Thaindian News

Chicago, Feb 11 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Former Governor Rod Blagojevich has pleaded not guilty to the revised federal corruption charges, and he also challenged the prosecutors to allow jurors to hear all of the FBI’s recordings of his telephone conversations. Former Governor Rod Blagojevich told the media that he would not ask Judge James B. Zagel to prevent the jurors from listening to the FBI wiretaps in which prosecutors say he schemed to sell or trade President Obama’s former Senate seat. “Let me cut right to the chase, today I’m laying down the gauntlet. I’m not going to hide behind my lawyers, nor will I hide behind technicalities in the law to try to block these tapes from being heard. I’m not just going to talk the talk, I’m going to walk the walk,” he said. “Play the tapes, play all the tapes.”

His lawyers also filed papers in court on Wednesday, which said that if all the jurors listened to all the phone recordings, then the innocence of their client Rod Blagojevich would be established. Rod said that his lawyers have petitioned the court that every second, every minute, every hour that the government secretly taped him, is to be showcased to both the sides, and also be heard in court.

Finally the decision to administer the recordings at the trial, and the amount of them to be played in front of the jury, would be taken by Zagel. Former Governor Rod Blagojevich also said that he would take the witness stand in his trial, to defend himself.