Following several appearances on Fox News appealing directly to Donald Trump, the wife of a convicted former governor of Illinois appeared to have helped secure her disgraced husband's release, after he spent eight years in prison for offering up an open senate seat in his state in exchange for campaign contributions.

Patti Blagojevich, whose husband Rod Blagojevich was among an unusual list of presidential pardon recipients on Tuesday, has commanded the political family's spotlight after her husband's conviction. On television, Ms Blagojevich frequently appeared on Fox to praise the president and urge for her husband's release, wrote op-eds in the conservative press, and shared flattering messages about the president on social media.

And the president relayed his approval back in statements to the press.

On 7 August aboard Air Force One, the president announced his intention to commute Mr Blagojavich's sentence, saying that he was "impressed" with her television appearances, calling her "fantastic" and "one hell of a woman".

In a statement on Tuesday, Mr Trump again mentioned he watched Ms Blagojevich on television and told reporters that the former governor's children "rarely get to see their father outside of an orange uniform".

Donald Trump celebrity president: A decade in two halves Show all 29 1 /29 Donald Trump celebrity president: A decade in two halves Donald Trump celebrity president: A decade in two halves Trump styles his 'You're fired!' pose in his Trump Tower office in June 2012. At the time he was known as a reality TV star on The Apprentice Diane Bondareff/Invision/AP Donald Trump celebrity president: A decade in two halves He was also well known as the patron of the Miss Universe competition Getty Donald Trump celebrity president: A decade in two halves Early signs of Trump's ambition for the presidency can be found everywhere. Not least in his 2011 book 'Time to get tough: Making America #1 again' Getty Donald Trump celebrity president: A decade in two halves Trump with Piers Morgan in November 2010. Piers Morgan has long held that he and Trump are good friends Getty Donald Trump celebrity president: A decade in two halves Trump appeared on Fox & Friends, his favourite show, in August 2011 Getty Donald Trump celebrity president: A decade in two halves Trump considered running in the 2012 election, where he would have faced Barack Obama. He is speaking here at an event for a Republican women's group Getty Donald Trump celebrity president: A decade in two halves Trump was subject to a Comedy Central roast in 2011. He is pictured here being roasted by rapper Snoop Dogg Getty Donald Trump celebrity president: A decade in two halves Given that this Trump store is in the lobby of Trump Tower, it can be said that Trump sells merchandise of himself out of his own home Getty Donald Trump celebrity president: A decade in two halves Trump held meetings with prominent Republicans when considering his 2012 bid. He is pictured here with Alaska governor Sarah Palin Getty Donald Trump celebrity president: A decade in two halves He didn't end up running in 2012 afterall, instead endorsing Republican candidate Mitt Romney AFP/Getty Donald Trump celebrity president: A decade in two halves Trump's golf course in Aberdeen proved controversial in 2012 when he began lobbying the Scottish government against wind power in order that they wouldn't install turbines off the shore by his new course Getty Donald Trump celebrity president: A decade in two halves He even gave evidence to a Scottish parliamentary committee discouraging wind energy AFP/Getty Donald Trump celebrity president: A decade in two halves He still found time for a round of course AFP/Getty Donald Trump celebrity president: A decade in two halves On 16 June 2015, Trump announced that he would run for the presidency of the United States in the 2016 election as a Republican Getty Donald Trump celebrity president: A decade in two halves His campaign was divisive, courting controversy wherever he went. Ultimately he was declared the Republican candidate in June 2016 Getty Donald Trump celebrity president: A decade in two halves Trump took part in the TV debate against opponent Hillary Clinton on 9 October Getty Donald Trump celebrity president: A decade in two halves Trump and wife Melania vote in the presidential election on 8 November 2016 AFP/Getty Donald Trump celebrity president: A decade in two halves Hillary Clinton conceded defeat at 2:50am on 9 November and president-elect Trump swiftly delivered his victory speech to a crowd of supporters Getty Donald Trump celebrity president: A decade in two halves News coverage around the world focused on the huge political upset that Trump's victory spelled AFP/Getty Donald Trump celebrity president: A decade in two halves Trump met with president Obama to discusss transition planning on 10 November. AFP/Getty Donald Trump celebrity president: A decade in two halves Donald Trump and Nigel Farage pose in the golden elevator at Trump Tower on 12 November 2016. Farage was the first British politician to meet with Trump after the election LeaveEUOffical/Twitter Donald Trump celebrity president: A decade in two halves The inauguration of Donald Trump took place on 20 January 2017. Trump's press secretary Sean Spicer boasted that the crowd was the 'largest ever' to witness an inauguration, a claim that was proved not to be true Getty Donald Trump celebrity president: A decade in two halves In his first 100 days as leader, Trump signed 24 executve orders, the most of any president AFP/Getty Donald Trump celebrity president: A decade in two halves One of Trump's most memorable election pledges was to build a wall between the US and Mexico. He is standing here in front of a prototype for a section of the wall Getty Donald Trump celebrity president: A decade in two halves Trump's meetings with other world leaders have provided no short supply of photo opportunities Getty Donald Trump celebrity president: A decade in two halves Trump was welcomed to the UK by the Queen and a state banquet was held at Buckingham Palace in his honour Reuters Donald Trump celebrity president: A decade in two halves Not everyone welcomed the president. Mass protests were held in London throughout his visits in both 2018 and 2019 EPA Donald Trump celebrity president: A decade in two halves One of the most significant meetings Trump has held with another leader was with North Korea's Kim Jong Un. In June 2019, Trump became the first sitting president to set foot in North Korea Getty Donald Trump celebrity president: A decade in two halves 2020 will see president Trump fight for a second term in office, who knows what the next decade will bring? Getty

