WATCH LIVE: Rod Blagojevich holds news conference following Trump's pardon — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00He probably need
2. 0:17He want all of us to step back.
3. 0:21Excuse me.
4. 0:23Got to go back a little bit, guys. Guys,
5. 0:24we just need y'all to just move back
6. 0:26just a little bit so these cameras can
7. 0:27see
8. 0:28just a little bit.
9. 0:29Yeah, move them back.
10. 0:32Guys, we need you all just to move back
11. 0:33a little bit for the family.
12. 0:35Just move back for the family.
13. 0:37Guys, we need you just step back.
14. 0:39Just a little bit more.
15. 0:40Three steps. Just three steps so this
16. 0:41guys can guard
17. 0:45[cheering]
18. 0:48right here. Okay, I need you to stand on
19. 0:50this side. Right. Right there.
20. 1:02Amy, I told you the brother was here.
21. 1:17God bless you
22. 1:19right.
23. 1:22You good?
24. 1:27How are you?
25. 1:39Just a little bit. Right here. We're
26. 1:40going to do this on each side of
27. 1:44Hey, he needs you all to step back just
28. 1:45a little bit. Just a little bit. Just a
29. 1:47little. Two steps, Mark. Just two steps.
30. 1:49Just two steps.
31. 1:50Right there. Right there. Right there.
32. 1:51He's too sick right there.
33. 1:54You can stay on one side.
34. 1:56Am I going here?
35. 1:57Yeah, you're in the middle. You cross on
36. 1:58one side.
37. 1:59Okay, there you go.
38. 1:59Mr. Chang, how are you?
39. 2:01How are you? It's good to see you.
40. 2:02Oh, nice to meet you.
41. 2:07Okay. Hi. How are you?
42. 2:09I'm good. I'm a little
43. 2:12Oh, thanks.
44. 2:19All right.
45. 2:26I'm coming up.
46. 2:31Stand right here.
47. 2:31I got you.
48. 2:33Thank you. Thank you.
49. 2:37Step back. Step back a little bit. Step
50. 2:38back, guys. Step right here. Stay right
51. 2:41here. Give him some room, guys. Give him
52. 2:43some room.
53. 2:45Senator Senator speak.
54. 2:46Here we go. There you go.
55. 2:48Senator speak. Senator.
56. 2:49Perfect. Um,
57. 2:50all right. Sorry.
58. 2:52Come on.
59. 2:53It's been a long, long journey.
60. 2:54That's right.
61. 2:55I'm bruised and I'm battered. I'm
62. 2:56bloody.
63. 2:58Uh, it's been a long time since I've
64. 2:59shaved with a normal razor and, uh, it
65. 3:03takes a little practice. I'm sorry about
66. 3:04that. I got to keep dabbing the blood.
67. 3:07Um,
68. 3:09so I have to apologize for his
69. 3:10tardiness. He couldn't find where I put
70. 3:12his socks this morning. [laughter]
71. 3:15Lot's changed in the nearly eight years
72. 3:16that I've been here. Uh, let me just say
73. 3:19a couple of things. First of all, the
74. 3:20obvious I want to state and that I know
75. 3:22I speak for Patty and Amy and Annie and
76. 3:24obviously for me, we uh want to express
77. 3:27our most profound and everlasting
78. 3:29gratitude to President Trump. How do you
79. 3:31properly thank someone who's given you
80. 3:33back the freedom that was stolen from
81. 3:34you? Uh, he didn't have to do this. He's
82. 3:38a Republican president. I was a
83. 3:40Democratic governor of
84. 3:41And doing this does nothing to help his
85. 3:43politics. Uh, President Trump is a man
86. 3:46who is tough and outspoken, but he also
87. 3:48has a kind heart and uh, this is an act
88. 3:51of kindness and I also believe it's the
89. 3:54beginning of the process to to uh,
90. 3:56actually turn an injustice into a
91. 3:58justice. Um,
92. 4:02sorry about this blood.
93. 4:05All these years away, I never stop
94. 4:08reminding myself of the words from a
95. 4:10poem. It's called uh, The Gate of the
96. 4:13Year.
