After giving his wife Patti a quick peck on the cheek, Rod Blagojevich walked over to the witness stand at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse in Chicago and swore to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth before the jury. Then he quickly introduced himself to those who would decide his fate. "I'm Rod Blagojevich. I used to be the governor ... I've waited two and a half years to be here to get my side of the story out. It's very liberating to answer all of your questions."
Before entering the courtroom on Thursday, May 26, Blagojevich, 54, had made a predictable scene outside, literally flexing his muscle by showing off his biceps to the waiting reporters, satisfying - for a moment - their quest for more details on one of America's most controversial political clowns. Then, taking his place at the witness stand - a spot he never appeared in at his previous, abortive trial for corruption - Blagojevich began a meandering testimony that had all the melodrama and filigree of a Lifetime movie. It began with his childhood and moved to his college years and beyond in a five-hour performance, one that was not finished by the time the court adjourned for the day. The intricacies were as crosshatched as the tie he wore. (See TIME's photo-essay "The Remarkable World of Rod Blagojevich.")
On trial for, among other things, allegedly trying to sell the U.S. Senate seat from Illinois that was vacated by Barack Obama when he was elected President in November 2008, Blagojevich - who was originally arrested Dec. 9, 2008 - detailed a life story that would have sounded hapless and comical had he not been elected governor of Illinois - all the while name-dropping everyone from former Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley to Donald Trump, Seinfeld co-creator Larry David and various actors and actresses and other celebrities.
Blagojevich joked about flunking drafting class in high school, his Little League baseball career that culminated in just one hit in 12 at bats, his failed dreams of playing Major League Baseball or in the National Basketball Association. He boasted of his love of reading volume after volume of the World Encyclopedia and Shakespeare - and then admitted to almost flunking out of law school several times. He said he worked as a shoeshine boy at the age of 9, labored on the Alaskan pipeline, ran deliveries for a pizza parlor and hauled beef at a meatpacking plant in Philadelphia. Blagojevich joked about loving to run mile after mile because he liked to stay in shape and had a "vain quality." And then he showed off his finish time at his first marathon, in 1984: 2 hr. 55 min. 30 sec. He admitted he was a disco-era guy who loved wearing polyester A la Saturday Night Fever while attending Northwestern University in the 1970s. (See the 25 crimes of the century.)
Blagojevich's testimony was littered with mentions of some 50 celebrities - not all contemporaries. He cited historical figures like George Washington, who "taught me not to tell a lie." Grinning, Blagojevich joked about having a "man crush on Alexander Hamilton." Then he noted one of his odd jobs, at a gym in Malibu, Calif., where he saw the likes of Farrah Fawcett, Olivia Newton-John and Michael Landon.
And all of this while testifying in his own defense. His attorney Aaron Goldstein seemed to encourage him to admit to his foolishness. "Are you still in [the disco] era when it comes to hair?" Goldstein asked. Blagojevich replied, "Those habits start early in life, and that hasn't changed." Indeed, his helmet of Presley-like hair, rivaled only by Donald Trump's, seemed to be assiduously preserved.
Everything the ex-governor said seemed to dovetail with his defense strategy in his previous trial - which led to a hung jury and the federal government's decision to not pursue charges against his co-defendent, his elder brother Robert. The core of that strategy was that Rod Blagojevich liked to talk a good game but was not competent or capable enough to carry out any of his intentions, as corrupt as they may have sounded.
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Blagojevich was willing to be apologetic, acknowledging that the wiretap tapes the jury had already heard were littered with F bombs. He joked that his eldest daughter Amy blew him a kiss before he left for court Thursday morning and warned him, "Good luck, and watch your language." "So I'd like to apologize to the women and men for those terrible words, like when I saw the Senate seat as f------ golden," Blagojevich testified. "When I hear myself on tape swearing like that, I'm a f______ jerk, and I apologize for that."
Blagojevich then played on emotions by delving into his relationship with his wife. As he recalled his first meeting with Patti, who he said was wearing a red dress at a political fundraiser for her father on March 6, 1988, he began to choke up on the witness stand. Across the court from him, tears streamed down Patti Blagojevich's face as well. Judge James Zagel responded by asking the courtroom to take a break. "Oh, no, I'm O.K.," Blagojevich quickly said, all signs of emotion ceasing (though that seemed to make his wife cry more even more.) "No, let's take a break anyways," Zagel replied. (See the top 10 crime duos.)
For Blagojevich's defense team, putting the ex-governor on the stand doesn't come without risk - the biggest one being that he commits perjury. If that happens, it could bring on more charges and have a large impact on the sentencing guidelines and his potential sentence, according to Daniel Purdom, former assistant U.S. Attorney in Chicago. "If you call a defendant to testify, it allows the government to highlight its evidence and to make a second closing argument during cross-examination," says Purdom, a partner at Hinshaw & Culbertson, where he heads the white-collar-crime group. "He's going to be confronted with a lot of damaging statements and facts in addition to being asked a lot of tough questions he can't answer."
The prosecution's streamlined case has been drastically pared down from last summer's. The former governor, who was found guilty on just one of 24 counts in August 2010, now faces 20 charges, including the alleged attempt to sell Obama's Senate seat for campaign cash or a high-paying job. The prosecution, which rested after only two weeks (compared with six weeks last year), has narrowed its scope of testimony. The prosecutors included a PowerPoint presentation with pictures of witnesses and their titles to assist jurors. They also provided the panel with a binder containing a timeline of events.
The web of political linkages in the Blagojevich trial became manifest on Wednesday, May 25, when the witness stand was occupied by former White House chief of staff and newly elected Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel and U.S Representative Jesse Jackson Jr., subpoenaed by the defense team. Both testimonies were so hostile and convoluted that they may in the end backfire.
Though he admitted he wanted the Senate seat, Jackson denied that he raised money for Blagojevich in an attempt to land it. The Congressman contributed an entertaining anecdote about the governor's snapping his fingers to emphasize that Jackson should have contributed money. For his part, during a five-minute appearance, Emanuel said no one had ever asked him, while he was a Congressman in 2006, to have his brother arrange a fundraiser for the governor in exchange for the release of a $2 million grant to a school in Emanuel's congressional district or to set up a nonprofit for Blagojevich to run in exchange for appointing Valerie Jarrett to Obama's Senate seat. Jarrett is now one of the President's chief advisers. (See how the Blagojevich brothers grew apart during their trial.)
Blagojevich's arcane assertions from the stand - including one about Obama, Pennsylvania and the veto of Illinois legislation - clearly wore the patience of the court. At one point, when the jury was not present, Zagel summed up Jackson's and Emanuel's testimonies by saying," Unfortunately, [Rod Blagojevich] just realized there is a difference in quid pro quo today. There is a difference in 'If you vote for my bill, I'll vote for your bill' and 'If you pay a large amount of money, I'll vote for your bill or I'll appoint your mother to the Supreme Court.' "
Blagojevich is expected to testify in his own defense and undergo cross-examination into the middle of next week. His defense chose not to put him on the stand in his previous trial - which ended in some success, with the hung jury. Some feel that despite the melodrama of his testimony, the former governor may be eliciting sympathy from the jury. However, it remains to be seen if making him speak this time is worth the risk at the end.
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