Just last week, prosecutors were complaining about former Governor Rod Blagojevich’s frequent media pronouncements. Now, for the first time, they’ve asked to use tape of one such pronouncement against him, in court.
The government wants to play a snippet from MSNBC's "Rachel Maddow Show" of January 27, 2009, about six weeks after Blagojevich was arrested by the FBI and charged with being part of several “pay to play” schemes during his years as Illinois governor.
In the excerpt prosecutors want to bring before the jury, Maddow asked about charges that Blagojevich tried to “sell” an appointment to the US Senate seat being vacated by Barack Obama.
MADDOW: “You agree that would be wrong.”
BLAGOJEVICH: “Oh, absolutely.”
Then, a few moments later:
MADDOW: “And you didn’t do that?
BLAGOJEVICH: “Absolutely not.”
The government says that televised exchange rebuts a key defense claim in the first trial; that Blagojevich didn’t know it was illegal to to name a White House-preferred candidate to the Senate seat in exchange for an appointment to the Obama cabinet (wiretaps revealed Blago had his eye on being Secretary of Health and Human Services). They claim Blago was advised such a swap was “a totally legit ask,” in the words of Blagojevich advisor Bob Greenlee, the Deputy Governor at the time.
At the first trial, defense lawyer Sam Adam, Jr. told jurors, in closing argument:
“You had about 5500 conversations [on FBI tapes] and not one did they play for you where they [Blagojevich advisors] say ‘you can’t do this, governor, it’s wrong’…This man had no idea you couldn’t do it, because everybody told him he could.”
The Maddow motion marks the first time government lawyers have asked to play a recording of one of the ex-governor’s many media appearances, and it comes just a few days after the judge in the case seemed to open the door for such a request.
Responding to prosecutors’ complaints the defendant was taking to the airwaves to try to influence potential jurors, Judge James Zagel suggested the Feds might be able to use some Blagojevich's media utterances against him, since there’s “no expectation of confidentiality" in talking with reporters.
Zagel called his remarks of a week ago a “red flag” for the defendant, but Blagojevich reacted like a bull having a red cape waved in his face, charging into several more media interviews in ensuing days, including lengthy sit-downs with both of Chicago’s major daily papers.
Those interviews may yet give more ammo to the prosecution, though Judge Zagel had yet to rule on whether he’ll allow jurors to hear the Blagojevich-Maddow exchange on MSNBC.
