Transcript of Blagojevich wire taps

For anyone interested in the Blagojevich circus, this is a transcript of
one of the phone calls in question during his trial. The tapes were kept
secret and he pushed for them to be published. It is still unclear why he would want the tapes played - if anything they are in bad taste, particularly around page 2, line 29.


DATE: 11/04/2008
TIME: 12:19 P.M.
ACTIVITY: Rod Blagojevich home line incoming call.
SESSION: 218
SPEAKERS:
BLAGOJEVICH: Rod Blagojevich
GREENLEE: Robert Greenlee
* * * * *
1 * * * * *
2 BLAGOJEVICH Anyway, O-, Obama's gonna win a
3 landslide and we'll just operate under
4 that, and I'm on the phone with Doug.
5 He's always fucking fighting against, I
6 can't take the Senate seat. And I can't
7 stand that, his attitude. What's his
8 fucking, angle, what's his motivation?
9 He says, "it's gonna be awful,
10 everybody's gonna resent you for it",
11 you know, and then, he's making it sound
12 like my fellow senators would resent me,
13 which I find ridiculous.
14 GREENLEE Yeah, I, I find it ridiculous that your
15 fellow senators would care.
16 BLAGOJEVICH Yeah.
17 GREENLEE Um, look, you know, I don't think he has
18 a motivation. I'm, I'm sure he's just
19 giving you his opinion.
20 BLAGOJEVICH Oh he's got some, there's some
21 motivation in it on him. There's
22 somethin', he's generally got my, he's
23 got a little motivation, I don't know
24 what it is. He's worried Quinn's gonna
25 in-, institute all kinds of
26 investigations. He'll, he'll order
27 investigations on every contract that we
28 issued...
29 GREENLEE Mm-hmm.

PAGE 2

1 BLAGOJEVICH ...he's saying that. Okay, so let,
2 let's analyze that, war game that. What
3 about that? So what? U.S. Attorney's
4 looking at 'em anyway.
5 GREENLEE Yeah, it's, I mean, look, if you wanna
6 look at the crassest possible
7 motivation, then he has, like, you know,
8 it's harder for him to keep clients.
9 BLAGOJEVICH I mean, yeah, isn't it?
10 GREENLEE Yeah, but...
11 BLAGOJEVICH Isn't that what they're thinking?
12 GREENLEE I re-, I mean, look, I would suspect
13 that's the, you know, that's the
14 crassest motivation. I gotta tell you,
15 I don-, I would expect more from him and
16 I, I guess I'm hesitant to say that
17 that's his motivation. That may just be
18 his opinion.
19 BLAGOJEVICH It's a sub-conscious thing. He's a
20 great guy. He's not, this is not a bad
21 thing on Doug. I, Doug is a good, good
22 person, but sub-consciously, I think
23 he's trying, he, his first reaction is,
24 ooh, I don't want him to leave, I don't
25 want him to, you know, and so now he's
26 trying to, just quickly, his mind is
27 operating, coming up with reasons on why
28 it's bad. You know, and I yelled at
29 him, and I said, "you know...my upward
30 trajectory is fucking stalled if not
31 fucking terminally wounded, you know, by
32 Obama now." Okay?
33 GREENLEE Mm-hmm.
34 BLAGOJEVICH You know? "For the last, better than
35 two decade, uh, you know, decades, I've
36 made decisions at the expense of my
37 family's best interests, for my
38 political career and you, you know, my
39 job as governor." You know?

