Former Gov Blagojevich: My fellow Democrats are 'destroying the rule of law'

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Rod Blagojevich: Trump trial and conviction is 'deja vu all over again'

Former Democratic Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich joins 'Jesse Watters Primetime' to discuss former President Trump's conviction on all counts in his criminal trial and its impact.

Former Illinois Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich lambasted members of his own party on Thursday for "coordinated prosecutions" against former President Trump and urged Democrats to vote for the Republican candidate on the heels of his guilty verdict.

"My heart is broken for our country because this is serious business, and these Democrats — my fellow Democrats who run the show now — are coordinating these prosecutions against Trump from the Democratic National Committee in Washington, D.C., with assistance from the White House and Biden," Blagojevich said on "Jesse Watters Primetime."

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Donald Trump arrives to Trump Tower, Thursday, May 30, 2024 after being found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. (Felipe Ramales for Fox News Digital)

The former Illinois governor, who served from 2003 to 2009, cited his own run-ins with what he criticized as a politicized justice system, particularly for allegations that he attempted to sell Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat after he was elected president in 2008. Convicted on corruption charges and impeached, he began serving his 14-year prison sentence in 2012 until Trump commuted his sentence during his presidency in 2020. 

Blagojevich said he sees what Democrats are doing to Trump and understands what the former president is experiencing. 

"It’s so obvious to me because I lived it myself," he said.

Like Trump who pleaded not guilty to all 34 charges, Blagojevich maintains he did nothing wrong.

"I see this as déjà vu all over again," he said of Trump's conviction. "I didn’t break a single law, cross a line or take a penny. They failed to convict me at a first trial, tried me a second time, used unlawful jury instructions to criminalize things that were legal, and they learned from that, now they are doing it at the major-league level."

Former Illinois governor and convicted felon Rod Blagojevich speaks to the press outside of the Dirksen Federal Courthouse on Aug. 2, 2021, in Chicago. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

"It's a very sad day for America on many levels," he continued. "On a personal level, I’m grateful to President Trump for commuting my sentence. My heart sinks when I think about what he has to go through and his family has to go through."

Trump was found guilty by a jury in New York City on all 34 felony charges of falsifying business records in his history-making case in which a former or current president was tried and convicted in court. 

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"In my case, these were Bush-appointed Republicans who did it to me, and now the Democrats are doing it to Trump," Blagojevich said. "But what they're doing is, they are destroying the rule of law, our Constitution, which will eventually lead to the loss of our freedom. Nothing is sacred with these people. It’s politics at all costs and forget about the law and forget about injustice and forget about destroying somebody through prosecution, persecution and the politics of personal destruction."

Turning toward the upcoming presidential election, Blagojevich called on members of his party to vote for Trump, warning that the country is headed down a dangerous trajectory with its current leadership.

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"The stakes are high," he said. "I’m urging my fellow Democrats to fight for our country, vote for Trump… so we save our democracy. If Trump doesn’t win, we're going to become Russia and the Soviet Union and a banana republic."

Fox News Digital's Taylor Penley contributed to this report.