Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich makes case — Transcript

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1. 0:00chief justice thank you ladies and
2. 0:01gentlemen of the Senate thank you very
3. 0:02much I'm grateful for the opportunity to
4. 0:05be here today and uh present my uh
5. 0:07closing argument my chance to be able to
6. 0:09talk to you talk to the people of
7. 0:11Illinois and talk to anybody else who is
8. 0:12listening I uh had the last couple of
9. 0:16days I've had a chance to be able to go
10. 0:17out and talk to as many people as I
11. 0:19possibly could about my desire to be
12. 0:22able to appear here before the Senate
13. 0:24the Senate trial and have a chance to be
14. 0:26able to tell the whole story have every
15. 0:29single witness I could possibly bring be
16. 0:31able to tell the truth the whole truth
17. 0:32and nothing but the truth present as
18. 0:34much evidence as available to be able to
19. 0:36have the whole story told and have a
20. 0:38chance to be able to show you here in
21. 0:40the Senate show the people of Illinois
22. 0:42and show anybody else who's listening
23. 0:44that I have done absolutely nothing
24. 0:46wrong that I followed every law that I
25. 0:48never ever intended to violate any law
26. 0:51and that when the whole truth is heard
27. 0:53and the whole story is told that's
28. 0:55ultimately what will be shown I was
29. 0:58hopeful that I'd have a chance to be
30. 0:59able to do that in a senate Hearing in
31. 1:01this trial a chance to be able to bring
32. 1:03Witnesses in a whole list of witnesses
33. 1:06every single witness in the criminal
34. 1:08complaint would have been nice to have
35. 1:10them here so they can tell the truth and
36. 1:12tell you under oath what they know I
37. 1:14want to be able to bring in Witnesses
38. 1:16from Rah Emanuel the President's chief
39. 1:18of staff to Senator Dick deran to
40. 1:20Senator Harry Reid and Bob Menendez to
41. 1:23every single person connected with any
42. 1:26conversation I may have had in relation
43. 1:28to pick and the United States Senator
44. 1:30unfortunately these rules have prevented
45. 1:32me from being able to do that and in
46. 1:35spite of efforts to try to get you to
47. 1:36give me that chance to do it it didn't
48. 1:39work so I went to the people talk to as
49. 1:42many people as I possibly could and I
50. 1:45was over and over repeating to them just
51. 1:48give me a chance to be able to let the
52. 1:50truth come out so sooner rather than
53. 1:52later I can show you I've done nothing
54. 1:54wrong so sooner rather than later I can
55. 1:56clear my name and we can put this behind
56. 1:59us and get on with working to do things
57. 2:01for people get on with the business of
58. 2:05the people now when I did that and met a
59. 2:08lot of different people and made that
60. 2:09case to them they were mostly
61. 2:11sympathetic they understood my position
62. 2:14they said of course you're entitled to a
63. 2:16fair trial every American citizen is of
64. 2:18course you're entitled to bring
65. 2:19Witnesses in so you can disprove things
66. 2:21that are being said about you and show
67. 2:23that they're not true of course you're
68. 2:25entitled to confront your accusers this
69. 2:29is the United States of America it's
70. 2:30guaranteed by the Constitution it's a
71. 2:32fundamental civil liberty that every
72. 2:34American enjoys and imagine what it
73. 2:36would be like to live in a country like
74. 2:38this if you weren't allowed to be able
75. 2:40to offend yourself and of course an
76. 2:42impeachment trial is not a court of law
77. 2:45it's different but whether it's a court
78. 2:47of law or an administrative hearing
79. 2:49whether it's schoolyard Justice when one
80. 2:51kid hits another but the kid that hit
81. 2:53him wasn't the one who did it he's got
82. 2:55other boys he'd like to have tell the
83. 2:57teacher he didn't do it whether it's
84. 2:59that or whether it's an impeachment
85. 3:00process where you are seeking to remove
86. 3:02a governor who was twice elected by the
87. 3:04people I think fundamental fairness
88. 3:07fundamental Justice natural law and
89. 3:10constitutional rights suggest I should
90. 3:12be able to bring Witnesses in to say I
91. 3:14didn't do the things they said I did now
92. 3:18when I made that case to people they
93. 3:19listened to me and were supportive but
94. 3:22they also said to me if you feel so
95. 3:24strongly about a governor then why don't
96. 3:26you go to the Senate and tell them
97. 3:28yourself why don't you go there and tell
98. 3:30them instead of you just telling us and
99. 3:33so that's why I'm here I'm here to talk
100. 3:35to you and appeal to you to your sense
101. 3:37of fairness your sense of responsibility
102. 3:39your commitment to the Constitution your
103. 3:42commitment to basic fairness and I'm
104. 3:45asking you as I speak to you today to
105. 3:47imagine yourself walking in my shoes
106. 3:50think about you if someone said the
107. 3:52things that they've said about me and
108. 3:54you know you didn't do it but there's
109. 3:56been a rush to judgment and a an
110. 3:58evisceration of the Pres of Innocence
111. 4:01imagine how you would approach this and
112. 4:03what you would do think about if you
113. 4:05knew you were right and you were
114. 4:06innocent and you didn't do anything
115. 4:08wrong whether you should be rushed out
116. 4:10of office disgrace your family disgrace
117. 4:12your children and imply and imply that
118. 4:15you might have actually done the things
119. 4:16they said you did think about your
120. 4:19responsibilities when the people choose
121. 4:20you and you know you've kept your faith
122. 4:22with them but everybody else is saying
123. 4:24you didn't but if you quit and give up
124. 4:26and leave without having a chance to
125. 4:28prove your innocence how you've
126. 4:30abandoned them and you've quit on them
127. 4:32and You' violated your commitment to
128. 4:34them I'm here to give every possible
129. 4:37explanation to every one of these
130. 4:39allegations and I'm grateful that you've
131. 4:41at least given me that but I would hope
132. 4:43that maybe when you consider what I have
133. 4:45to say who knows maybe you'll reconsider
134. 4:48and give me a chance to call those
135. 4:50Witnesses I'd like to call and who knows
136. 4:52maybe you'll reconsider and give me a
137. 4:54chance to see if there's some possible
138. 4:56way where every one of those
139. 4:57conversations that were taped can be
140. 4:59right here before you so you can hear
141. 5:01all of them warts in all the truth
142. 5:04unadulterated truth maybe not flattering
143. 5:07in some cases but it's the truth and
144. 5:09there was never a conversation where I
145. 5:11intended to break any law so I'm here to
146. 5:14do what I can to explain to you my side
147. 5:16of the story