Rod Blagojevich

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Airline 'Seat-Selling' Deal Tweaks Blago

Skip town for $14 before ex-guv does 14 years

(Newser) - Rod Blagojevich is going to prison , and what better way to honor the former governor than by selling seats. No, not Senate seats, airline seats. Shortly after Blagojevich's sentencing , Spirit Airlines launched a "seat-selling" sale, the AP reports. Customers can escape Chicago for just $14—equivalent to the...

For Blago, 71 Days of Freedom Left

And no pension, to boot

(Newser) - Gone was the defiant Rod Blagojevich who protested his innocence , promised a comeback , and called himself "frankly … stunned" at his guilty verdict: The Blago on display yesterday at his sentencing was apologetic and emotional, but he was sentenced to 14 years for corruption nonetheless. Now he has just...

Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich Sentenced to 14 Years for Corruption
 Blagojevich Gets 14 Years 
Dec 7, 2011 12:43 PM CST

Blagojevich Gets 14 Years

Former Illinois governor sentenced for corruption

(Newser) - Rod Blagojevich, the ousted Illinois governor whose three-year battle against criminal charges became a national spectacle, was sentenced to 14 years in prison today, one of the stiffest penalties imposed for corruption in a state with a history of crooked politics. "When it is the governor who goes bad...

Blagojevich Demands Yet Another Trial

Says judge was biased against him

(Newser) - Rod Blagojevich isn’t going away that easily. The ex-governor is demanding yet another trial, arguing that the judge was biased, and “deprived Blagojevich of the presumption of innocence,” the Chicago Tribune reports. The 158-page filing details a host of perceived injustices, from jury selection up through Blagojevich’...

Blagojevich: 'I, Frankly, Am Stunned' by Verdict

But in an uncharacteristic move, he has little else to say

(Newser) - A classic response from Rod Blagojevich following his conviction on 17 out of 20 charges yesterday: “I, frankly, am stunned,” he said outside the courtroom. But he has, at least, learned something from the experience, Politico reports: namely, that he should "try to speak a little bit...

Blagojevich Guilty on 17 of 20 Charges

Could be facing some pretty serious jail time

(Newser) - Turns out Rod Blagejevich was right that President Obama's old Senate seat was worth something: A whole bunch of jail time. A jury today convicted Blago on 17 of 20 charges after deliberating for nine days. Blagojevich showed little emotion after the verdicts were read, notes the Chicago Tribune,...

Blagojevich: 'F***ing Golden' Remark Was 'War-Gaming'

Ex-gov is less than crystal clear in his testimony

(Newser) - Rod Blagojevich finally got a chance to explain his infamous description of Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat as "f---ing golden" but he did a pretty poor job of it. "I'm afraid to answer this, but I'm not quite sure how to answer it," the...

Emanuel's Blago Trial Testimony: Quick, Terse

Mayor takes the stand for all of three minutes

(Newser) - Rahm Emanuel took the stand for the defense in Rod Blagojevich’s trial today, but he didn’t stay there long, offering some mono-syllabic answers to a few simple questions in an exchange that lasted just three minutes, the Chicago Tribune reports. Things kicked off with some pleasantries: Blagojevich’s...

Oprah Ticket Frees Woman From Blagojevich Jury

Pass to show taping is 'effing golden': Blago

(Newser) - Civic duty or Oprah? It was a pressing question in Rod Blagovejich’s retrial, after a prospective juror used her ticket to an Oprah taping as an excuse to avoid being seated. Lawyers from both sides agreed to let her slide. To be fair, it’s a pass to one...

As Trial Resumes, Blagojevich Worries About Daughters

Former governor says he's preparing the girls

(Newser) - Jury selection resumes Monday in the retrial for Rod Blagojevich on corruption charges, and the former Illinois governor tells the Chicago Tribune that he's mostly worried about how daughters Annie, 8, and Amy, 14, will handle a possible jail sentence for their dad. "I explained to her that...

