Defense Attorneys Preparing For Blagojevich To Testify
UPDATED: May 25, 2011 11:10 p.m.
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Rod Blagojevich's attorneys said the former governor is planning to take the stand on Thursday, but they conceded that decision could change at the last minute.
In part of their preparations for deciding whether Blagojevich will testify, defense attorneys have been seeking to play dozens of the former governor's recorded conversations for the jury. How many of those tapes are allowed could influence whether or not Blagojevich takes the stand.
At the last trial, Blagojevich's attorneys promised repeatedly that he would take the stand, only to change their minds after the prosecution wrapped up his case.
Sheldon Sorosky confirmed Wednesday afternoon that Blagojevich plans to testify when they resume their case Thursday, although the defense team later left the door open for the possibility they would change their mind. Part of what could be influencing their decision is what tapes the judge allows them to play for the jury.
The lawyers and the judge spent much of Wednesday afternoon discussing which FBI wiretap tapes the defense could play for the jury. Most of the defense's requests were denied because the judge said that it would be better for the jury to hear from Blagojevich himself about the content on those tapes.
The development came after defense attorneys had called their first two witnesses in the case: U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. and Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
Emanuel, Jackson Take The Stand
Testifying earlier Wednesday, both Emanuel and Jackson stated that Blagojevich never asked them for anything in exchange for a deal for President Barack Obama's former senate seat.
Emanuel was on the stand for less than five minutes Wednesday morning, providing mostly short, one-word answers to only a handful of questions.
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Emanuel confirmed that that, after Barack Obama was elected president in 2008 and he was picked as Obama's chief of staff, he lobbied for Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett to get appointed to Obama's old Senate seat.
Defense attorney Sheldon Sorosky asked, "did anyone ever say to you, 'Mr. Emanuel, Valerie Jarrett could be appointed Senator by Governor Blagojevich, but in order for that appointment to occur'" Emanuel would have to help set up a non-profit group, funded by wealthy Obama donors, that Blagojevich could run after leaving the governor's office?
Emanuel said no.
He also acknowledged that, in 2005 and 2006, he was trying to help the Chicago Academy, a school in his district, to get a state grant.
Defense attorney Sheldon Sorosky asked Emanuel, "Did anyone ever say to you 'Congressman, you could receive that grant for money for the school, however, in order to receive that grant, either you or your brother will have to do a fundraiser for Governor Blagojevich?'"
Emanuel said no.
Prosecutors have contended that Blagojevich was holding up the state grant for the school because he wanted Emanuel to hold a major fundraiser or have his brother, Hollywood agent Ari Emanuel, hold one for Blagojevich. The school eventually got the grant and neither Emanuel nor his brother held a fundraiser.
Emanuel has not been charged in the case.
Jackson Reveals Alleged Shakedown
Jackson was also on the stand only briefly -- around half an hour -- as the defense began presenting its case on Wednesday.
The congressman denied any role in raising campaign cash for Blagojevich in exchange for being appointed to the Senate seat.
But he did reveal a new shakedown allegation to the jury -- although it is an allegation Blagojevich has not been charged with. According to Jackson, Blagojevich once hinted that he would have appointed Jackson's wife, Sandi Jackson, as director of the Illinois Lottery, if Jackson had donated $25,000 to the governor's campaign.
Jackson began his testimony Wednesday by recounting how he publicly lobbied to be appointed to Barack Obama's former senate seat after Obama won the 2008 presidential election.
He said he commissioned polls that showed he had more public support than any other candidate for the post and that he met with several newspaper editorial boards to get their endorsements.
On Dec. 8, 2008, Jackson met with Blagojevich to discuss his credentials for the Senate seat and to make his pitch for the job.
Defense attorney Aaron Goldstein asked Jackson if he ever told Blagojevich "that you would raise money, campaign contributions for him, if you got the Senate seat?"
"Absolutely not," Jackson said. He also said he never directed anyone else to do so.
"I never directed anyone to raise money for another politician in my life, other than myself, in 16 years," Jackson testified.
Prosecutors have contended that Blagojevich was planning to sell or trade an appointment to President Obama's old Senate seat and that his final plan before he was arrested was to exchange a Jackson appointment for $1.5 million in campaign cash from Jackson supporters in the Indian-American community. Jackson has not been charged in the case.
Rajinder Bedi, an Indian-American businessman, testified earlier at the trial that he approached Blagojevich's brother, Robert, in October 2008 with an offer of campaign cash in exchange for naming Jackson Jr. to the Senate seat. Bedi said he was acting as a messenger for Raghu Nayak, a wealthy Indian-American who wanted Jackson to get the Senate seat.
Jackson acknowledged that in October 2008, he met Bedi and Nayak and, although Jackson did not testify about what they discussed at that meeting, he said he never requested the Senate seat in exchange for campaign fundraising, nor did he direct anyone else to do so. Jackson has said in the past that Nayak and Bedi talked in Hindi during most of that meeting, so he did not know everything that they were saying.
But during cross-examination by prosecutors, Jackson said that, while Blagojevich was running for governor in 2002, former Congressman Bill Lipinski approached him, pointing out that Blagojevich had a chance to end the Democratic Party's 30-year drought in the governor's office, and asked Jackson to donate $25,000 to Blagojevich's campaign.
