Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

* UPDATED x2 * Blagojevich reprimanded by judge

Posted in:

Illinois
Obama
Blagojevich Trial

*** UPDATE 1 *** If you’re not reading the Sun-Times’ Blago Blog, you’re just not informed…

Rod Blagojevich, Tony Rezko, Chris Kelly and Lon Monk used code names for themselves “when talking about the four of us making money,” Monk said — “1, 2, 3, 4.”

Monk said in 2007 or 2008, when he and Blagojevich were alone in Blago’s office, they discussed an FBI investigation.

Blagojevich told Monk not to ever talk about the “1, 2, 3, 4″ reference.

Monk on the stand silently mimicked Blagojevich’s actions, putting up his fingers one at a time, then running a single finger across his throat.

Blagojevich is clearly upset, unsettled in his chair. He leaned forward and stared right at Monk. But at Monk’s gesture, Blagojevich sat back hard in his chair and appeared to mutter something.

*** UPDATE 2 *** Barack Obama killed two birds with one stone, according to Lon Monk’s testimony today…

Monk told the court that Blagojevich told him he had made a deal with then-Illinois Senate President Emil Jones not to call a vote on a proposed ethics bill that would have limited campaign contributions to the governor. Monk said that Blagojevich felt the bill wasn’t fair, as it only targeted the state’s executive branch, and was also concerned that its specific restrictions would greatly hinder Blagojevich’s fundraising.

Jones had the power to stymie the ethics bill by not calling it for a vote. In exchange for Jones’ cooperation, Monk testified, Blagojevich told Monk that he had promised to appoint Jones to Barack Obama’s U.S. Senate seat if Obama won the presidency. Monk said he was “surprised.”

However, Monk said that John Harris, Blagojevich’s chief of staff, told him that Obama had called Jones and urged him to call the bill. Ultimately Jones did, and the state Senate voted to override Blagojevich’s amendatory veto. The bill passed and became law on January 1, 2009.

[ *** End of Updates *** ]

* Judge Zagel is running a tight ship…

Prosecutor Reid Schar started the morning by complaining that Blagojevich was gesturing inappropriately to people in the courtroom. Schar said jurors were distracted by his gesturing.

He said Blagojevich made it “audibly clear in his displeasure continuously looking over, gesturing to people in the pews.”

Schar said it was “not proper decorum. It’s clearly distracting.”

Blagojevich, sitting down, frowned.

Zagel told him to stop. “By and large it’s for their own benefit,” he said.

* The defendant’s wife will have to leave for a bit…

Patti #Blagojevich is told she has to leave court during some Monk testimony. that’s b/c Patti will testify for defense later.

* Mark Brown sees a gaping hole in Lon Monk’s testimony…

Reluctant or not, Monk is an essential part of the government’s case — a co-conspirator who puts Blagojevich in the room when the alleged insider schemes to make money off state government were first hatched.

But the nagging problem I see is that there were only four people total in that room.

One of them — Christopher Kelly — is dead, a suicide victim who had no interest in being the one to corroborate Monk’s story. Another, Tony Rezko, is not expected to be a prosecution witness because he has a credibility gap that probably makes anything he’d have to say useless, his penchant for deception a matter of detailed public record.

Without Rezko, that seems to make it Monk’s word against Blago’s because, again as far as I know, there’s no paper trail to help prove the governor was in on the plotting. […]

The various ideas were supposed to produce hundreds of thousands of dollars for the four men to divide equally, but Monk and Blagojevich wouldn’t get their share until after Blagojevich left office.

Monk says Blagojevich attended these meetings on how to use his position to make money, paid attention to the discussion, and that it was understood that he would have to “take certain actions as governor to help the plans.” But he says no specific actions were ever discussed.

It’s not that I have a hard time believing this really happened. It’s just that I have a hard time seeing how the government proves it. At best, maybe it makes some of the other crimes of which Blagojevich is accused easier to understand.

* And Ted Cox chronicles the scene outside…

It’s not a media circus surrounding the Blagojevich corruption trial so much as it’s a carnival midway with freaks, geeks and barkers all trying to attract attention.

Go read the whole thing.

