(CNN) — Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is in federal custody on corruption charges, a law enforcement official said Tuesday.  Rod Blagojevich is currently serving his second term as governor of Illinois.
Blagojevich and his chief of staff, John Harris, are charged with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and solicitation of bribery, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Northern District of Illinois. Both men are expected in U.S. District Court in Chicago later Tuesday.
A news conference is expected at noon ET.
Federal prosecutors say Blagojevich, Harris and others conspired to gain financial benefits in appointing President-elect Barack Obama’s Senate replacement, according to the statement.
“The breadth of corruption laid out in these charges is staggering,” U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said in a statement. “They allege that Blagojevich put a ‘for sale’ sign on the naming of a United States Senator; involved himself personally in pay-to-play schemes with the urgency of a salesman meeting his annual sales target; and corruptly used his office in an effort to trample editorial voices of criticism.” More on CNN.com.
This is as disgusting as it gets. I wish we had prosecutors that had the guts to push for treason charges(although Patrick Fitzgerald, who is the USA in charge of this is quite possibly the most talented and amazing prosecutor to ever work for the AG)
Anyhow, seriously though, treason charges, we would suddenly have significantly less corrupt officials, one way or another ;-).
I want to see accountability for those treasonous bastards who would sell my country out
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Didn’t see that one coming, didja?
I hope Patrick Fitzgerald has a better time enforcing the law than he did when he attempted to bring Scooter Libby to justice. After all, I doubt Blagojevich is going to get a get out of jail free card.