Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich is lobbying President Donald Trump for ex-ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore’s clemency after she was convicted of conspiring to influence former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan in exchange for legislation favoring the utility company.
Blagojevich, whose 14-year prison sentence for political corruption was commuted in 2020 and pardoned last February by Trump, filed lobbying paperwork Monday with Congress to represent Pramaggiore.
Pramaggiore was sentenced in July to two years in prison after she and three others were found guilty of a nearly decade-long bribery scheme to sway Madigan to benefit ComEd.
In a statement to the Sun-Times, Blagojevich said he’s trying to do his best “to prevent a terrible injustice.”
“Anne Pramaggiore is 100% innocent, a victim of the Illinois Democratic machine, prosecutorial lawfare, and this case is exactly the kind of prosecutorial overreach that President Trump has railed against,” Blagojevich said.
A spokesperson for Pramaggiore, Mark Herr, referred to Trump’s previous decision to pause enforcement of a law Pramaggiore has been convicted of violating — the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act — because it had been “stretched beyond proper bounds and abused.”
“Despite having lost the bribery conviction and the case’s complete lack of foreign activity, the prosecutors refused to end the case, even in the face of President Trump’s Executive Order warning against prosecutorial abuses in FCPA cases,” Herr said in a statement. “She is pursuing all avenues to reverse this injustice.”
“If former Governor Blagojevich can help turn this wrong to right, she’s glad to have his help.”
Former ComEd lobbyist John Hooker, longtime Madigan confidant Michael McClain and ex-City Club President Jay Doherty were also convicted in the scheme.
A federal judge tossed a series of bribery counts in the ComEd case, leaving each of the four defendants convicted of conspiracy, as well as four counts of falsifying books and records under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
Madigan was sentenced to 7 ½ years in prison after being convicted of bribery and wire fraud in a separate trial.
Pramaggiore was initially ordered to report to prison Dec. 1, but the court granted her a delay due to medical reasons, according to her spokesperson. She is now due to report Jan. 12.
Blagojevich was convicted in 2011 on charges that included seeking to sell an appointment to then-President Barack Obama’s old Senate seat and trying to shake down a children’s hospital. Blagojevich served eight years in prison before Trump cut short his term in 2020.