* Roundup…

* Former Blagojevich Aide To Resume Testimony

* Monk has his say in court at Blago trial

* Lon Monk Testifies of Plans to Turn State Power to Cash

* Longtime friend outlines Blagojevich’s role in hatching allegedly illicit deals

* Blagojevich Aide Talks About Emanuel, Bear Stearns

* Blagojevich trial: Former top aide Monk takes stand

* Former Blago Aide: What We Did Was Wrong

* Blagojevich conspiracy began in 2003, Monk testifies

* Betrayed by a Friend

* Former Staff Member Bob Arya Talks About the Blagojevich Trial

* A tattoo tribute to Blagojevich

* Sneed: Rod’s biographer: Book ‘em

* The Governor and the Columnist

* Constable: Finally under the spotlight he craves, Blago tries to slip into shadows

* Every day, a sideshow before the Blagojevich trial starts

* Kass: Democrats not only party in trough with Blago

* Former Wheaton couple follows Blagojevich

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Jun 10, 10 @ 10:25 am

Comments

I think Chicago Publius is Mark Brown, lol.

Monk is the first witness. He is an admitted co-conspirator, explaining for the jury how the conspiracy started and how it was supposed to work. Monk’s testimony is providing context for additional evidence to come later, namely the tape recordings.

If the prosecution’s case was based solely on Monk, Brown would have a good point. But Monk is simply the narrator of the story, and there will be additional evidence presented to corroborate his version of events.

It might look like “he-said, he-said” today, but there is more coming. Adam needs to find a way to change the narrative or undermine Monk’s credibility.

Comment by 47th Ward Thursday, Jun 10, 10 @ 10:37 am
Blago broke the laws that govern all of us. Now in hindsight he’s being portrayed as making mistakes.
Mistakes and laws are two separate things.
He was always above any laws and now he wants us to believe they were mistakes.
Actions have consequences!

Comment by Kendall County Thursday, Jun 10, 10 @ 10:47 am
Ted Cox is the dreamiest.

Comment by soccermom Thursday, Jun 10, 10 @ 10:53 am
47th Ward is correct, think of Monk as the Christmas tree, later witness will be hanging the ornaments and lights.

Comment by Madame Defarge Thursday, Jun 10, 10 @ 11:03 am
Madame Defarge - you use the term “hanging” well!

Comment by Fed Up Thursday, Jun 10, 10 @ 11:07 am
I’m not sure what Brown is talking about. The government has Blago on tape hatching his schemes. They don’t need a corroborating witness-they have a corroborating defendant.

Comment by Phineas J. Whoopee Thursday, Jun 10, 10 @ 11:11 am
I can hear it now, those voices on the tapes weren’t Rod & Patti.
They were babysitters.
LOL

Comment by Northside Bunker Thursday, Jun 10, 10 @ 11:15 am
One assumes that the prosecution is leading its case with its best shots. So far we have seen them discuss the Children Hospital, in a appeal to the heartstrings, followed by Lon Monk.

If we assume for a moment that Brown’s analysis is correct, it is fairly easy to counter the Feds with the he said-she said argument, especially since Monk has pled down. One has a hard time imagining what supporting evidence the prosecution has for this claim. A paper trail is highly unlikely, and any other supporting evidence would be in Blago’s defense team’s hands already. I would have imagined they would have “leaked” this information in the time leading up to the trial, and their refutations of the claims.

This trial might just be the most entertaining thing I watched in Illinois since the Ryan trial.

Comment by Cincinnatus Thursday, Jun 10, 10 @ 11:16 am
Maybe I’m wrong but I don’t think Blago is charged with conspiring to steal money back in 2003; the government is using his former chief of staff and best friend to show what kind of a snake we elected Governor.

This testimony is absolutely devastating and unimpeachable. sheesh.

Comment by Phineas J. Whoopee Thursday, Jun 10, 10 @ 11:37 am
The judge is going to have a hard time keeping the defendant and his lawyers in line. So now the dimwit gets reprimanded for too much gesturing and visibly reacting to testimony. What is he, four years old? His lawyers have been warned not to yell at the witnesses. Even OJ knew enough to sit still and take a few notes. We may see a new low in court room decorum.

Comment by Stooges Thursday, Jun 10, 10 @ 11:58 am
Stooges,

You said,

“We may see a new low in court room decorum.”

Be honest, deep in your heart, dontcha kinda hope so?

Comment by Cincinnatus Thursday, Jun 10, 10 @ 12:11 pm
Remember, the Feds got the Ryan jury to convict w/o showing anything directly flowing into Ryan’s pocket, but through implication…and they didn’t have tapes to spin.

Comment by D.P. Gumby Thursday, Jun 10, 10 @ 12:21 pm
Mark Brown point misses te mark. The case consists primarily of peices of cicumstantial evidence, tied to what we know. There are a number of recorded phone calles with blago and other decisions that occured by or through him which support Monk’s testimony. In fact, many of the State’s actions and decisions make little sense absent such decision.

