All Blog Posts from Political Hotsheet

Updated at 12:55 p.m. ET.

A Senate ethics panel cleared Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill.) of any legal wrongdoing, after months of questions swirling around his appointment to the Senate seat President Obama left vacant upon taking office.

The panel, however, strong criticized Burris for providing “incorrect, inconsistent, misleading or incomplete information to the public and the Senate. It calls a number of his actions “inappropriate.”

Burris came under fire after Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich -- who was already accused of trying to sell Mr. Obama's former Senate seat -- appointed Burris to the position. Burris was not initially under investigation for any connection to Blagojevich's alleged scheme, but he later admitted he tried to raise money for the governor while seeking the Senate seat.

In a "public letter of qualified admonition (PDF)," the six-person Senate Ethics Committee found that Burris committed no "actionable violations of the law."

Still, the panel wrote in its letter, "Senators must meet a much higher standard of conduct."

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Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich will have to face the law next summer -- but first he'll face the judgment of Donald Trump.

Blagojevich is reportedly set to appear on the NBC reality television show, "Celebrity Apprentice." On the program, hosted by Trump, 14 allegedly famous people compete in business-oriented tasks.

According to various reports, NBC has not yet officially confirmed the cast for the ninth season, slated to start in spring 2010.

The former governor is best known for alleged entrepreneurial schemes that have been deemed suspect in the eyes of the law: Blagojevich is scheduled to stand trial in June 2010 on federal corruption charges for allegedly planning to sell or trade President Obama's former U.S. Senate seat. He has pleaded not guilty.

A federal judge earlier this year refused to allow him to leave the country for another reality show, NBC's "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!", while awaiting trial. His wife Patti appeared on the program.

Blagojevich also hit the media circuit this year to promote his book, "The Governor."

Impeached former Illinois governor and self-proclaimed "Champion for Ordinary People" Rod Blagojevich has a new Web site: www.GovernorRod.com.

"Rod Blagojevich needed his own Web site. It was time," Blagojevich's spokesman said in a press release.

The site marks an effort by the former governor to build up his personal brand and make a living now as a private citizen. Lacking access to some of the "f***ing valuable thing[s]" he could depend on as governor (such as the right to appoint someone to Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama, which he said was something you "just don't give…away for nothing"), Blagojevich uses his new site to push his upcoming book and radio talk show as well as profess his innocence.

The site notes that Blagojevich "made history in August 2009 when he became the first former elected official still facing charges to be named host of his own radio show."

He "asserts he is innocent of all charges and looks forward to his day in court," the site reads. "In the meantime, he's not holding back. He's not playing politics or playing nice. He's simply speaking his mind and telling the truth!"

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Sen. Ronald Burris was defiant today in answering criticism stemming from the FBI’s release of tape recordings detailing conversations between the senator and the brother of impeached former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

"Please understand, that there was no pay to play in this or any intention of pay to play," Burris said this morning on "The John Williams Show,” as reported by the Chicago Tribune. "And therefore, that should be the end of the story. The transcripts bear that out. There's no conjecture."

“Did I try to buy the seat? Never,” Burris said to reporters outside of his home, according to the Associated Press. “Did I commit perjury? No.”

The transcript released by the FBI shows Burris discussing raising money for Blagojevich while also asking to be considered for the Senate seat to which he was later appointed. Burris initially insisted that he did not have conversations concerning fundraising with the former governor’s office, though his story has since changed.

The conversation between the senator and Rob Blagojevich did not include any specific quid pro quo arrangements, and Burris argued that the tapes exonerate him. During the recorded conversation, Burris is recorded promising to “personally do something” and pressing to be appointed to Barack Obama’s former Senate seat.

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Hear the federal wiretap of Roland Burris' conversation with Robert Blagojevich.

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“Tell Rod to keep me in mind for that seat, would ya?," Burris says at the end of conversation. Earlier, he offers to “give [Blagojevich] a check, myself."

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In an effort to stay in the Senate seat to which he was appointed by former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, U.S. Senator Roland Burris has one thing going for him: Name recognition.

