Rod Blagojevich's rise and fall and presidential commutation, a Chicago story
CHICAGO - Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was on the witness stand testifying in his own defense in federal court, chattering on in typical form and telling jurors about a 2002 fundraiser that was held for him at Yankee Stadium.
"First time I met Donald Trump," Blagojevich proudly recalled of the occasion in New York City, "he walked in with Regis Philbin and made a contribution at that event."
He would see the real estate tycoon again years later, of course, when the indicted and impeached Blagojevich was a hapless contestant on "The Celebrity Apprentice" reality TV show and Trump "fired" him in his role as its bombastic host.
Maybe they should stop meeting like this. But now the former governor has Trump to thank for an unlikely new twist in The Blago Show.
The Chicago political jester who rose from life as a scrappy city kid to the state's highest office - then secretly taped by the FBI in a corruption probe, arrested at home before dawn, tried (twice), convicted and sentenced - was sprung from federal prison Tuesday more than four years early when Trump commuted his sentence.
NEVER DRAMA-FREE
The 40th governor of Illinois, who often ran the state from his home library on the North Side of Chicago, was a speechifier with a trademark shelf of dark hair who often prompted eyerolls as he randomly worked historical and sports references like potter's clay.
Set up two news cameras anywhere, and Blagojevich would find them.
Most of America was barely paying attention, however, until the FBI appeared at his door in