97. 4:14Go out into the darkness and put your
98. 4:16hand into the hand of God. That shall be
99. 4:20to you better than light and safer than
100. 4:24a known way. It's been a long time since
101. 4:26I've been home. Nearly 8 years. Nearly
102. 4:293,000 days. I suppose a better way to
103. 4:33measure how long it's been is through
104. 4:35our daughters Amy and Annie. When I left
105. 4:38home, it was so long ago. Amy, our older
106. 4:41daughter, was a sophomore in high
107. 4:43school. And it'll be two years this
108. 4:47spring since she's graduated from
109. 4:49college. And now, just recently, Amy
110. 4:51earned a master's degree. And we're very
111. 4:54proud of you, sweetheart.
112. 4:55And Annie, our younger daughter, was 8
113. 4:57years old when I left. She was about
114. 4:58this high.
115. 4:59Mhm.
116. 5:00Now she's 16. And now she has her
117. 5:01driver's license, and she's doing good
118. 5:04in school, and she plays the piano. And
119. 5:07we're very proud of her, too. Look at
120. 5:09you, sweetheart. Look at you.
121. 5:13My baby's growing up so fast. Uh again,
122. 5:17on behalf of uh my family, we want to
123. 5:19express our profoundest gratitude to
124. 5:21President Trump. It's been a long,
125. 5:23unhappy journey. These have been hard
126. 5:25years for our children.
127. 5:26They've been hard years for Patty and
128. 5:28for me. I spent my first 32 months in
129. 5:31prison, nearly three years behind what
130. 5:34the inmates call the razor wire, the
131. 5:37barbed wire fence. You can't go near
132. 5:39that fence. If you do, there are prison
133. 5:41guards there armed with machine guns who
134. 5:43have the discretion to shoot you.
135. 5:46I didn't go near that fence.
136. 5:50The buildings behind that fence where
137. 5:51the inmates live and sleep are squalid
138. 5:54places. They're cold and dark like
139. 5:56tombs. There were about 900 inmates
140. 5:59there. Drug dealers, cartel members,
141. 6:03gang bangers, bank robbers. There were
142. 6:05men there who committed murder. con
143. 6:07artists, a lot of sex offenders. About
144. 6:102% of the population were in the
145. 6:11so-called white collar category.
146. 6:14For most of my time there, my home
147. 6:17was a 6' by 12t a 6' by 8 foot prison
148. 6:21cell with four cement walls, a big heavy
149. 6:24iron door that can shut you in, a small
150. 6:27window with bars on it, and a bunk bed.
151. 6:30I slept on the top bunk. Often late at
152. 6:33night, I would look through that window
153. 6:35and past those bars out into the night
154. 6:38sky and I think of home. I think of my
155. 6:42children. I think of Patty.
156. 6:44Sometimes
157. 6:47sometimes I could almost feel her near
158. 6:48me.
159. 6:52I would just ignore
160. 6:55I would say to myself, "One day, one day
161. 6:57I'll make it back to you."
162. 7:00And hold your hand, sweetheart. woman of
163. 7:02substance
164. 7:03and I would remember what a gracious
165. 7:05thing it's been to walk through life
166. 7:07with you.
167. 7:08Thank you for waiting.
168. 7:10She's something else.
169. 7:11What's that?
170. 7:12She sold you then.
171. 7:13She sure is, isn't she?
172. 7:14That's right.
173. 7:15Yep. Anyway, uh
174. 7:19so again on behalf of Patty and Amy and
175. 7:21Annie and me, we want to again express
176. 7:22our our deepest gratitude to President
177. 7:25Trump. Like I said, as a Republican
178. 7:27president and a Democratic governor, he
179. 7:29didn't have to do this. But President
180. 7:31Trump is not a typical politician.
181. 7:32That's right.
182. 7:33He's tough. He's outspoken. He gets
183. 7:35things done. He's a problem solver in a
184. 7:38business where too many politicians
185. 7:40don't want to solve problems. All they
186. 7:42want to do is play politics and get
187. 7:44nothing done for the people.
