<p>CHICAGO &mdash; A federal judge on Tuesday put an early end to the two-year period of supervised release of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, whose 14-year prison <a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-news-ap-top-news-political-corruption-chicago-donald-trump-e73b905b352c771372ae3b09f42dd40a">sentence for corruption was commuted </a> by President Donald Trump. </p>
<p>U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis issued an order saying, “early termination of supervision is granted as to Rod Blagojevich.” Ellis noted the order was agreed to by prosecutors. </p>
<p>President Donald Trump commuted the 64-year-old Blagojevich’s 14-year prison sentence in February 2020. However, the then-president left intact Blagojevich’s two-year period of supervised release imposed by U.S. District Judge James Zagel. </p>
<p>FBI agents arrested then-Gov. Blagojevich in 2008 after wiretaps recorded him gushing about using his power to appoint someone to Barack Obama’s old Senate seat to land a well-paid job or campaign cash and trying to shake down a children’s hospital. He was convicted in 2011 on corruption charges. </p>
<p>“I didn’t do the things they said I did and they lied on me,” Blagojevich, a one-time contestant on Trump’s reality TV show “Celebrity Apprentice,” said as he walked through O’Hare International Airport after being freed following a <a href="https://bit.ly/34BfP8f">yearslong lobbying effort b</a> y his wife, Patti.</p>
<p>Since his release from the federal prison camp in Littleton, Colorado, Blagojevich has earned money by making videos on Cameo, a website where users pay for personalized video messages from celebrities. He has also hosted a weekly podcast called “The Lightning Rod” for WLS-AM radio.</p>