en.wikipedia.org
In December 2008, then-
Governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich and his
Chief of Staff John Harris were charged with corruption by federal prosecutor
Patrick Fitzgerald. As a result, Blagojevich was
impeached by the
Illinois General Assembly and removed from office by the
Illinois Senate in January 2009. The federal investigation continued after his removal from office, and he was
indicted on corruption charges in April of that year.
[3] The jury found Blagojevich guilty of one charge of making false statements with a
mistrial being declared on the other 23 counts due to a
hung jury after 14 days of
jury deliberation.
[4] On June 27, 2011, after a retrial, Blagojevich was found guilty of 17 charges (including wire fraud, attempted extortion, and conspiracy to solicit bribes), not guilty on one charge and the jury deadlocked after 10 days of deliberation on the two remaining charges.
[5][6] On December 7, 2011, Blagojevich was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
[7]
The investigation became public knowledge when a federal judge revealed that Blagojevich was the "Public Official A" in the indictment of
Tony Rezko. The case gained widespread attention with the simultaneous arrests of Blagojevich and Harris on the morning of December 9, 2008 at their homes by federal agents.
[8][9] Blagojevich and Harris were each charged with one count of
conspiracy to commit
mail and
wire fraud and one count of soliciting bribes. The case involved sweeping
pay to play and
influence peddling allegations, including the alleged solicitation of personal benefit in exchange for an appointment to the
U.S. Senate as a replacement for
Barack Obama, who had resigned after being elected
U.S. President (see
bribery).
[10] U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald noted that there had been no evidence of wrongdoing by Obama.
[11]
After the arrest, Illinois elected officials began calling on Blagojevich to resign. The 50 members of the U.S. Senate's Democratic caucus called on Blagojevich to not appoint a senator and pledged not to seat anyone he attempted to appoint. Legislators introduced bills in both houses of the
Illinois General Assembly to remove the Governor's power to appoint a senator and require a special election; however, no such bill passed. Blagojevich did eventually appoint
Roland Burris to the seat. Despite attempts to keep Burris from taking the seat in the U.S. Senate, he was eventually allowed to take the oath of office. Within days of Blagojevich's arrest,
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan filed a motion with the
Illinois Supreme Court seeking to declare the Governor "unable to serve" and strip him of the powers of his office. The court denied the request. Meanwhile,
Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan (the Attorney General's father) announced that on December 16 he would begin impeachment proceedings. The
state House impeached Blagojevich on January 9, 2009, and the
state Senate convicted him 20 days later, thereby removing him; they also disqualified him from holding further office in the state.
[12]
It was wrong when Blagovich did it for a fucking senate seat
Its ten times as wrong when a president does it with our money to get a cheap shot political attack against a potential 2020 rival
