The attorney for Robert Blagojevich, Michael Ettinger, tried Monday to highlight his client’s flippant tone during a key wiretapped telephone conversation between the Blagojevich brothers on Dec. 4, 2008.
At the time, Robert Blagojevich testified, he was trying to share a moment with his wife at a Starbucks while Rod Blagojevich was chewing his ear off about the pending Senate seat appointment.
According to the transcript, Robert Blagojevich repeatedly responded to his brother with “yeah,” “uh huh,” or “mm hmm” (eight times), which he said were his attempts to move the conversation along.
“I didn’t want to talk to him,” Robert Blagojevich said of his brother. “I thought he was being rude.”
Robert Blagojevich’s testimony echoes a similar theme mentioned earlier by several witnesses for the prosecution: Placating the governor.
In the phone conversation, Rod Blagojevich told his brother that U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. was now being elevated in consideration for the seat and that Robert Blagojevich was to communicate this to the congressman’s political supporter Raghuveer Nayak. Robert Blagojevich consented to the order.
As the phone call unfolded, Robert Blagojevich became more verbose, and gave his brother vague warnings about the political complications of picking Jackson.
“He’s my brother,” Robert Blagojevich said on the stand. “I’m trying to get him to, if he’s going to listen to me in any way, I want him to think of the consequences of that political maneuver.”
Robert Blagojevich continued: “I just wanted him to think through fully so that his life didn’t get more complicated than it was.”
So Obama will require a brand new chief of staff. I’m wondering with the new modification we’ll catch sight of a softening in a few of the social policies or will it be the similar game as per standard. You cannot condemn Rahm Emanuel for aspiring for advanced office as well as a possible opportunity to manage things on his own terms.