188. 7:46He's
189. 7:47he's got a I'm a Trumpocrat.
190. 7:49The Trump. That's right.
191. 7:50Are you going to vote for
192. 7:52If I have the ability to vote, I'm going
193. 7:53to vote for him.
194. 7:54Well, I don't know that I'd allow me to
195. 7:56vote, but but I'll get into that in a
196. 7:58minute. But let me just say that
197. 8:01again.
198. 8:03Our president is uh
199. 8:05he's tough and outspoken and he has the
200. 8:07courage to challenge the old way.
201. 8:09That's right.
202. 8:09He's the one who's actually fighting to
203. 8:11bring real change. That's why he gets so
204. 8:13much push back.
205. 8:14But notwithstanding being tough, he's
206. 8:16also a man with a kind heart.
207. 8:17That's right.
208. 8:18He sees wrong and he tries to write it
209. 8:20just like he did in the case of Alice
210. 8:21Marie Johnson.
211. 8:23You know who she is. the grandmother
212. 8:24from Alabama who served 21 years in
213. 8:26prison on a life sentence as a firsttime
214. 8:29nonviolent drug offender. A life
215. 8:32sentence as a firsttime nonviolent drug
216. 8:34offender.
217. 8:35The first step, let it all come. Alice
218. 8:37Marie Johnson's case is probably one of
219. 8:39the better illustrations that shows how
220. 8:42the federal criminal justice system
221. 8:44disproportionately discriminates against
222. 8:46African-Americans without a doubt
223. 8:47and people of color and how the 1994
224. 8:50crime bill has led to the oversenting
225. 8:52and to the creation of what the author
226. 8:54Michelle Alexander has called the new
227. 8:56Jim Crow in America.
228. 8:58That's right.
229. 8:59You know what I'm talking about.
230. 9:00That's right. Dump the Clintons.
231. 9:021994 crime bill passed by my fellow
232. 9:04Democrats before I got to Congress.
233. 9:07Fortunately, as soon as President Trump
234. 9:09learned of the injustice against Alice
235. 9:11Marie, he immediately put a stop to it
236. 9:13and he sent her home to her family. And
237. 9:15fortunately, because this is a president
238. 9:17who gets things done, through his
239. 9:19leadership and with the help of
240. 9:20organizations like Cut 50, President
241. 9:22Trump was able to build the necessary
242. 9:24bipartisan support to pass the historic
243. 9:27First Step Act, a new law that begins
244. 9:30the process of reforming a broken
245. 9:32criminal justice system and putting an
246. 9:34end to the racist injustice caused by
247. 9:36that racist 1994 crime bill. Now, as for
248. 9:41me, obviously, I've got 10,000 reasons
249. 9:44to be thankful to President Trump. I'm
250. 9:46obviously thankful to be home, to have
251. 9:47my freedom back, to uh just be able to
252. 9:50hold my wife's hand. But most of all,
253. 9:53I'm thankful to you, Mr. President, for
254. 9:55giving my daughters their father back.
255. 9:58My daughters are growing up.
256. 9:59That's right.
257. 10:00And the day is not too far off when they
258. 10:01will go out into the world on their own.
259. 10:04Now, I wish I could slow down time, but
260. 10:07no matter where their life's journey may
261. 10:08lead, they will always take with them
262. 10:11the realization that the kindest gift
263. 10:13they've ever received in their lives
264. 10:16came from you. Thank you, Mr. President,
265. 10:18for what you've done for me, but better,
266. 10:20far, far better, thank you for what
267. 10:22you've done for them. I'd like to thank
268. 10:24a few people real quick. I'd like to
269. 10:26thank uh my old friend, the Reverend
270. 10:28Jesse Jackson, uh for his voice and for
271. 10:30his help and for his support. Yeah,
272. 10:32I want to thank um my uh friend and
273. 10:35former colleague in the Congress,
274. 10:36Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. for his
275. 10:39friendship and his support. I want to
276. 10:40thank Patty's dad, for Alderman Mel,
277. 10:42Richard Mel, for his love and support to
278. 10:45our daughters and to his daughter Patty.
