Dec 29, 2008 12:15 pm US/Mountain
Illinois Gov.'s Lawyer: Impeachment Not Justified
Attorney Ed Genson Says Wiretaps Don't Reveal Anything Illegal
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
-
-
Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich speaks at his first press conference since his recent arrest Dec. 19, 2008, in Chicago, Illinois.
Scott Olson/Getty Images
A lawyer for Gov. Rod Blagojevich says the evidence heard by a special Illinois House committee doesn't justify impeaching the governor, reports CBS station WBBM-TV in Chicago.
Attorney Ed Genson says hearings held by the impeachment committee weren't fair to Blagojevich. He says the Democratic governor wasn't given enough time to prepare, wasn't allowed to call witnesses and didn't get to cross-examine people who testified.
Genson also says federal wiretaps may have caught the governor making some "unfortunate" remarks, but they don't show him doing anything that justifies impeachment.
Blagojevich's attorney told a House committee Monday that there's no evidence the governor took any action to auction off a U.S. Senate seat or pressure the Chicago Tribune to fire its editorial writers.
Blagojevich was arrested Dec. 9 on federal corruption charges. The criminal complaint includes snippets from Blagojevich conversations that were caught on tape.
Genson says the conversations are "unfortunate talk, talk that shouldn't have been made perhaps. But not actions."
Genson also argued Monday morning that the House committee didn't spell out what burden of proof must be met.
Blagojevich was arrested on federal corruption charges last month. The committee is reviewing those allegations and others to decide whether the full House should vote on impeaching the governor.
WBBM reported earlier that the lead attorney for the governor says he plans to submit Obama's internal report on his transition team's contacts with the governor's office.
Defense attorney Ed Genson says he believes the report will support his claim that the governor hasn't done anything wrong regarding his handling of Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat.
Last week the Obama team released the report which they believe supports their claim that there were no inappropriate comments between the governor and Obama or any members of his staff.
They say among other things it will clear up some of the misconceptions in the rumor mill about the amount of contact between the transition team and the Blagojevich administration, specifically with respect to incoming Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.
"I will say some of the reporting on this has been wildly inaccurate," said Obama advisor David Axelrod. "Before our report was released, there were reports in some newspapers that Rahm had had 20 discussions with the governor, and all kinds of wild things that weren't true. It's within the power and purview of the U.S. attorney to release any transcripts. We don't have any control over that. And when they are released, when and if they are released, they will completely bear out the report that we -- that we issued this week."
The woman heading up the House committee presiding over the impeachment hearings says Genson's request to submit the Obama team report would probably be accepted. But she doesn't believe it will prove the governor's innocence.
Genson had wanted to subpoena Emanuel and Obama senior advisor Valerie Jarrett whose testimony he argues would strengthen the governor's claim that he's broken no laws. That request was denied last week.
Meanwhile, Illinois Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn says he thinks Gov. Blagojevich will be out of office by February.
Quinn appeared on CBS' "Face the Nation" Sunday. He said he believes the governor will be impeached and will be convicted in a trial in the Illinois Senate. He predicts that it will all be over in the next few months.
But he says the governor and the state would be better off if the man he ran with a few years ago would just step down.
The governor denies trying to sell Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat to the highest bidder and has vowed to fight till his last breath to clear his name.
The U.S. attorney's office, which brought the charges against the governor, has said that they're not going to release any of their investigative information to the Illinois House Impeachment Committee. Still Quinn says that doesn't make impeachment impossible.
"There's so much other evidence that the impeachment committee has considered," Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn said. "I think there's many articles of impeachment that will be found by the committee and referred to the entire House. If a majority of the House votes for impeachment, then the governor's impeached and then a trial is held in the Illinois Senate. Two-thirds of the members of the Senate must vote to convict, and I think there's far more than that ready to do that."
Still, some defense attorneys argue that if, as appears to be the case right now, the governor's defense attorneys are not allowed to subpoena witnesses in the impeachment proceedings, then the governor can argue that the U.S. attorney's corruption allegations shouldn't be allowed to be presented in the case being put forth by the Illinois legislature.
He could essentially argue that he's being denied his right to due process.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
Comments