President Donald Trump shocked Americans when he issued a pardon for disgraced former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich (D) who was convicted of political corruption.

Trump issued a full pardon to Blagojevich on Monday in a decision that ignited outrage among Democrats and even Republicans in Illinois. However, Trump doesn't care for the protests as he believes Blagojevich was the victim of a political witchhunt, much like himself. 

Blagojevich was suspected of being the mastermind behind a moneymaking operation that federal investigators claimed was involved in shaking down a children's hospital and racetrack owners in 2008.

Blagojevich was also accused of trying to sell former President Barack Obama's Senate seat, which was vacated in 2008 after winning the presidential election.

Blagojevich was insistent that the secret recording from the FBI that supported the Senate seat-selling allegations was taking him out of context and that he was simply engaged in "political maneuvering," but that didn't stop him from getting a 14-year prison sentence.

Political Persecution

Blagojevich was impeached and ousted as governor in January 2009 and then indicted a couple of months later in March.

His trial took years and he was eventually convicted in 2011 and later sentenced to 14 years in prison. However, he only served eight of those years as his sentence was commuted by Trump towards the end of his first term.

When he was released from prison, Blagojevich and his wife issued a statement saying, "We want to express our most profound and everlasting gratitude to President Trump. How do you properly thank someone who has given you back the freedom that was stolen from you?"

Trump described Blagojevich as a “very fine person” and said it was time to “let him have a normal life.” In Trump's eyes, Blagojevich was a political sacrifice and Trump has a strong sense of justice when it comes to partisan witchhunts.

Trump was clear saying, “It was a sort of a terrible injustice. They just were after him. They go after a lot of people. These are bad people, the other side."

Indeed, the case against Blagojevich was convoluted and politically designed, much like the many cases against Trump. Blagojevich's first trial resulted in a hung jury but a second trial resulted in convictions on 17 of 20 charges against him.

Speculation Exploding

The full pardon for Blagojevich has ignited talks in Washington D.C. of a possible pardon or sentence commutation for former New Jersey Democrat Senator Bob Menendez.

Menendez has been fishing for a pardon following his sentence to 15 years in federal prison for his “naked greed” for accepting a “hoard of bribes” and acting as an agent of a foreign nation in the Senate.

Menendez has defended himself as the subject of a corrupt investigation and claimed that the trial against him was a witchhunt that made a mockery of justice.

However, while positioning himself as a victim of a corrupt investigation will attract Trump's interest, Menendez voted to impeach Trump twice during his time in the Senate. Sources within the White House seemed to indicate that could sink any hopes of Menendez receiving a pardon like Blagojevich did.