President Donald Trump on Thursday said he was considering a pardon for celebrity chef and television personality Martha Stewart, as well as commuting the sentence of disgraced former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
The president told reporters about his thinking while on a flight to Texas. The president earlier in the day announced that he would pardon conservative pundit Dinesh D’Souza.
Stewart, who was convicted of multiple felony charges in 2004, was prosecuted by former FBI Director James Comey, and served five months in federal prison on charges related to a 2001 stock sale.
Comey was fired by Trump last year and has since become an outspoken critic of his administration.
Trump has shared mixed opinions about Stewart in the past.
In a 2006 letter to Stewart, the president blamed her for the poor ratings of NBC’s “The Apprentice: Martha Stewart,” a spinoff of Trump’s “The Celebrity Apprentice.”
The next month, he said of Stewart: “She’s a wonderful woman.”
Years later, in a 2013 tweet, Trump wrote: “She looks terrific, better than ever, any guy would be lucky to be with her.”
[give_form id=”79809″] [contentcards url=”https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/31/trump-considering-pardon-for-martha-stewart-whom-james-comey-prosecuted.html” target=”_blank”]NEW: Full Trump comments on pardon for Blagojevich >>
Trump Reason #1: Because "plenty of other politicians have said a lot worse." pic.twitter.com/jSjbl0WIhZ
— Christina Wilkie (@christinawilkie) May 31, 2018