Washington, Feb 19 (TIWN) US President Donald Trump has commuted the prison sentence of Rod Blagojevich, the former Illinois governor convicted of trying to sell Barack Obama's vacated US Senate seat.

The wave of pardons and commutations, some of which Trump has been considering for years, came amid a post-impeachment flurry of presidential prerogative, from ridding his team of aides he deemed disloyal to flagrantly inserting himself into Justice Department matters. Trump announced midday he had commuted the prison sentence of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a Democrat who has served eight years of a 14-year sentence for the pay-for-play charges. Trump had been weighing the move since at least since 2018. "He served eight years in jail, a long time. He seems like a very nice person, don't know him," Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews, suggesting the television appeals of Blagojevich's wife Patti helped cement his decision. A spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed Tuesday night that Blagojevich was released from the Colorado federal prison where he was housed. Patti Blagojevich announced on her Twitter account that the family will hold a "homecoming press conference" at noon ET Wednesday at their residence.