Skip to main content

Closing arguments in Blagojevich case begin

By the CNN Wire Staff
t1larg.jpg
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Testimony wraps up Wednesday without the former mayor taking the stand
  • Blagojevich: "It is my decision, on the advice of my attorneys, not to testify in this case"
  • The two-term Democrat was removed from office in January 2009

Chicago, Illinois (CNN) -- Closing arguments began Monday in the federal corruption trial of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Testimony wrapped up Wednesday without the ousted governor taking the stand in his own defense.

"It is my decision, on the advice of my attorneys, not to testify in this case," Blagojevich announced in court.

The two-term Democrat was removed from office in January 2009 amid accusations that he had attempted to sell the U.S. Senate seat that had been occupied by Barack Obama before he became president.

In one conversation recorded by federal agents, he told an aide, "I've got this thing and it's [expletive] golden. I'm just not giving it up for [expletive] nothing."

His brother, Robert Blagojevich, testified Tuesday that the governor was "trying to politically work something to his benefit" in handling the appointment -- but was thinking in terms of political horse-trading, not corruption.

"It didn't seem out of the ordinary because Obama was taking a lot of people from Illinois with him to D.C.," said Robert Blagojevich, who raised money for his brother.

He said the governor "was interested in the idea of being the head of Health and Human Services."

Prosecutors argued that Blagojevich and his inner circle engaged in a near-constant conspiracy of extortion and kickbacks after his 2002 election.

CNN's Katherine Wojtecki contributed to this report.