Federal Prosecutor To Stay On Blago Case

Judge Says U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald Can Move Forward, Despite Disgraced Governor's Pleas To Throw Him Off The Case

(AP)  A federal judge has turned down a request from impeached former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to have Chicago's top federal prosecutor and his staff thrown off the corruption case against him.

Chief Judge James F. Holderman of U.S. District Court said in his three-paragraph order that "no legal precedent supports the granting of the relief sought by the defendant Blagojevich in this motion."

Blagojevich said removing U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald from the case was necessary because the prosecutor had made inflammatory remarks about him at a news conference after the then-governor was arrested Dec. 9

He said Robert Grant, special agent in charge of the Chicago FBI office, had made similar remarks. He said Fitzgerald also went over the line in making public transcripts of wiretaps of Blagojevich conversations that should have been sealed.

Among other things, Fitzgerald said Blagojevich had been on "a white-collar crime spree" that would make Abraham Lincoln "roll over in his grave."

Holderman didn't get into the specifics of the remarks Fitzgerald and Grant made at the news conference where the charges against Blagojevich and his chief of staff, John Harris, were unveiled.

Nor did he close the door on Blagojevich making the same argument again.

"If an indictment is returned charging defendant Blagojevich with federal, criminal offenses, the district judge to whom the case will be assigned pursuant to the clerk's office random assignment system, will be the appropriate judicial officer to address the matter if raised at that time by the defendant," he said.

Blagojevich and Harris are charged in a criminal complaint with conspiracy to commit fraud and solicitation of bribery. Holderman has set an April 7 deadline for the government to back up the charges by getting an indictment from a grand jury.

[mariannpepit]

defendliberty: And Obama certainly got away with back stabbing the woman that was getting signatures to run for the senate, who chose him to fill her seat while she was campaigning, only to find out he took her to court claiming she had double and false signatures. Of course he won the case. He is a slick tricker. As long as your talking about Blago you need to clean out Obama's backyard because he was the most underhanded corrupt candidate that ran for the presidency of this country and the biggest liar. A baby killer and a tax raiser. Raising taxes to pay for the bailouts of the companies that didn't know how to keep their accounts but the CEO's made sure they took a big bonus. And you can blame this generation of college students who were so smitten with his lies for voting him in. The got what they deserve. Nothing!!!

[mariannpepit]

I agree that blacks will cry until the end of the world. I didn't see Jackson, Sr or Al Sharpton defending Burris. And what happened to the Blago snitcher Jessie Jackson, Jr. He must be hiding in shame. Holderman another of Obama's wrong decisions however, he is also half black/half white maybe that's why Obama chose him. The dumbo democrats need to wake up and smell the coffee. Quinn, Lisa Madigan, Mike Madigan, Durbin, Dean, Pelosi and Reid are the most underhanded corrupt democrats in the history of this country. And they need to change their rules. It is not a crime for someone to call and ask for a donation. It goes on all the time but you don't read it because. They only single out certain democrats and they singled out Blago and Burris. I am glad he is writing that book because I would like to see whose names come up. And I believe he has a good story to tell that's why the democrats want to block it. Blago is doing the right thing and I am all for it. Its time someone made them public.

[beach671]

Forget Blago, there's a new story brewing:

www.guampdn.com/article/20090310/NEWS01/90310016

In WWII when the Japanese took Guam from America they created a landfill. The US Navy continued using it until 1970 when the island got it's first elected Governor. Was put on the Federal SuperFund list in the 1980's. Fed's didn't want to fund the industrial toxic waste site closure. EPA referred it to the Clean Water Act and came out and said the leaching is bad and had Federal Court place it into Federal Receivership.

Federal Judge wants $1 million a week from the tiny island of 50,000 households already riddled with debt...to fund the dumps closure and open a new one. Now Guam is saying Fed's don't have authority to demand money from Guam Treasury.

Guam is bankrupt really as it's years behind in paying Income Tax Refunds, it's got nothing to lose by standing up to the Fed's. So they are standing their ground over the dump. Treaty of San Francisco took Japanese assets post-WWII and gave them out to countries/people for War Reparations. Money was never given to Guam because they weren't citizens at the time. Many on the island are against the military build up and incurring Billions of Territory Debt to build water, sewer, local infrastructure for military/30,000 H-2 workers, and Japanese Self Defense Force. Fight over landfill is the final stand over US leaving out Guam in everything.

Why are wages suppressed on Guam? DOD island where it wants cheap labor to get more for less. Cost of living higher than Hawaii......Watch for what the Federal District Court rules later this week.....may place Governor of Guam and Guam Legislature in Federal Prison in contempt....story developing.

[DefendLiberty]

Everyone has met their own "Blago". It's the smart but reality-challenged person who has no moral compass. This is a "functional sociopath" who sees the world as "themselves and everyone else". Their entire existence is all about how to get away with the most they can get away with. They see everything as a game, and will do anything to win. They see the world as their playpen and bank, and believe that they deserve anything that they can grab for themselves.

Their focus is never on producing, but on accumulation. They are the team members who spend all their time gaming the office politics. They are the managers who never contribute, but always schmooze and game their way up the ladder. They are the middle manager who embezzles money and thinks that they are "owed it".

Blago is just another functional sociopath who played his way up the political ladder.