For example, why halt, slow down a payment to a hospital? Why refer to a senate seat as golden? why turn over appointments and control of boards to a couple of guys who then turn around and funnel undred of thousands of dollars in business to Patti etc.

Comment by Ghost Thursday, Jun 10, 10 @ 12:34 pm
Gumby, and the Ryan attorneys hardly ever objected to hearsay evidence.

Does the jury understand that Chris Kelly killed himself over all of this?

Comment by PPHS Thursday, Jun 10, 10 @ 12:40 pm
Rezko put the feds in a neat little trick bag when he sent and released to the press the letter to the judge that said the feds were pressuring him to lie about Blago and Obama.

If the feds call him, the letter becomes fair game. If Blago calls him, he opens himself up to a lot of trouble, too.

Will someone please tells us where Rezko is? Or ask the federales? What’s his status? If he’s not in Witness Protection, shouldn’t it be a public record?

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Jun 10, 10 @ 12:53 pm
===Does the jury understand that Chris Kelly killed himself over all of this? ===

The jury cannot be told that Kelly killed himself.

Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Jun 10, 10 @ 12:59 pm
==One assumes that the prosecution is leading its case with its best shots. ==

Not necessarily. They lead with a very weak hand in the Rezko case, and then sucker punched him after his defense had bet the farm on the “you can’t believe this lying drug addict” response. They never saw it coming.

Comment by Justme Thursday, Jun 10, 10 @ 1:02 pm
Lon Monk was Rod’s college buddy and reported to him. That makes him pretty credible in any he-said, she-said.

Furthermore, the governor’s defense seems to be he was just “wondering aloud” when he was conspiring to commit crimes. He can’t make that argument AND deny the conversations happened.

In the end, it comes down to “reasonable doubt.” Prosecutors don’t have to prove Blago is guilty beyond ALL doubt, and given public opinion about politicians, I’d say the deck is stacked against him.

Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Thursday, Jun 10, 10 @ 1:08 pm
Dennis Miiler’s take
http://video.foxnews.com/v/4233688/dennis-miller-locked-and-loaded

Comment by Northside Bunker Thursday, Jun 10, 10 @ 1:08 pm
Blagojevich is clearly upset, unsettled in his chair. He leaned forward and stared right at Monk. But at Monk’s gesture, “Blagojevich sat back hard in his chair and appeared to mutter something. He’s now trying to be contained, hands folded before him.”
This is only day 6!
Blago’s gonna go nuclear sooner than later.

Comment by Kendall County Thursday, Jun 10, 10 @ 1:15 pm
47 is correct. Monk is the narrator in much the way Slimy Stu Levine was the narrator. People thought his destruction as a witness would kill the Rezko case. But it was just a set-up for other evidence. In short, stay tuned!

Comment by Chicago Cynic Thursday, Jun 10, 10 @ 1:21 pm
PPHS - co-conspirator statements made in furtherance of the conspiracy are non-hearsay. That’s how the government will try to get in all of Kelly’s statements, for example. But to get them in you have to show a conspiracy, that the statement relates to it during the active phase, and eventually have to corroborate it in some way.

Setting up this exception was the reason for the government’s proffer of evidence filed about a month ago. Kelly’s a problem on 6th Amendment grounds, too, but if they just keep it to his statements in furtherance of the conspiracy it should be okay.

Comment by Berkeley Bear Thursday, Jun 10, 10 @ 1:50 pm
Don’t be swayed on little bit. Monk is doing what he has to do for self-preservation. I can’t wait to see who else testifies for the prosecution. Rod’s inner circle sur consisted of more than just Monk, Resko and Kelly. Like I said before, the birds started singing a long time ago.

Comment by WARDOG Thursday, Jun 10, 10 @ 2:01 pm
OK, so Lon is “setting the table,” as they say.

Even so, Lon isn’t really putting a lot of dishes on the table. And the dishes themselves don’t have much food on them.

So far, he hasn’t alleged a particular conspiracy (e.g., let’s extort money from A). Rather, he’s alleged a kind of goal (e.g., let’s get some money for ourselves and the campaign).

But case law is pretty clear on this: when it comes to conspiracies, it’s hard to convict based on soft agreement by which people agree that they will move toward a goal. It’s much more easy to convict based on a conspiracy for a particular means - that is, a particular crime. And as far as the reports are concerned, Lon hasn’t identified a particular crime that 1-2-3-4 might have conspired to commit. Rather, he recalls only “8 or 9″ methods. So, at least at this juncture, the feds haven’t laid the foundation for a conspiracy. Instead, they’ve laid the foundation for a RICO count - that is, an ongoing enterprise. So be it. But if the Supreme Court tosses out the “honest services” aspect of the RICO charges, the feds are going to have to do a much better job of proving up the more traditional and hard crimes, including an actual agreement among conspirators to commit an actual crime.

