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Blagojevich Goes on Television Tour During Impeachment
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by Rob Walker | January 27, 2009 at 10:00 am
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Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is on a whirlwind tour of television studios in the middle of his impeachment trial, with 11 interviews scheduled for Tuesday alone.
The interviews come in the middle of an impeachment trial that the Governor has refused to participate in, and he's been speaking his mind on seemingly any network that will air him.
You can check out NowPublic's news and media on the impeachment over at our Blagojevich channel.
Mr. Blagojevich was scheduled to appear on 11 more shows on Tuesday, missing, it seemed, no host, no channel, no viewer.On Monday, he managed, with his television blitz, to upstage the opening of his impeachment trial, the first ever of a governor in Illinois. On program after program, he proclaimed his innocence, blamed politics for his problems, and denounced the impeachment as unfair.
Wiretaps
Parts of the conversation from the wiretaps have been released, and one sentence in particular is sure to have some consequences. Blagojevich is talking about the seat: The Senate seat "is a fucking valuable thing, you just don't give it away for nothing."
Ouch.
The FBI agent in charge of the case against Blagojevich says he has no doubt that wiretaps show the gov. trying to get something for the vacant senate seat.
The FBI agent in charge of the criminal case against Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich says he has no doubt wiretaps caught the impeached governor scheming get something for the state's open U.S. Senate seat.
But on Tuesday, for the first time, a small handful of the phone calls are expected to be played aloud in public here as part of Mr. Blagojevich’s impeachment trial in the state capital.
Day Two of the Illinois Senate impeachment trial of Gov. Rod Blagojevich began this morning with an FBI agent testifying to the accuracy of covert federal audio recordings at the center of criminal corruption charges against the governor.
The Supreme Court Judge in the case, Thomas R. Fitzgerald repeatedly asked if Blagojevich or his counsel were present during the proceedings, and each time complete silence greeted his question.
“Every time a different witness testified, or a motion was submitted, Supreme Court Chief Judge (Thomas R.) Fitzgerald asked if the governor or his counsel were present,” said Dahl.“There was total silence. Then the chief justice said, ‘We'll go on to the next step.'”.
Media Tour
He's also interviewing with print media, telling the Associated Press that 'the truth will come out' if it's given a chance, and called again for allowing other witnesses to be brought forward.
Blagojevich's refusal to participate and media blitz has infuriated lawmakers and prosecutors who are attempting to have the gov. impeached. Illinois attorney general Lisa Madigan said Blagojevich is 'making a mockery of the constitution':
“The governor is making a mockery of the law, he’s making a mockery of the constitution,” Madigan said.
"I'm still not giving up hope," the governor said in an interview with the Associated Press, insisting "the truth will come out" if given a chance. He asked the Illinois State Senate to allow him to call witnesses and bring in witnesses in his defense at the trial now going on in Springfield that he's boycotting. "What are you afraid of?" the governor asked rhetorically.
No one was allowed to touch Blagojevich's hair, according to staffers on 'The View'. He refused to let any hair or makeup people work on him before his appearance, and only on-air personality got to touch it; she ruffled his hair during the interview.
In fact, the only person to get near Blago’s bangs was Joy Behar, who gave his famous moptop a tousling — one that came as a total surprise to Blagojevich and ‘View’ staffers.
Blagovich told CBS's "Early Show" that he wants all of the tapes of his conversations released, not just a few at a time. CBS has the full transcript of his interview:
"Unlike Richard Nixon, who was dealing with issues of tapes who did not want his tapes heard, I want mine heard. I want the full story to be told," Blagojevich said. Meanwhile, in Springfield, the state senate today will hold the second day of Blagojevich's impeachment trial, where he is not presenting a defense.
There's also a live blog for anyone interested in following the impeachment trial in real time.
Today we expect to hear some of those [bleep]in' tapes capturing the governor wheeling and dealing in his inimitable Blago style.
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Geneva B
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (1)
at 12:04 on January 27th, 2009
Interesting stile he has. Maybe not a bad strategy after all. He is playing the system to be incompetent and bias and with out a defence he can not be incriminated either. He may actually succeed.