But Jackson said there was "no chance" he would have agreed to that request.
After Blagojevich won the election, Jackson said he tried to help his wife, Sandi Jackson, get a job with the Blagojevich administration. Blagojevich told him to get his wife's resume to Antoin "Tony" Rezko, a major Blagojevich fundraiser who played a key role in filling various appointments after Blagojevich took office.
Jackson said he hand-delivered his wife's resume to Rezko, who told him that Sandi Jackson was being considered as director of the Illinois Lottery.
But she never got the post, and about six months later, when Blagojevich was visiting Washington, D.C., to meet with members of Illinois's Congressional delegation, Jackson testified that "I walked in the room and there was a chill in the air, [Blagojevich] wasn't being very responsive."
Jackson said that Blagojevich said, "I'm sorry the thing with Sandi didn't work out," and later, as he was leaving the meeting, "In classic Elvis Presley fashion, he snapped both fingers and said 'You should have given me that $25,000.'"
Prosecutors asked Jackson what he thought by that.
According to Jackson, based on news reports about the mounting federal investigation into the Blagojevich administration, "It became increasingly clear to me the governor of the state of Illinois was trading..." Jackson said before defense attorneys cut him off with an objection, which U.S. District Judge James Zagel sustained.
Asked what he believed the governor was trying to tell him, Jackson said he believed Blagojevich was telling him his wife didn't get the Lottery job because he didn't give Blagojevich's campaign the $25,000 donation.
So prosecutors asked if Jackson believed Blagojevich was telling him that his wife didn't get the job because he didn't make the $25,000 contribution.
"It certainly was a factor in the consideration, yes," Jackson testified.
But defense attorney Sheldon Sorosky noted that Carolyn Adams, a woman endorsed by Jackson's father, Rev. Jesse Jackson, was the person who got the Illinois Lottery job, instead of Sandi Jackson. Congressman Jackson said he didn't remember who got the job instead of his wife and that he did not know Adams had been endorsed for the job by his father.
Jurors were sent home for the day after Jackson and Emanuel testified, while prosecutors and defense attorneys debated which tapes the defense can and cannot play if and when Blagojevich takes the stand.
But defense attorneys were having difficulty getting any of those tapes in.
The defense claims some of the tapes support the theory that Blagojevich was really planning to appoint Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan to the Senate seat in exchange for her father, Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan, passing the governor's legislative agenda in Springfield.
But Zagel said none of the tapes the defense wants to play shows there was any actual deal in the works with Madigan, only that Blagojevich was discussing it as a possibility.
"This is a red herring," Zagel said. "This deal is a phantom and it remains a phantom."
Zagel said the defense has offered no evidence that Lisa Madigan or Mike Madigan ever agreed to anything, or were even approached to make a deal.
"I don't see anybody on the opposite side. ... Who agreed to this? ... You're not talking about a deal, you're talking about a proposal that, so far as I know, existed in the mind of your client and not in the mind of anybody else that could bring this up," Zagel said. "The problem is you don't connect this with the other side of the deal and until you have at least some slight connection, I just think this is a red herring."
The judge later said he wanted to hear a story from Blagojevich explaining what steps were taken to make the deal, "not this disembodied voice on the telephone which is rarely, if ever, reaching a decision."
Zagel said most of what the defense wants the jurors to hear on tapes is something that Blagojevich can testify about himself, describing the former governor as "someone who is perfectly capable of speaking for himself, a person who has persuaded a large number of people to believe in him on two occasions in a very difficult arena."
The defense was seeking to introduce 52 separate tapes while Blagojevich is on the stand. By the end of the day on Thursday, the judge and attorneys had discussed 33 of those tapes in court, with Zagel allowing only two to be played, although he said many of the others might be allowed, depending on what happens during Blagojevich's testimony and the prosecution's cross-examination.
Defense Asks Judge To Acquit Blagojevich
Before they began presenting their case Wednesday, defense attorneys filed a new motion asking Zagel acquit Blagojevich of all charges, arguing the prosecution did not prove its case.
Defense attorneys argued in their motion that the government's evidence against Blagojevich amounts to nothing more than idle talk.
"The government has established through its case-in-chief that the purported conversations to which its witnesses testified amount to nothing more than 'hot air,'" defense attorneys wrote in their motion. "There were no crimes, nor attempt crimes proven in the government's case."
The defense indicated last week that such a motion would be coming after the prosecution wrapped up its case, but Zagel hinted that he'd be unlikely to grant it. He noted that, to enter a directed verdict acquitting any defendant, a judge must assume that the prosecution's witnesses were all telling the truth, but that the government nonetheless didn't prove its case.
But defense attorneys wrote that, even under those circumstances, the government has not proven Blagojevich is guilty.
"Even in the light most favorable to the government, it is just as likely that Blagojevich's words which show lack of intent were not criminal, versus the government's theory that the witnesses' interpretations demonstrate a crime," defense attorneys wrote. "The parade of government witnesses testified to understandings and interpretations without showing that Blagojevich ever expressly intended to commit a crime."
--Todd Feurer, CBS 2 Web Producer
