The defense team for former Illinois Governor, Rod Blagojevich has a message for the federal prosecutors trying Blagojevich: “Play ‘em all”. Defense attorney Sam Adam Jr says he wants all 500 hours of taped phone conversations, collected by FBI wiretaps, to be played at Blagojevich’s criminal trial scheduled to start in June. Adam says, “We are very interested in getting the tapes played before a jury.” He also says the defense team meets with Blagojevich four to five times a week to go over every minute of the audio tapes that will be presented as evidence at trial.
At least one or two of those phone conversations were between Blagojevich and then Illinois Congressman Rahm Emanuel, now White House Chief of Staff to President Obama. Another Blagojevich defense attorney characterized the conversations between Blagojevich and Emanuel as “not damaging stuff, “ but the attorney does expect Emanuel to be called to testify as a witness for the government during the trial. The defense has no plans to subpoena President Obama to testify, but it did file a motion recently asking the government to turn over statements made to the FBI by Rahm Emanuel, Barack Obama and others in the Obama Administration, surrounding any contact with Blagojevich regarding his pay to play schemes. Sam Adam Jr. told reporters, “They (the US Attorneys Office) have no reason not to give it to us. We are trying to do what’s right for my client. The Governor is being treated like Tony Soprano. The government’s response to our motion said they fear intimidation of witnesses. There will be no intimidation of witnesses. That’s just another way of saying we have the stuff you want but we are not going to give it to you.” The government is required to release all discovery to the defense, in order for the defense team to prepare for trial. One of Blago’s defense attorneys said typically the government would turn over discovery two to three weeks prior to the trial, and they are putting up a fight to release it any earlier. Today Judge James Zagel said he will issue a ruling on the defense’s motion regarding discovery early next week.
Assistant US Attorney Reid Schar said today he expects a grand jury to vote by the end of next week to return a new indictment against Blagojevich. The new indictment will likely look similar to the current corruption charges against Blagojevich. If Blagojevich is re-indicted on newer charges he would appear in federal court on February 10th, to enter a new plea in the case. With another indictment looming, Blagojevich’s lawyers maintain their client is innocent and has nothing to hide, “the Governor has been very clear. He wants everything out in the open,” says Sam Adam Jr. The June 3rd start date for the Blagojevich trial all hinges on the US Supreme Court. The high court is reviewing the honest services fraud law. Much of the government’s case against Blagojevich is based on allegations that he deprived Illinois citizens of honest services. An opinion from the Supreme Court is likely to come in May.