279. 10:48I want to thank this mystery man, a
280. 10:50young man who brought all this about. I
281. 10:52just met him yesterday, and this is Mark
282. 10:54Vargas. He's uh quite a guy and he's uh
283. 10:59he's the kind of guy who can get you out
284. 11:01of prison if you find yourself stuck
285. 11:02there.
286. 11:03And I'm really grateful to his efforts
287. 11:05and what he's done on my behalf.
288. 11:09Huh? Oh, sorry.
289. 11:11I'll just hit you like this. You have to
290. 11:13do it.
291. 11:14Sorry. [laughter]
292. 11:16Hang on one second, my friend. Uh the
293. 11:19scriptures teach us and history shows
294. 11:21that in the long run right defeated will
295. 11:23in the end overcome
296. 11:26uh history the scriptures teach us and
297. 11:30history shows that in the long run right
298. 11:31defeated will in the end overcome wrong
299. 11:34triumphant and as Dr. Martin Luther King
300. 11:36used to say truth crushed to earth will
301. 11:38one day rise again because no lie can
302. 11:41live forever. I'm returning home today
303. 11:43from a long exile a freed political
304. 11:46prisoner. I want to say again to the
305. 11:48people of Illinois who twice elected me
306. 11:51governor, I didn't let you down. I would
307. 11:53have let you down if I gave into this.
308. 11:56But resistance to tyrants is is
309. 11:59obedience to God. Not long ago, United
310. 12:02States Supreme Court Justice Steven
311. 12:04Brier warned about this. He warned about
312. 12:06federal prosecutors bringing criminal
313. 12:08charges against government officials for
314. 12:10what he described as routine practices.
315. 12:13Justice Brier went on to point out, and
316. 12:15I'm quoting him, "To give that kind of
317. 12:17power to a criminal prosecutor who is
318. 12:20virtually uncontrollable is dangerous to
319. 12:22our separation of powers." End quote.
320. 12:25I've learned the hard way just how
321. 12:27dangerous that is. From beginning to
322. 12:29end, this was persecution masquerading
323. 12:32as prosecution.
324. 12:34I got into politics to help people. I
325. 12:37didn't get into politics to make money.
326. 12:39I didn't get into politics to rich my
327. 12:40family or my friends. I got into
328. 12:42politics because I was fortunate to live
329. 12:44in the greatest country that's ever
330. 12:46existed. My immigrant father fought the
331. 12:49Nazis. He spent four years in a prisoner
332. 12:50of war camp. After that war, he spent
333. 12:52three years in a refugee camp waiting
334. 12:54for the day that one day the Congress
335. 12:56that one day his youngest son would
336. 12:58become a member of would pass a law
337. 13:00called the Displaced Persons Act to
338. 13:01allow him and millions of others like
339. 13:03him, immigrants from all around the
340. 13:05world with long and hard to pronounce
341. 13:06last names to be able to come to America
342. 13:09to pursue freedom and opportunity. My
343. 13:12dad basically did about seven years in
344. 13:14prison. I got him beat. I've done almost
345. 13:17eight. But my dad believed in America.
346. 13:19He took the gift of freedom not for
347. 13:21granted because he knew what it was like
348. 13:23to live under oppression. He didn't go
349. 13:25back to his country Yugoslavia because
350. 13:27it was a communist country where freedom
351. 13:28wasn't allowed. So he came here and he
352. 13:31got a job working in a factory and for
353. 13:33most of his life, all of his life in the
354. 13:35United States. My dad was a working man,
355. 13:37a factory worker. And my mother was a
356. 13:39working mother who worked for the
357. 13:40Chicago Transit Authority passing out
358. 13:43the transfers at the subway stations.
359. 13:44They never had a chance to live the
360. 13:46American dream and own own a home of
361. 13:48their own, but they worked hard and
362. 13:50sacrificed so that their kids can have
363. 13:52opportunities they didn't have. This is
364. 13:53the American story.
