WASHINGTON

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday to pardon former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

"It's my honor to do it. I've watched him. He was set up by a lot of bad people," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

Asked whether he is considering nominating Blagojevich to be the US ambassador to Serbia, he said: “No, but I would. He’s now cleaner than anybody in this room.”

Blagojevich, who is a Democrat, had served eight years in prison on charges stemming from his effort to sell Barack Obama’s Senate seat after Obama won the 2008 presidential election.

During his first term in 2020, Trump commuted Blagojevich’s 14-year sentence.