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KEY POINTS President Trump granted executive clemency to former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, ex-New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik and former NFL football team owner Edward DeBartolo Jr.

Trump also announced that he had pardoned Michael Milken, the former junk bond king who became a face of the insider trading financial scandals of the 1980s.

In all, Trump granted some form of executive clemency to 11 individuals Tuesday, according to the White House.

Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich waves to supporters outside his home after returning from his sentencing hearing December 7, 2011 in Chicago. Getty Images

President Donald Trump granted executive clemency Tuesday to former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, as well as to ex-New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik and to Edward DeBartolo Jr., former owner of the San Francisco 49ers football team. Trump also announced that he had pardoned Michael Milken, the former junk bond king who became a face of the insider trading financial scandals of the 1980s. In all, Trump granted some form of executive clemency to 11 individuals Tuesday, according to the White House. Trump commuted the remainder of Blagojevich's 14-year prison term. The Illinois Democrat had begun serving that sentence in 2012 after he was found guilty of attempting to trade the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama for money or favors.

Blagojevich was scheduled for release on March 13, 2024, according to the Bureau of Prisons. Trump has floated the possibility of commuting Blagojevich's sentence for nearly two years. In a joint statement, the former U.S. attorney in Chicago and the ex-federal attorneys who prosecuted Blagojevich stressed that the former governor's crimes were "very serious" and deserved to be punished. "That has to be the case in America: a justice system must hold public officials accountable for corruption. It would be unfair to their victims and the public to do otherwise," they said. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said that Blagojevich "betrayed the people of Illinois and engaged in a pattern of corrupt behavior for which he was held accountable and which cost him more than seven years of freedom." Durbin called for the enactment of "stricter ethics requirements, including the full detailed disclosure of income, net worth, and income tax returns by all elected officials."

Kerik oversaw the NYPD under then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who is now the president's personal lawyer, during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Kerik was nominated in 2004 to lead the Department of Homeland Security under then-President George W. Bush.