365. 13:56And my mother and father lived that.
366. 13:59And so
367. 14:01I'd like to think that as governor,
368. 14:04what I did was to try to draw on my own
369. 14:06life experience and try to take those
370. 14:08experiences and turn turn them into
371. 14:09something real to help people. That's
372. 14:11why we provided healthc care to all the
373. 14:13kids in Illinois through the all kids
374. 14:14program because I saw as a young child a
375. 14:18cousin who passed away from leukemia at
376. 14:20the age of 12 and didn't have insurance
377. 14:22and his mother and father lost what
378. 14:24little they had. We provided free
379. 14:26transportation to every one of our
380. 14:28senior citizens with the disabled
381. 14:30because I remember my father as a senior
382. 14:32citizen being proud of a senior citizen
383. 14:34discount card he had where we could take
384. 14:35the bus for half the price and we were
385. 14:38able to take that and apply that to
386. 14:39everybody in the state of Illinois. I
387. 14:40wouldn't allow that swamp in Springfield
388. 14:43and my fellow Democrats down there who
389. 14:45just wanted to raise taxes on the
390. 14:46working people to raise their taxes. And
391. 14:49so it was always a struggle, a constant
392. 14:52battle to try to remember who I was
393. 14:54supposed to fight for. And so I hope now
394. 14:58looking to the future that I can draw
395. 14:59from my life experience, particularly
396. 15:02those over the last eight years in
397. 15:04prison and 11 years since this all came
398. 15:07to us and do something to try to fight
399. 15:10to help people who've been wrongfully
400. 15:11incarcerated or those and this is
401. 15:13probably the rule and not the exception.
402. 15:16those who have been over sentenced,
403. 15:17nonviolent offenders who made a mistake,
404. 15:20did wrong, but have been sentenced to
405. 15:22years in prison that not only destroy
406. 15:24their lives and steal from them their
407. 15:26futures, but they hurt their children
408. 15:27and their family. I saw what they do to
409. 15:30families because I saw it happen to my
410. 15:31own. And every time I go into the
411. 15:33visiting room to visit with my family,
412. 15:35I'd look around that room and I'd see
413. 15:37mothers with their children, and you can
414. 15:38tell it was a mother because you can see
415. 15:40it in the sadness of her face. I would
416. 15:43see fathers with their young children
417. 15:45and you can see the
418. 15:48the discomfort that the family feels. So
419. 15:52I hope that as I move forward I can take
420. 15:54some of that experience that I've had
421. 15:56and try to do what I can to try to
422. 15:58improve what is a broken and I believe
423. 16:00in many cases a corrupt criminal justice
424. 16:03system. When it comes to crime and
425. 16:05punishment in America, the United States
426. 16:07incarcerates six to 10 times more people
427. 16:10than any other industrialized nation in
428. 16:11the world. We put more people in jail
429. 16:14than China and Russia. Federal
430. 16:16prosecutors like to boast about their
431. 16:1897% conviction rate. But doesn't that
432. 16:21boast show just how rigged the system
433. 16:22is? Unless you're the undefeated boxing
434. 16:25champion Floyd Money Mayweather, who
435. 16:28else ever wins 97% of the time at
436. 16:30anything?
437. 16:31He's not even undefeated anymore. more
438. 16:32time than not before criminal.
439. 16:34No, he hasn't lost his
440. 16:35Oh, no. Floyd.
441. 16:36No, Floyd Money Mayweather has not been
442. 16:38defeated. Don't [laughter] say that,
443. 16:39Patty. You'll probably get a phone call
444. 16:40from
445. 16:43um everyday people, everyday people who
446. 16:46who find themselves caught up in the
447. 16:48system have no chance. And they, many of
448. 16:50them recognize the futility in fighting
449. 16:52for their rights, so they just give in
450. 16:54and under duress because they're being
451. 16:55threatened with long sentences, they
452. 16:56agree to plead guilty to things they
453. 16:58didn't do.
454. 16:59Unfair.
