President Donald Trump said he will grant a pardon to Dinesh D'Souza, who pleaded guilty to a felony over his use of straw donors to make illegal contributions in a Senate race. | Nicholas Kamm/Getty Images Trump floats commutation for Blagojevich, pardon for Martha Stewart

President Donald Trump indicated Thursday he is strongly considering commuting the remaining sentence for disgraced former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich while also suggesting a potential pardon for Martha Stewart.

Discussing his recent decision to pardon Dinesh D'Souza, a conservative political commentator and filmmaker convicted of violating campaign finance laws, the president told reporters he was contemplating "another one."


"There's another one that I'm thinking about, Rod Blagojevich," Trump said aboard Air Force One, according to a press pool report. "Eighteen years in jail for being stupid and saying things that every other politician, you know that many other politicians say."

Blagojevich served as governor of Illinois from 2003 until 2009, when he was impeached and removed from office on corruption charges over allegations he solicited bribes for political appointments, including the seat vacated by former president and Illinois senator Barack Obama after he was elected in 2008.

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He was convicted and sentenced to 14 years in federal prison; Trump misstated the length of the sentence in his comments to reporters.

The president also floated a potential pardon for Martha Stewart, the famed businesswoman and TV personality who in March 2004 was convicted on felony charges of conspiracy, obstruction of an agency proceeding and making false statements to federal investigators. She was later sentenced to serve a five-month term in a federal correctional facility.

Discussing other potential acts of clemency, Trump told reporters, "I think to a certain extent Martha Stewart was harshly and unfairly treated. And she used to be my biggest fan in the world … before I became a politician."

The president announced earlier Thursday on Twitter he will grant a pardon to D'Souza, who pleaded guilty to a felony in 2014 over his use of straw donors to make illegal contributions in a 2012 Senate race. The D'Souza pardon would be the fifth granted by Trump.

Trump pardoned former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio last August after he was convicted of criminal contempt of court related to allegations of racial profiling in Arizona.

Trump in March pardoned Kristian Saucier, a former Navy sailor who was sentenced to a year in prison for taking photos in a secure area of a submarine.

In April, Trump pardoned Scooter Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney who was convicted in 2007 of obstruction of justice and false statements in connection with an investigation into the leak of the identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame.