President Donald Trump has gone on a clemency blitz, commuting the 14-year prison sentence of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and pardoning former NYPD commissioner Bernie Kerik.

Trump also says he has granted clemency to financier Michael Milken, who  pleaded guilty for violating U.S. securities laws. Kerik served just over three years for tax fraud and lying to the White House.

Trump confirmed the news to reporters before departing for California.

Blagojevich was convicted of political corruption just months after he appeared on Trump's reality TV show, "Celebrity Apprentice."   

Blagojevich, who hails from a state with a long history of pay-to-play schemes, had been found guilty of crimes that included seeking to sell an appointment to Barack Obama's old Senate seat and trying to shake down a children's hospital.

The 63-year-old Democrat exhausted his last appellate option in 2018 and had seemed destined to remain behind bars until his projected 2024 release date. His wife, Patti, went on a media blitz in 2018 to encourage Trump to step in, praising the president and likening the investigation of her husband to special prosecutor Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election — a probe Trump long characterized as a "witchhunt."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Chicago - 14 March 2011

1. Wide of Former Ill. Gov. Rod Blagojevich and wife, Patti, speaking to reporters

2. UPSOUND (English) Former Ill. Gov. Rod Blagojevich: "And as things get harder before they get better, Patti and I can't begin to tell you how grateful we are from the bottom of our hearts."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Chicago - 7 December 2011

3. Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich gets into car

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Littleton, Colorado - 15 March 2012

4. Various of Blagojevich arriving at Englewood Federal Correctional Institution

5. STILL image of Blagojevich arriving at Englewood Federal Correctional Institution

6. Wide of Blagojevich arriving at Englewood Federal Correctional Institution

POOL

Springfield, Illinois - 9 January 2008

++4x3++

7. Top pan of Illinois House meeting

8. UPSOUND (English) Representative Barbara Flynn Currie, House Majority Leader, Illinois General Assembly:

"This governor has violated his oath of office. This governor has breached the public trust. This governor must be impeached and I urge your aye vote."

9. Wide of resolution voting board

10. UPSOUND (English) Michael Madigan, Illinois Speaker of the House:

"The House does adopt House resolution 1671 and Governor Blagojevich is hereby impeached."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Chicago - 8 December 2008

++4x3++

11. UPSOUND (English) Reporter, off-camera: "Do you think the cloud that hangs over you is going to taint your pick?"

UPSOUND (English) Rod Blagojevich: "I don't believe there is any cloud that hangs over me."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

New York - 27 January 2009

++4x3++

12. UPSOUND (English) Rod Blagojevich, speaking on telephone: "If I'm not governor anymore, can I come on your show? You're the man."

13. Mid of Blagojevich seated during interview

14. SOUNDBITE (English) Rod Blagojevich:

"...The best things that could clear all of this up would be if I was allowed to bring in every one of those taped conversations, not two of three or four, but every one of those taped conversations so that the people of Illinois can hear the full context of what I was discussing with regard to who the next US senator might be and if they hear that, they'll hear the whole truth, nothing but the truth and that will set me free. This is completely opposite of what President Nixon was doing during Watergate when he fought every step of the way to keep those tapes of his from being made public."

15. Mid of Blagojevich seated during interview

US President Donald Trump has gone on a clemency blitz, commuting the 14-year prison sentence of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and pardoning former NYPD commissioner Bernie Kerik.

Trump also says he has granted clemency to financier Michael Milken, who  pleaded guilty for violating U.S. securities laws. Kerik served just over three years for tax fraud and lying to the White House.

Trump confirmed the news to reporters before departing for California.

Blagojevich was convicted of political corruption just months after he appeared on Trump's reality TV show, "Celebrity Apprentice."   

Blagojevich, who hails from a state with a long history of pay-to-play schemes, had been found guilty of crimes that included seeking to sell an appointment to Barack Obama's old Senate seat and trying to shake down a children's hospital.

