On Monday, spectators lined up in the wee hours of the morning,
hoping to watch federal prosecutors get their first full day of
cross-examination of former governor Rod Blagojevich. Blago-watchers
were expecting similar fireworks from Thursday, when prosecutor Reid
Schar opened up the cross with a bang, asking right off the bat, “You
are a convicted liar, correct?” While he remained cool under pressure,
the questioning was intense and cracks in the Blagojevich defense’s
armor began to show.
After starting late due to technical issues,
the prosecution proceeded to lay out the step- by-step method by which
they allege Blagojevich’s pay-to-play scheming for favors and funding.
The day started with taped conversations of Blagojevich discussing
filling Rahm Emanuel’s congressional seat, timing of those decisions
over the Tony Rezko sentencing, Valerie Jarrett’s role in the White
House and any possible quid pro quo about appointing her as Senator, and
all the various things that Blagojevich may have been wanting to
“trade” for these various positions.
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The seventh day of ex-governor Rod Blagojevich’s cross-examination
started on Tuesday where they left off Monday, with prosecutor Reid
Schar taking apart Blago’s statements about fundraising in politics and
whether the two should be separated. The morning began with the
allegations of fundraising in regards to the Illinois Tollway, with the
prosecution trying to nail down Blagojevich on trying to shakedown a
tollway executive for fundraising money in connection with passing a
billion-dollar highway plan. Although Blago conceded that yes, he kept
asking for money, and that he got “bupkis, bupkis, bupkis, bupkis, which
is nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing,” he did not try to shake down
the organization for that cash in connection with an expanded tollway
plan attached to a capital bill.
Former governor Rod Blagojevich took the stand for a third time today in his federal corruption trial. One notable no-show in the courtroom today was a juror who was apparently 
More lengthy testimony is expected by former governor Rod Blagojevich this morning as he continues to tell his side of the story in his retrial on federal corruption charges. Yesterday, we live blogged Blagojevich's colorful -- and long-winded -- testimony, which you can check out 