Blagojevich: Kill Retrial, Sentence Me

Ex-Illinois governor says he's too poor for retrial

(Newser) - Rod Blagojevich has asked a judge to cancel his retrial and instead sentence him immediately on the lone count he was convicted of (lying to a federal agent), arguing that he doesn't have the money to mount another defense. The government is supposed to pick up the tab for Blagojevich's...

Blagojevich to Judge: Too Many Gaps in Wiretaps

Ex-governor's lawyers cite too many gaps in tapes

(Newser) - Rod Blagojevich’s lawyers have asked a federal judge to forbid prosecutors from playing FBI wiretaps of the former Illinois governor during his upcoming retrial, the AP reports. The lawyers say the tapes—key evidence for the prosecution—are unreliable because of long gaps in the recordings, which remove the...

Blago Asks Judge to Undo Conviction

Lawyers ask judge to override jury on lone 'lying to FBI' charge

(Newser) - Rod Blagojevich wants a judge to nullify the only conviction the jury returned in his mostly deadlocked corruption trial. In a motion filed in federal court late yesterday, defense lawyers called on the judge to override the jury's decision and acquit the former Illinois governor of lying to the FBI....

Blagojevich's Brother Gets Off

Feds drop charges against Robert

(Newser) - Prosecutors have dropped all charges against Robert Blagojevich, brother of Rod Blagojevich. An assistant US attorney said the feds were giving up on Robert, who had been charged with two counts of extortion conspiracy and one count of wire fraud and extortion, because of the “disparity in the roles”...

Blago: I'll Be Back
 Blago: I'll Be Back 
TALK SHOW ROUNDUP
Aug 22, 2010 12:44 PM CDT

Blago: I'll Be Back

Just as soon as all these pesky trials go away

(Newser) - Rod Blagojevich isn't about to let a little thing like a corruption trial jettison his political career any more than he's about to have a droopy hair day, reports Politico. "I'm not ruling myself out from coming back because because I will be vindicated in this case," he...

Young Blago Juror: I May Become a Lobbyist

'I've seen all the money they make'

(Newser) - Any lessons to be learned from round one of the Blagojevich trial? Probably none better than this, as articulated by a college-age juror: "I might be a lobbyist after this," Erik Sarnello tells the Chicago Sun-Times (a line gleefully picked up by the Awl ). "I've seen...

Jury: Lone Juror Wouldn't Convict Blago

Woman wanted 'smoking gun,' prosecution confused case

(Newser) - The jury in the Rod Blagojevich trial came exceedingly close to convicting him on a host of charges, but were held back by a lone, intractable holdout, jurors told the press today. “The person just did not see the evidence that everyone else did,” Juror Stephen Wlodek told...

Looks Like Bribery's Legal
 Looks Like Bribery's Legal 
OPINION
Aug 18, 2010 6:20 AM CDT

Looks Like Bribery's Legal

Messy campaign finance system explains Blago verdict: Scott Turow

(Newser) - An Illinois jury's failure to convict Rod Blagojevich on bribery-related charges despite damning evidence starts to make sense when you look at America's shambolic campaign finance system, argues Scott Turow. The huge number of loopholes, together with the Supreme Court's decision to lift restrictions on corporate campaign donations, has turned...

Defiant Blago: Trial a Big Waste of Money

They threw 'the kitchen sink' at me and failed

(Newser) - Because federal prosecutors got Rod Blagojevich on only 1 of 24 counts , we get to do this all over again. Let the posturing begin, as rounded up by the Chicago Tribune :
  • Rod Blagojevich: "The government threw everything but the kitchen sink at me, and on every charge but one
...

Blago Guilty on 1 Count: Lying to FBI

Jury can't decide on 23 others; feds will retry him

(Newser) - A federal jury has found ex-Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich guilty of one count of lying to federal agents. The jury could not reach a decision on the other 23 counts after two weeks of deliberations, and the judge said he intends to declare a mistrial on them. Federal prosecutors say...

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