Thursday [8-8-19] urged President Donald Trump not to commute the sentence of Rod Blagojevich, the state’s former governor, after the president told reporters he was considering doing so. In a statement, Reps. Darin LaHood, John Shimkus, Adam Kinzinger, Rodney Davis and Mike Bost said that commuting Blagojevich’s sentence ‘sets a dangerous precedent and goes against the trust voters place in elected officials’…The state’s Republican delegation previously wrote to Trump in June 2018, also to oppose a presidential commutation of Blagojevich’s sentence. The Thursday statement renewed the call after Trump told reporters a day earlier that he felt Blagojevich’s seven years in prison had been enough.”
–Matthew Choi, “Illinois Republicans urge Trump to keep Blagojevich in prison,” Politico, August 8, 2019 8:43 pm