Ex-Illinois governor opens up on wrongful conviction and prison experience on Joe Rogan's podcast: "They were squeezing me and pressuring me"

In a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, the former Illinois Governor explained what happened to him in prison and how he claims they tried to pressure him to allegedly plead guilty for crimes he still refuses to accept committing.

In episode number 2245 of JRE, Rogan hosted the former Illinois Governor and political commentator Rod Blagojevich. The podcaster discussed the perception that anyone convicted of corruption must be guilty. Blagojevich, elevating the discussion, shared his side of the story about his time in prison and what happened to him. He revealed gangsters pressured him to accept crimes he didn’t commit. He said:

“I spent almost eight years in prison for politics, not for crimes. I’m happy to answer any questions you have about it because I didn’t do it—it was all politics. For the first three years, they put me in a high-security prison. I was in there with Crips, Bloods, Gangster Disciples, and cartel drug dealers. They were squeezing me and pressuring me because they wanted me to say I did something I didn’t do. They wanted me to plead guilty to non-crimes.”

He further added:

“They really punished me because I fought back in a way that no one really does, except for Trump. I was fighting back when they brought those charges against me. They tried me twice. “

Check out Rod Blagojevich’s comments below (00:1:49):

In 2009, Blagojevich became the first Illinois governor to be impeached and removed from office by the state legislature. He was facing 14 years in prison for multiple charges, including bribery, attempted extortion, and wire fraud. However, in 2020, Donald Trump commuted Blagojevich’s sentence.

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Joe Rogan and Rod Blagojevich Discuss Donald Trump's Controversial Remark

Donald Trump passed a controversial comment in 2005 that has drawn backlash from the media. While speaking with Billy Bush, he talked about making unwanted advances on women and made the controversial remark.

Joe Rogan, now a vocal supporter of Trump who endorsed him in the 2024 presidential election, defended Trump during the aforementioned podcast with guest Rod Blagojevich. Rogan asserted that men often talk like this. He said:

"Well, that's the same thing as the 'Grab 'em by the p***y' comment. It's, like, guys talk like that. It doesn't mean they mean it. Guys talk like that all the time for fun. It's not... you know, you could say it's misogynist, it's this [it's that], it's just sh*t-talking. It's what guys do and they know that the other person doesn't mean it. That's why it's funny to say." (00:16:35)