February 3, 2009
Newly impeached Rod Blagojevich takes on Letterman. Good questions delivered with Dave's usual in your face ha-ha disrespect. They're all hoping their interview makes it into the trial. You can see how nervous blago is. Don't blame him - every single media outlet loves barry ergo they hate blago. Imagine someone doing this to barry - whose people started it. Who has ever asked what barry said on those tapes? Can't exchange anything if someone doesn't come looking for something.
Transcript courtesy of Lynn Sweet.
Introduced with "I did in my way..."
Part 1
Dave: "Why exactly are you here, honest to God? (audience laughs)
Rod: (laughs) "Well, you know, I've been wanting to be on your show in the worst way for the longest time."Dave: "Well, you're on in the worst way, believe me." (audience laughs, applauds)
Rod: (laughs) "I sure am."
Dave: (laughs) "There's no getting around that."
Rod: "Well, I figured I had to get impeached and thrown out of office to get the chance to get invited by you.
PART 2
Dave: "But now, and again, you're dealing with a man who's largely ignorant of these matters, but I was under the impression that the reason you were not able to appropriately defend yourself during the impeachment was because of the scheduled criminal trial that will take place in the spring, and therefore, without that on the docket, you would have been able to defend yourself I so assume with witnesses and whatever means at your disposal but because you will now face criminal charges, they would not allow witnesses in the impeachment. Is that roughly what happened?"
Rod: "That's roughly what it is. They were alleging criminal activity that they were not required to prove up, they denied me the right to disprove it, and this is America where you have the right to confront witnesses and address false accusations, and my position was since you're not going to do it, because the prosecutor has his agenda and that's understandable, then take that off the impeachment and let's move on and wait for the court case, and give me the same presumption of innocence that you enjoy, that Paul enjoys, and that all of your guests enjoy - the presumption of innocence and the right to confront accusers who are falsely saying things that you didn't do."
[...]
Dave: "All right, so what have we got? What are we talking about there?"
Rod: "Well, I mean, you know, again, that speaks for itself - there's not a single criminal act in that conversation. I was afraid you were going to have some of those other tapes where I sounded like Christian Bale..." (audience laughs) "And had I known somebody was listening I would not have said some of those words, but these were private conversations with top staff."
Dave: "But what is it - is money going to change hands?"
Rod: "Oh no, campaign contributions, commitment to raise money."
Dave: "In return for some favorable treatment for the track owners?"
Rod: "No, absolutely not."
Dave: "And why did you need the money before the end of the year?"
And of course the hair. At least he didn't touch it like Joy Behar.
Rod: "The way the fundraising works is there's two reporting periods: you report at the end of June, you report at the end of December. And then you ask people who are helping you to meet deadlines. And there was a commitment that had been made actually long before December of this year. And it was just to be able to get it in for the filing reports so you can disclose the contributions that you receive, everything that every politician does."
Dave: "So we listen to that, and you're saying to me that we want to hear the worst so we do hear the worst, but that little exchange couldn't have been more innocent, is that correct?"
Rod: "I think that that speaks for itself and again, there are hours of conversations. If the whole story is heard, you'll see a lot of different things and you know, the end result will show a decision and a process that was right for the people of Illinois. That's why I'm certain of being vindicated."
Dave: "So, in your mind, you're fairly certain that after the criminal trial, you'll be declared innocent and people will say, 'Holy God, we bounced the guy. He was completely innocent. He really should still be our governor.'"
Rod: "Yes, I do believe that and I believe it will be a historic result. And I believe that impeachment that they did last week was a hijacking of a governor elected twice by the people without proving any wrongdoing, without giving that governor elected by the people, not so much about me, but the people who elected me, the right to be able to show that I didn't do anything wrong."
Dave: "Do you use shampoo and conditioner?" (Rod, audience laugh; audience applauds) "Or is it two separate - because they've got a thing, I use it." (audience laughs, applauds)
Rod: (laughs) "Right."
PART 3
DL: "All right. Rod Blagojevich. How do you -- I don't know in terms of protocol whether I address you as Governor, because you in fact did hold the office for a term and a half. Or if I refer to you as Ex-Governor. But what is it - how does it feel like to be introduced as the former Governor of Illinois under the circumstance? It must hurt, right?"
RB: "Of course it does. It's obviously not something I planned on. And everything changed when this happened in early December. But you know, you get up every single day and you keep embracing the truth, and you're confident of what the result will be and you've got to stand strong.
[...]
DL: "And when did you first learn of the investigation?"
RB: "Um...first, and let me say this, the U.S. Attorney, the prosecutor - and I used to be a prosecutor, and I view them as the good guys. And I keep thinking that maybe one day, you know, I'll wake up and they'll realize that this is just one big misunderstanding. But they've been scrutinizing Mayor Daly in Chicago, they've been scrutinizing me, as well as other politicians. And that's not necessarily unhealthy. Cause it keeps everybody to make sure they do things right. But this really began some time - I first learned of it, I think back in 2004."
DL: "And why were they looking into your activities then?"
RB: "Not mine, they were looking at a friend of mine - a contributor of mine, and other political figures - on some of his activities. And that was the first inkling of it.
He is talking about Tony Rezko - the very same Rezko that barry was involved with. The very same Rezko who barry bought his house with when Rezko was already under investigation by the very same people blago is being investigated by. The very same Rezko whose indictment barry was named in. The very same Rezko who was barry's first and primary fundraiser and who raised at least $250K for barry (as an official barry campaign finance advisor) in his US senate run -- $10k directly from a pay to play scheme for which Rezko was convicted. Up until a few days ago (until the impeachment was finalized), Rezko was still in solitary confinement to get him to talk. Problem is, whatever Rezko reveals can be traced back to barry. It's why Rezko refused to cooperate with the feds initially and why he has been in solitary confinement for months. Wake up folks. When you laugh at blago for getting involved with play to play while he's under investigation - barry did the same thing and used the money to finance his Senate Seat in the first place.
DL: "And what was your reaction then? Were you outraged? Or just business as usual? Or what did you think?"
RB: "No, the first thing I did was I had our Inspector General - an independent Inspector General, that hadn't existed before I was Governor - we created that through the law. Then State Senator Barack Obama helped pass that law. [pay to play]. This friend [rezko] is the friend who is very close to Barack Obama as well. And when I learned of this, the first thing I did was I told my Chief of Staff to have the Inspector General investigate it. And look into it. And then events unfolded and --"
[...]
DL: "Now did that - was that before or after you learned you were under investigation?
RB: "This was a little bit after that. And let me say, it wasn't that I was under investigation, the first inkling, it was that the supporter [REZKO] was. It wasn't me."
DL: "I understand. So how are things with you and Dad now? (audience laughs)
RB: "He's reaching out to his daughter and his grandkids. And wants to be helpful during this hard time."
DL: "And has he owned up to it? Has he acknowledged that, "Yeah, I called him in because I was upset about you closing down..."
RB: "No, He retracted the -"
DL: "Oh, so he retracted it."
RB: "He retracted it a few weeks after it all happened. Look, when you do something like that, you open up a whole hornet's nest and a Pandora's box and it's hard to put those furies back in the box.
Didn't disappoint - he got his literary reference and the Elvis is coming.
PART 4
DL: What will you be doing now between this moment and the beginning of the trial?
RB: Well, I'm looking for work. Are you hiring?
DL; Yeah. Are we ever.
RB: This looks like a fun place to work.
DL: Oh it is - it's nothing but fun.
RB: Elvis performed here, didn't he?
DL: That's right.
RB: ...1956?
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