After serving eight years behind bars, former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich finally walked free on Tuesday as he expressed his “everlasting gratitude” to President Trump and his decision to grant clemency even for politicians outside his own party.

“What he did was I think something that deserves a great amount of appreciation on my part personally, and he has from me my deepest, most profound and everlasting gratitude,” Blagojevich said before he boarded his flight.

As he arrived at Denver Airport, Blagojevich announced that he was officially a “Trumpocrat,” praising the president for the reduced sentence and saying that Trump “saw a wrong and corrected it.”

In a statement to Chicago TV Station WGN-TV, Blagojevich said, “He didn’t have to do this, he’s a Republican president and I was a Democratic governor. I’ll have a lot more to say tomorrow.”

Blagojevich also denied all the allegations against him. “I crossed no lines. And the things I talked about doing were legal and this was routine politics and the ones who did it are the ones who broke the laws and the ones who frankly should meet and face some accountability,” the former governor said.

Blagojevich was sentenced to 14 years in prison after he “allegedly” tried to sell the US Senate seat which was vacated by Sen. Barrack Obama when the latter secured the presidency in 2008. During his second trial in 2011, Blagojevich was convicted on 18 counts, which included the allegations against Obama’s old senate seat, although at that time the jury was unable to reach any verdict.

Despite being on two opposing political sides, Trump was able to extend his sympathy towards Blagojevich as the president said that they were both prosecuted by “the same people, Comey, Fitzpatrick, the same group.” Back in August, the president responded to Blagovich’s sentence claiming it was too harsh in comparison to what other politicians had done “We’re looking at it. I feel very badly. I think it was very harshly sentenced, but we’re looking at it very strongly. People feel very strongly about that.”

Although Trump admitted that he had never met Blagojevich, the president confirmed that he saw him on “Celebrity Apprentice.” “I watched his wife on television; I don’t know him very well. Seemed like a very nice person, don’t know him. …I did commute his sentence,” the president said.

The former governor was impeached by the Illinois State Legislature and was removed from office in 2009. This prompted Blagojevich to appear on “Celebrity Apprentice,” and after starring on the show for four weeks, Trump fired him.

Blagojevich also shared his great desire to come home, as he told reporters “I can’t wait to get home. I miss my daughters. I miss my wife. I miss home.”

Trump also appealed to Blagojevich as a family man as he said “Very far from his children, they’re growing older. They’re going to high school now. They rarely get to see their father outside of an orange uniform.”