The 63-year-old Democrat exhausted his last appellate option in 2018 and had seemed destined to remain behind bars until his projected 2024 release date. His wife, Patti, went on a media blitz in 2018 to encourage Trump to step in, praising the president and likening the investigation of her husband to special prosecutor Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election — a probe Trump long characterized as a "witchhunt."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Chicago - 14 March 2011

++16:9++

1. Wide of Former Ill. Gov. Rod Blagojevich and wife, Patti, speaking to reporters

2. UPSOUND (English) Former Ill. Gov. Rod Blagojevich: "And as things get harder before they get better, Patti and I can't begin to tell you how grateful we are from the bottom of our hearts."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Chicago - 7 December 2011

++16:9++

3. Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich gets into car

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Littleton, Colorado - 15 March 2012

++16:9++

4. Various of Blagojevich arriving at Englewood Federal Correctional Institution

5. STILL image of Blagojevich arriving at Englewood Federal Correctional Institution

6. Wide of Blagojevich arriving at Englewood Federal Correctional Institution

POOL

Springfield, Illinois - 9 January 2008

++4:3++

7. Top pan of Illinois House meeting

8. UPSOUND (English) Representative Barbara Flynn Currie, House Majority Leader, Illinois General Assembly:

"This governor has violated his oath of office. This governor has breached the public trust. This governor must be impeached and I urge your aye vote."

9. Wide of resolution voting board

10. UPSOUND (English) Michael Madigan, Illinois Speaker of the House:

"The House does adopt House resolution 1671 and Governor Blagojevich is hereby impeached."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Chicago - 8 December 2008

++4:3++

11. UPSOUND (English) Reporter, off-camera: "Do you think the cloud that hangs over you is going to taint your pick?"

UPSOUND (English) Rod Blagojevich: "I don't believe there is any cloud that hangs over me."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

New York - 27 January 2009

++4:3++

12. UPSOUND (English) Rod Blagojevich, speaking on telephone: "If I'm not governor anymore, can I come on your show? You're the man."

13. Mid of Blagojevich seated during interview

14. SOUNDBITE (English) Rod Blagojevich:

"...The best things that could clear all of this up would be if I was allowed to bring in every one of those taped conversations, not two of three or four, but every one of those taped conversations so that the people of Illinois can hear the full context of what I was discussing with regard to who the next US senator might be and if they hear that, they'll hear the whole truth, nothing but the truth and that will set me free. This is completely opposite of what President Nixon was doing during Watergate when he fought every step of the way to keep those tapes of his from being made public."

15. Mid of Blagojevich seated during interview

The report by BuzzFeed News, citing two unnamed law enforcement officials, says that Trump directed Cohen to lie to Congress and that Cohen regularly briefed Trump on the Moscow project. The Associated Press has not independently confirmed the report.

The House intelligence committee chairman Democrat Rep. Adam Schiff said he will do what is necessary to confirm the report.

The story also says, citing the sources, that Cohen told special counsel Robert Mueller that Trump personally instructed him to lie about the timing of the project in order to obscure Trump's involvement.

The BuzzFeed story says that Mueller's investigators learned about Trump's directive "through interviews with multiple witnesses from the Trump Organization and internal company emails, text messages, and a cache of other documents." The report says that Cohen then acknowledged Trump's instructions when he was interviewed by the Mueller team.

Cohen's attorney Lanny Davis didn't weigh in one way or the other whether this story was true but Lanny Davis simply said that "Michael Cohen is is someone who is full of regret for his longtime employment with President Trump. He worked for him for about a decade," according to AP White House reporter Jonathan Lemire.

Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, scoffed at the report, saying in a statement to the Associated Press "that if this story was true I have the Brooklyn Bridge to sell you and suggested that it was not the case. This had never occurred."

On Twitter Friday morning, Trump charged that Michael Cohen is "Lying to reduce his jail time!" even though he's already been sentenced. On Fox News Channel, White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said that taking the story seriously was "absolutely ludicrous," but repeatedly refused to deny the central allegation that Trump directed Cohen to lie.