455. 17:01Unfair and cruel over sentencing is the
456. 17:03rule. It's not the exception. Equal
457. 17:04protection under the law doesn't exist.
458. 17:07Wildly unfair disparities in sentencing
459. 17:09for the same or similar offenses are not
460. 17:11uncommon and defy common sense. And in
461. 17:14way too many cases, way too many
462. 17:16nonviolent offenders are given way
463. 17:18longer prison sentences than violent
464. 17:21offenders and sex offenders who've
465. 17:23actually caused great physical and
466. 17:25emotional harm to their victims. It is a
467. 17:28broken criminal justice system and it
468. 17:30has been for a long time and it's a
469. 17:33racist criminal justice system. But
470. 17:35there's hope. And one of the great
471. 17:37ironies of history is that so far up
472. 17:39till now in the history of our country,
473. 17:41no one has done more or is currently
474. 17:43working to do more to fix this broken
475. 17:44and racist criminal justice system than
476. 17:47President Trump and Jared Kushner.
477. 17:49That's right.
478. 17:51One last thing. I'm going to dab this
479. 17:54blood again. Am I good?
480. 17:55How am I doing? Just keep doing
481. 17:57I just feel them on me.
482. 17:58Yeah.
483. 18:00I'd like to say one thing about I'd like
484. 18:01to say something about adversity and and
485. 18:03I'd like to direct my remarks to all of
486. 18:05my fellow underdogs out there who find
487. 18:07themselves up against powerful forces
488. 18:10and long odds. To anyone facing hard
489. 18:13circumstances, who've suffered loss, are
490. 18:17hurting, or who like me have hit rock
491. 18:20bottom. You may be down. All your hope
492. 18:23may seem to have disappeared. The road
493. 18:26you have to travel is a long one. And
494. 18:27home, that's where you want to be, is so
495. 18:30far away, you can't even see the flicker
496. 18:34of a light at the end of the tunnel. But
497. 18:36don't give up. Don't give up. Think of
498. 18:40the people you love.
499. 18:47I'll get it out. Hang on. Think of the
500. 18:49people you love. That's where you'll
501. 18:51find your purpose. My love for my family
502. 18:54and my faith in God is what sustained me
503. 18:56during this long and seemingly
504. 18:58neverending trial. It gave me purpose to
505. 19:01stay strong and along with Patty to try
506. 19:04to set the right example for our
507. 19:05daughters to show them that when
508. 19:07adversity enters your life, even when
509. 19:10your calamity comes on like a whirlwind
510. 19:13and just about everything, just about
511. 19:15everything has been taken away from you
512. 19:20and your heart's broken.
513. 19:22Don't quit. Fight. Fight. Keep fighting
514. 19:26and persevere in storms and through the
515. 19:29dark passages and when you find yourself
516. 19:31alone all alone in the lonely
517. 19:34wilderness. Because it is there in that
518. 19:36lonely wilderness where we are tried and
519. 19:39tested that we must rise to our
520. 19:41circumstances. We must rise above our
521. 19:44circumstances and dare to dream.
522. 19:46It is not an ending but a beginning or
523. 19:49out of weakness we are made strong.
524. 19:52Every mile I ran, every push-up I did,
525. 19:55every book I read, every word I wrote
526. 19:56was my way of fighting back. My way of
527. 19:59using the time in the wilderness to
528. 20:00prepare for a better day. Waiting in the
529. 20:03shadows, waiting for justice, waiting,
530. 20:07and hoping.
531. 20:08That's right.
532. 20:08So live in faith, hope, and love.
533. 20:12And if you have to take a stand and
534. 20:15don't be afraid. You're not alone. You
535. 20:18never go alone.
536. 20:19That's right. It is so often the case
537. 20:21that in the sadness of life,
538. 20:24we look for God. My faith in him
539. 20:30turned despair into hope that made me
540. 20:33strong, trusting that one day through
541. 20:35the grace of God, he would turn darkness
542. 20:38into light
543. 20:40and lead me home.
544. 20:41Thank you.
545. 20:48Chicago.
546. 20:55What did you do last night?
547. 20:57What did you do last night?