Without exception, Illinois' Republican delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives strongly condemned President Donald Trump's announcement Tuesday he was commuting the sentence of Illinois' disgraced former Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
"We are disappointed by the president's commutation of Rod Blagojevich's federal sentence," read a statement signed by all five GOP U.S. Representatives from the Prairie State.
Blagojevich was sentenced to prison for 14 years following his conviction for trying to sell the Senate seat of Barack Obama after he became president. He had served eight years in prison when the president announced Tuesday he was commuting the former governor's sentence to time served.
The Republican lawmakers wrote, they believed "he received an appropriate and fair sentence, which was the low-end of the federal sentencing guidelines for the gravity of his public corruption convictions."
The lawmakers went on to denounce Blagojevich as "the face of public corruption in Illinois." They pointed out, "not once has he shown any remorse for his clear and documented record of egregious crimes that undermined the trust placed in him by voters."
"As our state continues to grapple with political corruption," they wrote, "we shouldn't let those who breached the public trust off the hook. History will not judge Rod Blagojevich well."
The statement, issued through the office of Rep. Darin LaHood, R-Ill., was co-signed by Reps. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., Mike Bost, R-Ill., John Shimkus, R-Ill., and Rod Davis, R-Ill.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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