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Gov. Blagojevich: "I Will Fight Until I Take My Last Breath"

by politisite | December 19, 2008 at 09:22 am

272 views | 10 Recommendations | 7 comments

Update 3:12 Pm ET: With an Approval rating of just 4 percent, Governor Blagojevivh related to reports that he is innocent and will be vindicated. He related that he is not guilty of any crime. He said, "I am dieing to tell you how innocent I am" and "I have the truth on my side" He asked the people of his state to consider him innocent until after a hearing of his case. "I will fight until I take my last breath", "I am innocent".

This all comes after he was accused of Corruption for trying to sell the Senate seat vacated by President Election Obama.

First Report- Politisite has just learned that accused Governor Blagojvich will have a news conference at 3 pm ET, 10 GMT. He will speak to Federal Corruption Charges and that he is the only person with the constitutional right to Seat the Senator position vacated by President Elect Obama.

Blagojevich not expected to resign or take questions following his statement: (Source: AP)

Update: The 3PM Conference has been delayed

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, accused of trying to sell the vacant Senate seat of U.S. president-elect Barack Obama, will break his silence on Friday to publicly address federal corruption charges leveled against him.

Blagojevich is set to make a statement to the media from his downtown Chicago office building around 3 p.m. It is unclear how much detail he will go into about the scandal.

On Wednesday, Blagojevich, who is charged with conspiracy and solicitation to commit bribery and has ignored calls for his resignation, said he couldn't wait to "begin to tell my side

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Rachel Nixon

at 09:55 on December 19th, 2008

I look forward to hearing what he has to say, especially considering that so many people have called for his resignation.

politisite

at 12:37 on December 19th, 2008

Rachel:

I have updated the story with his comments.

Rachel Nixon

at 12:38 on December 19th, 2008

Thanks Al - looks like he's in for a long fight!

politisite

at 12:42 on December 19th, 2008

Big time. Another developing story is that the Chicago News Times is reporting that Emanuel had a much greater roll in this case then is being reported. I don't have a good handle on what that is exactly and will wait until I get something more definitive. I would rather report the news then speculate.

Rachel Nixon

at 16:32 on December 19th, 2008

Apparently, while facing his own legal battles, Blagojevich has pardoned 22 people today - a rare occurrence according to reports.

The Democratic governor rarely acted on pardon applications during his six years in office. The backlog of requests at one point topped 1,600.

But Blagojevich has acted more often in recent months.

His office says he issued 22 pardons Friday, the same day Blagojevich vowed to fight the federal corruption charges he faces.

Aides wouldn't provide any information about why he granted the pardons or what crimes the people were accused of committing.

One person on the list shares the name of a man who was cleared by DNA evidence after serving three years for rape.