Blago trial: The alibi is gone

From the Tribune…




[Blagojevich and chief of staff John Harris] talked about the idea of boosting their position by floating a false story that Blagojevich might want to appoint Illinois Senate President Emil Jones, a political ally, or even Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, the daughter of Blagojevich’s nemesis, Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.


Assistant U.S. Attorney Carrie Hamilton spent time with Harris chopping away at the Madigan proposal, which Blagojevich has claimed was his intention all along. Following his arrest, Blagojevich said he wasn’t trying to sell the Senate seat but rather was seeking to name Madigan to the post in a political deal to get her father to stop impeding his legislative agenda in Springfield.


Harris, however, testified that it was clear to him that Lisa Madigan’s name was being dangled as a “stalking horse” to make Obama think he might not land the Senate post for Jarrett unless he offered an enticement to Blagojevich.


“(Madigan) would be the person that’s in the race but not necessarily the person we want to win the race,” Harris told the prosecutor. “I believed at the time that she wouldn’t be interested. It was kind of a high-risk strategy.”






From the tapes…


BLAGOJEVICH We, you know, then we gotta figure out the Madigan play if there is one, right?


HARRIS Right. […]


BLAGOJEVICH Negotiating with Madigan and suggesting his daughter, and then can’t make a deal with him that I’m gonna be satisfied with, right?


HARRIS Right.


BLAGOJEVICH Then I end up using my ace in the hole and I send myself. Right?


HARRIS Right.


BLAGOJEVICH Among the reasons I ended up having to fall back on this position was I couldn’t get the Democratic speaker and party chairman to agree that if I sent his daughter to the U.S. Senate all he had to do in exchange for that was to provide health care, pass a health care plan that Obama supports, a job’s plan that Obama supports and balance the budget without raising taxes on people which is what Obama was elected on. Right?


HARRIS Right.

And I listened to the entire conversation between Blago and Harris from the USDOJ website. Pretty damaging stuff.