All this means that the defense’s argument pretty much writes itself: Lon’s memory of the grand meeting never happened; they never proved that it happened; and if it did happen, it wasn’t a conspiracy. Instead, it was exactly how Lon described it: Tony R. got up to the blackboard; he outlined “8 or 9″ amorphous ways to raise money; we never agreed on any of these methods; we never agreed on nothing; it was all speculative and amorphous; and no one - especially Blago - did anthing to execute any of Rezko’s fanciful visions.

Thus far, no conspiracy.

Comment by chicago publius Thursday, Jun 10, 10 @ 2:10 pm
cp, you’re not paying very close attention, and you fail to realize that we’re only into the second day of Monk’s testimony.

Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Jun 10, 10 @ 2:15 pm
Rich -

Thanks for pointing out to the obvious to cp.

As for the narrative, am I correct that Mr. Blagojevich’s other chief-of-staff — Mr. Harris — will also be testifying?

Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Thursday, Jun 10, 10 @ 2:31 pm
You’re correct about the Sun - Times Blago Blog. It’s great.

According to it Obama might have saved Emil Jones’ bacon with a phone call.

Comment by Leave a light on George Thursday, Jun 10, 10 @ 3:03 pm
When I wrote “no conspiracy” I also wrote “thus far.”

I’m not predicting an outcome, just looking at where we are today.

And thus far, the feds don’t have a conspiracy. Take a look at some case law, and you’ll see what I mean.

Comment by chicago publius Thursday, Jun 10, 10 @ 3:09 pm
CP under the law the statements to use the office for finacial gain and hide that gain and divy i up later is a consipracy. It is illeal to use the polical job for personal financial gain, and the plan to hide the money in various accounts to conceal the crime is a conspiracy.

Comment by Ghost Thursday, Jun 10, 10 @ 3:35 pm
CP since Monk is not the final witness or even done himself your observations are irrelevant.

Comment by Madame Defarge Thursday, Jun 10, 10 @ 4:00 pm
If you have a lot of time on your hands — like your full time gig is being ForestClaypool/ScottLeeCohen petition passer — you might check the number of comments on the “media” links Capt Fax has posted. Most have zero, some like Kass has the 10 psuedo name his mom uses to convince the Tower he has readers.
It suggests that the world might not be riveted
Capt Fax gets readers because he has the entire state work force available from 8:35 to 4:25 every day
Speaking of 4:25 looks like it is time to wash up. Furlough day tomorrow. See ya Monday.

Comment by CircularFiringSquad Thursday, Jun 10, 10 @ 4:03 pm
CFS,

Speaking of the world and not being riveted, the Birge trial is a MUCH bigger story than Rod’s trial and is getting almost zero attention. Rhodes and Conroy are the only two giving it anything more than page 29 treatment. What a travesty.

Comment by 47th Ward Thursday, Jun 10, 10 @ 4:10 pm
*Rhodes and Conroy are the only two giving it anything more than page 29 treatment. What a travesty.*

WBEZ deserves credit for following it closely as well.

Comment by Montrose Thursday, Jun 10, 10 @ 4:25 pm
Ah, I see my favorite ex-DNR Director, “Golf Trail” Granberg’s name has come up in the testimony. Wonder why the defense hasn’t subpeonaed him?

Comment by Leave a light on George Thursday, Jun 10, 10 @ 4:30 pm
Hey, Leave, you been thinking about your screen name after the trial ends?

Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Jun 10, 10 @ 4:35 pm
I have a while. Appeals are sure to follow.

Comment by Leave a light on George Thursday, Jun 10, 10 @ 4:47 pm
Speaking of missing the news

Here’s a little folo on RxRon…..”Stephens, 62, pleaded guilty to a DUI last month. In March, Decatur police pulled Stephens over with a blood alcohol count of 0.101, well above the legal limit of 0.08. Stephens told police he was on his way home from a dinner party.”

We are sure many of us go 2 hours away — like Decatur — to get buzzed and a bite. Anyone wondering if the media will ever really report this one?

Comment by CircularFiringSquad Thursday, Jun 10, 10 @ 6:33 pm
Rich, you’ll probably have some Hawks-related music clip to end Friday with, but may I nominate instead, in honor of Monk’s testimony this week, Feist’s “1,2,3,4″ song.

“1,2,3,4,
five, six, nine or ten -
money can’t buy you back
the love that you had then”

Comment by Some Guy Thursday, Jun 10, 10 @ 9:15 pm