He said: "I saw that and I did commute his sentence. So he'll be able to go back home with his family after serving eight years in jail. That was a tremendously powerful, ridiculous sentence, in my opinion."

Blagojevich was sent to prison in 2012 after federal prosecutors found him guilty of a pay-to-play scheme in which he tried to sell a senate seat left open by then-president Barack Obama in exchange for campaign cash. A law enforcement wiretap captured him saying he wasn't going to give up the seat "for f****** nothing".

As he returned back to Illinois, he expressed his "everlasting gratitude" to the president and jokingly referred to himself as a "Trumpocrat".

His release has drawn stern warnings about the president's abuse of power and interference in the justice system, appearing to send a message that his pardon excuses corruption and reward his friends with indemnity from the consequences of their offences.

Before his sentence, he had appeared as a contestant on Trump's The Celebrity Apprentice. (He was "fired".) Despite that connection, Mr Trump has denied knowing him well, though he says he "seemed like a very nice person".

The daughter of a longtime Chicago political family, Ms Blagojevich staged a yearslong campaign to free her husband, picking up the media blitz that her husband waged in the days after his impeachment to plead his innocence.

Her husband was impeached and removed from office in 2009 after corruption charges surfaced in 2008.

During the Trump presidency, she communicated directly to the president in the kinds of phrases implicitly meant for Mr Trump to hear, from criticising the FBI for its investigation into the president following 2016 election interference to defending Mr Trump against his impeachment foes, comparing those perceived injustices to the ones endured by her family.

Last year, the president echoed her comments, saying that "a lot of people" though his conviction was unfair, saying "it was the same gang" that put him in jail - "all these sleazebags", including Robert Mueller and James Comey - as the team responsible for the probe into Russian-backed interference in the president's 2016 campaign.

Though Mr Mueller was heading the FBI during the investigation into Blagojevich at that time, it was then-US Attorney General Michael Mukasey who made the call to tap the former governor's phones. Mr Comey was not working with the FBI at that time.

Mr Trump also compared the FBI's wiretapping in the Blagojevich case to his own brewing phone call controversy at the heart of his own impeachment. "He shouldn't have said what he said, but it was braggadocio," the president said last year. "I would think that there have been many politicians - I'm not one of them, by the way - that have said a lot worse over telephones."

Blagojevich now heads home to Illinois after being locked up in Colorado for eight years.