PAGE 3

1 GREENLEE Yeah.
2 BLAGOJEVICH And, you know, "because I'm, you know,
3 the, this, his election blocks me now
4 from any immediate upward mo-, movement
5 or, you know, maybe never have any
6 upward movement. Then, you know, now is
7 the time for me to put my fucking
8 children and my wife first, for a
9 change."
10 GREENLEE Mm-hmm.
11 BLAGOJEVICH Does that make sense Qui-, Greenlee?
12 GREENLEE Yeah. Look I, that's how I feel
13 strongly.
14 BLAGOJEVICH Yeah. You know...fuck Bill Knapp and
15 fucking Fred, and all these fucking
16 consultants who I listened to at the
17 expense of my fucking family. Okay?
18 And then I, I started venting...you
19 know, part of my vent was, "yeah, and
20 what have I gotten for-? Oh, the people
21 are gonna fucking be mad and the fucking
22 newspapers are gonna rip me for this?"
23 Okay? "I fucking busted my ass and
24 pissed people off and gave your
25 grandmother a free fucking ride on a
26 bus. Okay? I gave your fucking baby a
27 chance to have health care. I fought
28 every one of those assholes including
29 every special interest out there, who
30 can make my life easier and better,
31 because they wanna raise taxes on you
32 and I won't, I, I fight them and keep
33 them from doing it. And what do I get
34 for that? Only thirteen percent of you
35 all out there think I'm doing a good
36 job. So fuck all of you. Not to
37 mention the fact that I'm a fucking,
38 criminal investigations and my family's
39 in jeopardy."
40 GREENLEE Yep.

PAGE 4

1 BLAGOJEVICH "I should worry because, you know, the
2 thirteen percent who approve of me
3 might, I might lose them too?" (Laughs)
4 You know what I'm saying?
5 GREENLEE Mm-hmm. I, look, I gotta tell you...
6 I'm not, I'm not moved by that, I mean I
7 think it means it makes it hard if you
8 were gonna try to run again, for that
9 position. It's ha-, hard, make it
10 harder to hold it, so you have time to
11 regain that. The uh, the only worry you
12 have, and this is maybe where Doug's
13 going is, you have to worry, will they,
14 you gotta make sure they seat you...
15 * * * * *

Muhammed Salah - Innocent of terrorism charges

From a bulletin sent by the Council on American Islamic Relations:

THE MUHAMMAD SALAH BOTTOMLINE

(Chicago, IL 2/01/07) - For many years now, Mr. Muhammad Salah lived life in the infamy of being labeled as the only designated US terrorist. He suffered the repercussions of this judgment, long before he could face an open and fair trial in a US Court of law. His assets were frozen, and his life shattered. His family carried the burden of this label to their schools, workplaces, and to the local supermarket.

Today at the completion of an emotionally tolling trial on Mr. Salah and his family, the final verdict is out.

Though, he was found guilty of obstructing justice, he was found not guilty of racketeering – the major charge. The third charge of providing material support to a terrorist organization had been dropped mid-trial.

And so, here's the final word: Mr. Muhammad Salah is neither a terrorist nor a criminal for having supplied charitable aid to the most vulnerable factions of his occupied and war-ravaged country of origin, Palestine; a jury of his peers understand that to be true.

Our justice system has affirmed what many in his family have long claimed, that Muhammad Salah, a conscientious and upright family man and community member was only guilty of being a bold Palestinian activist. His fate is one that befalls many of his kind. It is to my personal relief, that our justice system is where the buck stops on the political persecution of the embattled Palestinian people.

My sense of pride in our court system, however, comes with reservation. Justice as we know it in America involves more than just an endpoint, it invovles the process of how to get there. And while the verdict vindicates Salah and his name, the process, the trial, raises questions for those of us who are concerned about the rule of law, and the sanctity of our constitutional rights.

As a civil rights organization, our aspiration is to see every American granted his or her full rights under any and all circumstances.

Muhammad Salah's right to a fair trial was forgone when the court decided to accept statements he made under torture. It is a cause for concern to the American people when a U.S. court endorses foreign interrogation methods and detention practices that would be considered illegal under U.S. law.

Mr. Salah was systematically tortured by the Israeli Secret Service and interrogated for 80 days. In some countries, such brutality is typically used to break down the psychological condition of a suspect. Because the manner in which the confession was extracted would be inadmissible in the United States, it is repugnant to the public policy of American courts.

Muhammad Salah's 6th Amendment right to a public trial was also violated when the court ruled that portions of the suppression hearings and trial would be closed to the public.

Also, Muhammad Salah's due process rights were violated when his assets were frozen before he could have the opportunity to defend himself in a public trial.

We hope that the suffering of the Salah family is over. We also hope that the "terrorism" label be reserved in the future for those found guilty of that charge in an open and fair trail administered in a respected court of law.