It's practically inconceivable that anyone living in his native Illinois – or any of the other 49 states, for that matter – hasn't heard of the embattled junior senator and his troubles. But Burris’ time in the spotlight, along with his tumultuous tenure in the Senate, may be a short one. In an interview with the Beltway publication The Hill Thursday, Burris indicated that he won't campaign for election to the seat he now holds if he feels he cannot raise enough money. He said he will make his decision in the next few weeks.

“I'm moving into a phase now where I will be talking to people and assessing the opportunities in terms of my ability to raise the funds and stay here," Burris told The Hill.

As The Hill noted, the scandal-plagued senator's fundraising has been anemic. Burris only managed to cobble together $845 in the first quarter of 2009. But Burris said that if he entered the race, he didn't believe that raising money would be a problem.

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Ousted Illinois Gov. Rob Blagojevich will be indicted today, according to sources, reports the Chicago Sun-Times.

All the U.S. Attorney's Office in Chicago is saying for sure is that they will release a court filing today about a "significant criminal matter." The release did not mention what case the filing pertained to, but the Sun-Times says it will be related to Blagojevich.

Blagojevich was first arrested on December 9 on corruption charges related to accusations he was trying to sell President Obama's former senate seat. He was impeached and removed from office two months later.

Also of note: according to the Associated Press, the former governor and his family are on vacation at Walt Disney World in Florida.

Impeached Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich finally appeared at his state Senate impeachment trial to make a closing argument today.

In his 47-minute remarks, he reiterated again that he "has done absolutely nothing wrong."

Click here for more coverage of Blagojevich's speech.

Click here for Andrew Cohen's analysis of the governor's remarks.

You can watch the beginning of his statement below:

This analysis is by CBS News legal analyst Andrew Cohen

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In his appeal to the Illinois state Senate, Gov. Rod Blagojevich was calm, he was organized and he was a lot less fiesty and argumentative than he had been earlier in the week on all those talk shows.

His appeal was simple: I may be a rough and tumble governor who likes to cut through red tape and who pushes too hard, but my motives were always good and my conduct was always legal. That's a tough sell in politics or law.

Even if it doesn't save his job, we clearly saw a preview of the defense he'll offer in federal court if and when he is indicted on those bribery and corruption charges that led to his impeachment. He's going to say the evidence is weak, that what he did is what politicians do, and that he had no criminal intent during all those alleged pay for play phone calls.

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This analysis is written by CBS News legal analyst Andrew Cohen

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We have learned over the past thousand years or so that there is something about the nature of politics, something about the yin-and-yang of governance and the gratuitous bowing down to voters, that draws self-destructive people into its orbit. The list of elected officials who have ruined their own careers through hubris and greed and lust and sheer stupidity is endless. See, e.g., Spitzer, Eliot.

Illinois Governor Rod R. Blagojevich, however, may have brought this pattern to a new low.

First, he pulled a Gary Hart and challenged the world to tape his phone conversations. His challenge, naturally, came exactly one day before U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald filed a powerful criminal complaint against him based upon incriminating wiretapped phone conversations between Blagojevich and his satellites.

No reasonable person in the world, under investigation (and who knew or should have known that his phone was tapped), would talk smack that way. And yet Blagojevich did.

But that suicidal move was nothing compared to what the governor has done this week while his impeachment trial has been underway in the state legislature in Springfield.

Instead of respecting the political/legal process and defending himself against still-unproven bribery and corruption charges, instead of doing what a reasonable person in his circumstances would do, Gov. Blagojevich left Illinois, traveled to New York, and compared himself to Ghandi, Mandela, Roosevelt, etc.

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Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich appeared on CBS News' The Early Show this morning to keep defending his side of the story as his impeachment trial continues in the Illinois Senate.

Blagojevich explained why he was bringing his case to the public.

"It's more important than me," he said. "It's about the people who twice elected me. You can't throw a governor out without giving that governor a chance to show he did nothing wrong. That's what they're doing. It's a dangerous precedent.

"But if you're asking me do I see myself like a modern-day Frank Capra movie, and I'm the Jimmy Stewart or Gary Cooper character, a guy idealistically trying to do what's right for people, fighting a system, and then be pushed back? Yeah, I see myself that way."

Click here to read more from Blagojevich's interview or watch below.