In a long-shot attempt to save his job, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich insisted Thursday that he had done nothing wrong and should not be removed from office over unproven criminal charges and complaints about his management decisions. "You haven't proved a crime, and you can't because it didn't happen," Blagojevich told senators, who were prepared to vote within hours on whether to remove him. "How can you throw a governor out of office with insufficient and incomplete evidence?" The two-term Democrat also said he would not quit. "I am not resigning now because I have done nothing wrong," he said in a closing argument made near the end of a trial he had previously avoided.
The Democratic governor acknowledged the truth about his conduct is "maybe not flattering in some cases," referring to several secretly recorded conversations played earlier in the trial.
The FBI wiretaps appear to show Blagojevich linking his decision on legislation to receiving campaign contributions.
Blagojevich told the state Senate the tapes captured something that "all of us in politics do in order to run campaigns and win elections." The governor had refused to take part in the trial, but he surprised everyone by asking to make a closing statement. By making a speech instead of testifying, he did not have to take an oath or answer any questions.