Rod R. Blagojevich, the convicted former Democratic governor of Illinois, argued that Democrats currently running the House of Representatives would have impeached President Abraham Lincoln.
Blagojevich made his case in an op-ed penned from behind bars and published Wednesday by conservative outlet Newsmax on the heels of Democrats voting to impeach President Trump.
“First, today’s Democrats would have impeached Lincoln for obstruction of Congress and abuse of power when he unilaterally issued his Emancipation Proclamation,” Blagojevich wrote. “Lincoln didn’t ask Congress for permission when he declared an end to nearly 250 years of slavery and offered freedom to millions of slaves in the American South. He neither consulted Congress nor sought its consent before he acted.”
Blagojevich subsequently listed several other actions taken under Lincoln, the nation’s first Republican president, that he reasoned would result in his impeachment today, ranging from his suspension of habeas corpus during the Civil War to “routine political log rolling,” among other practices.
“No president is safe if a majority of hyperpartisan House members from the opposition party are willing to abuse the Constitution and vote to impeach,” Blagojevich wrote. “And the worst part of it is, that should this happen, those politicians are taking from the people their right to choose their own leaders though free elections.”
Blagojevich, 63, served in the House of Representatives during the impeachment of former President Bill Clinton prior to being governor of Illinois from 2003 through 2009. He is currently serving a 14-year sentence in federal prison stemming from convictions related to trying to sell off the Senate seat that former President Barack Obama vacated before entering the White House.
Mr. Trump has hinted in the past of possibly paving the way for Blagojevich’s early release, calling his prison sentence “a very severe one.”
“White House staff is continuing the review of this matter,” Mr. Trump said from his Twitter account in August about potentially commuting Blagojevich’s sentence.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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