A four and a half year legal battle is over.
Earlier this week, former 18th District Congressman Aaron Schock was formally cleared of all charges against him.
Schock tells WMBD’s Greg and Dan that his legal battle should have been over before it began.
“But, it is what it is. And, I’m thankful at the end of the day, that seasoned prosecutors in Chicago know a crime when they see it, and no crimes when they don’t,” Schock said.
U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly ordered a 24-count indictment against Schock dismissed on Wednesday.
The Illinois Republican, from Peoria, resigned from Congress in 2015 amid scrutiny over his spending, including the decoration of his office in the style of the “Downton Abbey” TV series. He was indicted a year later on charges that included wire fraud and falsification of election commission filings.
Corruption charges against Schock were dismissed under a deal struck with prosecutors in March.
Under the deal, Schock has agreed to repay his campaign committees nearly $68,000 and work with the Internal Revenue Service to determine how much he owes in taxes for income he did not report between 2010 and 2015.
Schock says in hindsight, he wishes that he would have stayed in office and fought the allegations. But, he says he was under intense scrutiny at the time.
“I should have stayed, and left on my own terms, so that people wouldn’t have believed the allegations.”
Schock says criminal justice reform needs to start in the prosecutor’s office, because there’s too much incentive to rush an indictment, in reference to the prosecutor in his case.
“He’s wasted 30 federal agents time, over two years, at millions of dollars expense of taxpayers. And, he alleged false claims against me. I had no recourse,” Schock said.
Schock says that he still has $850,000 in legal fees to pay. He adds, he has no intention of running for political office again.
