Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich has been arrested on corruption charges.
He was caught on FBI wiretaps just within the past few weeks.... wiretaps that (if he had a brain) he had to have known were likely put in place for the other accusations he faced. How stupid can this man be? Apparently he was caught attempting to sell Obama's open Senate seat.
Meanwhile.....Obama's FBI briefing has been Cancelled!
Apparently Rezko did a lot of talking about Blagojevich as part of his agreement with the Court.
From the Politico:
Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was captured on tape saying that unless he received “something real good” for the appointment of a top adviser to Barack Obama to fill the president-elect’s Senate seat he would appoint himself, according to the criminal complaint.
“Unless I get something real good [for Senate candidate 1], s***, I’ll just send myself, you know what I’m saying,” Blagojevich was taped saying on November 3rd, the day before Election Day.
Blagojevich, a Democrat, added that the Senate seat “is a f***ing valuable thing, you just don’t give it away for nothing.”
Continue reading the Politico report
Patrick Fitzgerald - a Federal Prosecutor who no politician should ever want to face off with - is doing a number on Blagojevich. In addition to being really really stupid Blago is also turning out to be one of the most corrupt politicians in modern history.
One of the subjects of the wiretapped phone calls was apparently a member of Obama's new White House staff.
A major part of the Chicago (and State of Illinois) political machine has been toppled today....and it's not clear how much (if at all) Obama will be ensnared in all this. I had been following the story of Blago's corruption scandal off and on for the past few months...and apparently this was a huge investigation....involving a lot of people. The net was apparently pretty wide. We shall see.
More Updates to Come Throughout the Day
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See a copy of the official criminal complaint (pdf)
I'm still reading through the court papers... tons of charges
See report from the UK Times
See a timeline of the investigation from the Chicago Tribune
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"Feel Free To Tape My Conversations" -- Blago just a day before his arrest.
AMAZING!!!
He also states... "I have nothing but Sunshine hanging over me".
Well Blago... it looks like you will have more than Sunshine hanging over you... in Prison. Perhaps a new boyfriend will be hanging over you... under you...and all around you in that cage. That's if they don't send you to one of those fancy low security College Dorm prisons....also known as "Club Fed".
And then he says.... (paraphrasing) "any efforts by others to record him and get him on something smells like Nixon and Watergate" Well Blago.... It's actually YOU who smells like Nixon and Watergate. You and your Chief of Staff John Harris.
This guy is unbelievable!
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The Official Press Conference with Patrick Fitzgerald, announcing the arrest.
See video of Fitzgeralds Full Statement
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"If Illinois is not the most corrupt State in the Country it is certainly one hell of a competitor" - FBI SAC Robert Grant (See clip)
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Illinois State Legislature to begin impeachment proceedings immediately.
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A silver lining for Obama in all of this?
Reports suggest that Obama "would not play ball" in Blagojevich's scheme....and that Raum Emmanuel may have aided Federal authorities.
Well I would hope that they wouldn't be stupid enough to take part in this...especially at this point. Common sense would tell you not to get involved with someone who is likely under FBI surveillance and possibly being wiretapped. It just shows that they (unlike Blago) had enough brains to recognize the obvious.
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