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Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich slammed the FBI for using “trickery and deceit” in the case against him just as they did against former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.
The Democrat spoke about how his own experience gave him insight into how Flynn was essentially entrapped by the FBI, telling The Daily Caller how the corruption threatens American institutions and is not a partisan problem.
The 63-year-old commented on the way the FBI operated, which was exposed in recently released documents in the case against Flynn, leading to the Department of Justice dropping the case this week. Blagojevich contended that the methods used against Flynn were first used in the case against himself.
President Donald Trump commuted Blagojevich’s 14-year sentence in January after he had already served eight years prison time for a 2011 conviction on corruption charges. The former governor was “profoundly grateful” to the president for his release and announced that his party affiliation would now be known as a “Trump-ocrat.”
‘I’m a Trumpocrat!’ Blagojevich oozes gratitude, says fellow Dems have been too unkind to Trump https://t.co/6DjekDsTB0
— Conservative News (@BIZPACReview) February 19, 2020
“In my long and unhappy experience, I saw how they use trickery and deceit as legal tools,” Blagojevich told The Daily Caller in a statement.
“They lie and they cheat; they manipulate and minimize evidence; they hide and cover up exculpatory evidence – evidence that proves innocence,” he said. “And to this day, in my case, they are still covering up tape recordings they made because those tapes show innocence.”
Recorded phone conversations were not accessible to Blagojevich to use in his own defense, he noted, explaining how they had been sealed to prevent their use after the prosecution used just one percent in making the case against him.
The former governor noted the similarity to how documents in Flynn’s case which have essentially proved his innocence are only just being released now.
Prosecutors had claimed for the past three years that the retired United States Army Lieutenant General had lied to the FBI in 2017 about contacts with a Russian ambassador. Though he pleaded guilty, Flynn moved to withdraw that in January of this year as his lawyer, Sidney Powell, argued that he had been set up.
The release of unsealed FBI notes which showed the crooked intentions of the agency when the former national security adviser was ambushed in an interview in 2017 appeared to back that up as they showed there was a blatant effort to get the former Trump adviser either prosecuted or fired. Department of Justice documents released Thursday as part of dismissing the case against Flynn revealed that former President Obama not only knew details about Flynn’s wiretapped phone calls with the Russian ambassador, he surprised then-Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates with the information in the Oval Office.
Blagojevich, was convicted in 2011 on 18 counts, was recorded in wiretapped comments trying to sell Obama’s former Senate seat which he held before being elected president. His wife, Patricia Blagojevich, had railed against “prosecutors with their unchecked power and no oversight” in a 2018 interview with Fox News as she agreed with Trump about targeted witch hunts against him that she said were being carried out by “political assassins.”
“What they succeeded in doing at the Triple-A level to a Democratic Governor, they tried to do at the Major League level to a Republican President,” Blagojevich told The Daily Caller this week.
“This cannot be a Democratic or Republican issue. It is far too important,” he said. “What these corrupt prosecutors and FBI agents are doing threatens the fundamental rights of the American people to choose their own leaders through free elections.”
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Frieda@bizpacreview.com
Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.
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