Cohen already pleaded guilty in November to lying to Congress to cover up that he was negotiating the Trump Tower project in Moscow on Trump's behalf during the heat of his presidential campaign. The charge was brought by Mueller and was the result of his cooperation with that probe.

He was then sentenced in December to three years in prison for crimes that included arranging the payment of hush money to conceal his boss' alleged sexual affairs, telling a judge that he agreed time and again to cover up Trump's "dirty deeds" out of "blind loyalty."

Cohen is scheduled to testify before the House Oversight and Reform Committee Feb. 7, where he will likely be questioned about the report.

++SOUNDBITES PARTIALLY COVERED BY VIDEO++

++SOUNDBITES SEPARATED BY A WHITE FLASH++

ASSOCIATED PRESS

New York - 18 January 2019

1. SOUNDBITE (English) Jonathan Lemire, Associated Press White House Reporter:

"Late Thursday night BuzzFeed News broke a story that reports, according to some of their sources, that President Trump instructed his former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen to lie on his behalf. To lie to Congress about the president's involvement with a real estate deal in Russia. Now it should be pointed out very carefully, The Associated Press has not confirmed this reporting yet. No other mainstream news outlet has as well. But lawmakers are responding. And It is certainly a major story today, Friday."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

ARCHIVE: New York - 12 December 2018

2. Michael Cohen exiting court after being sentenced to prison

ASSOCIATED PRESS

ARCHIVE: Washington - 29 November 2018

3. President Donald Trump walks out to talk to reporters

ASSOCIATED PRESS

New York - 18 January 2019

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Jonathan Lemire, Associated Press White House Reporter:

"The new story suggests that the Donald Trump's involvement with the project did not end in 2015 or early 2016 as he initially had said but instead continued that the president and his family members including his adult children Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump Junior who also worked at Trump Organization were getting updates throughout 2016. And that after the election, when Donald Trump was then president-elect he instructed Michael Cohen to lie about this to try to minimize Donald Trump's own involvement with the project. The BuzzFeed story goes on to say that as Michael Cohen was preparing to testify before Congress he again talked to the White House and Donald Trump who said to lie about that project."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

ARCHIVE: Cleveland, Ohio - 21 July 2016

5. President Donald Trump at the RNC rehearsal, Ivanka and Paul Manfort off to the side

POOL

ARCHIVE: Fletcher, North Carolina - 21 October 2016

6. Donald Trump walks into campaign rally

ASSOCIATED PRESS

ARCHIVE: New York - 12 December 2018

7. Cohen exiting court after being sentenced to three years in prison

ASSOCIATED PRESS

New York - 18 January 2019

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Jonathan Lemire, Associated Press White House Reporter:

"If this is true then this means the president urged a witness to lie under oath before Congress, which would appear to be a pretty clear example of obstruction of justice which of course is a significant not potentially criminal charge but perhaps impeachable offense."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

ARCHIVE: Washington - 29 November 2018

9. President Trump walks away from talking to press

ASSOCIATED PRESS

New York - 18 January 2019

10. SOUNDBITE (English) Jonathan Lemire, Associated Press White House Reporter:

"Democratic lawmakers are seizing upon this. Adam Schiff who's the new chair of the House Intelligence Committee and others say that the House, the Congress will investigate these charges and if they feel that if true, I believe just phrase were, this would be the most serious offense yet. He suggests that these are the some of the most serious allegation the president currently faces and it is something that will stir up talk of impeachment."

11. SOUNDBITE (English) Jonathan Lemire, Associated Press White House Reporter:

"So, it should be pointed out that the president's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani who's his lawyer for the Russia investigation gave a statement to me at the Associated Press saying that if this story was true I have basically I have the Brooklyn Bridge to sell you and suggested that it was not the case. This had never occurred."