Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who said he knows what it's like being accused of corruption, hammered Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz for "quitting" his reelection, which the Trump-friendly Democrat said suggests "his hands are unclean" in fraud scandals.
Walz, a Democrat, said Monday that he would not be seeking a third term, after consulting with his family and political team.
Blagojevich was impeached by the Illinois State Senate and removed from office in January 2009 as he battled corruption charges. He was later imprisoned for 14 years before having his sentence commuted by President Donald Trump. He later received a pardon but remains barred from holding Illinois office.
That saga appeared to lead the Democrat to slam Walz' positioning as he too prepares to leave office next year.
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"I'm no stranger to being accused of wrongdoing," Blagojevich said on social media.
"[B]ut if you didn't do it, the honorable thing to do is to fight. If necessary, go down fighting."
"But Gov. Waltz (sic) decided not to fight. He is running away and quitting which makes me think his hands are unclean on the Somali $9 billion fraud scandal," Blagojevich added.
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"Did he make a deal to avoid facing criminal charges?"
Fox News Digital reached out to Walz' office for response to the assertion, while the outspoken former "Apprentice" contestant's message came in response to a missive from X CEO Elon Musk that also criticized Walz.
"Walz replaced the Minnesota state flag with the Somalia flag. That's part of why he deserves the name 'Traitor Tim'. Put the flag back," Musk had tweeted in response to an artificially generated meme showing Walz replacing the former state flag with a new one.
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Designers of the new flag, adopted in 2024 after outcry over the depiction of Native Americans in the old version, denied that there was any intended link to Somalia's flag - as both feature a star on a blue background.
Since his return to public life, Blagojevich has been outspoken on a wide range of issues.
He recently slammed his current successor, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, for attacks on the Trump administration - including regarding the arrest of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.
"To Dems like JB Pritzker whose knee-jerk reaction is to attack President Trump no matter how good the president does, the raid and arrest of Maduro by the DEA was a law enforcement action and therefore not a matter to discuss with Congress beforehand," Blagojevich said.
He also recently praised Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, citing the right-leaning leader's comment that mass migration amounts to "the replacement of native-born voters," which Orbán said is "the left's plan."
Blagojevich said that as a "former twice-elected Democratic governor," Orbán's words ring true about what "Democrats are doing here in America."
