Feds interviewed gov on 'multiple occasions'
Federal investigators looking into allegations of "pay-to-play" politics in Gov. Rod Blagojevich's administration interviewed the governor on "multiple occasions," according to newly unsealed documents.
In the interviews Blagojevich told authorities he did not make incriminating remarks to two government witnesses who testified at the trial of political fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko, Rezko's attorneys said in the documents.
The documents were unsealed Thursday by U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve. Rezko, a prominent fundraiser for Blagojevich and Sen. Barack Obama, was convicted earlier this month of squeezing companies wanting to do business with the state for bribes and kickbacks.
The governor met two times with federal agents, most recently "nearly two years ago," said Blagojevich spokesman Lucio Guerrero.
Blagojevich has not been charged with any wrongdoing and has repeatedly denied trading state contracts and jobs for campaign contributions.
One witness, former Democratic National Committee finance chairman Joseph Cari, testified at Rezko's trial that Blagojevich confided on a late-night flight from New York to Chicago in October 2003 that he had plans to run for office beyond the governorship and there would be legal work, investment banking work and consulting work for those who helped.
The other witness, attorney Stuart Levine, has pleaded guilty to pressuring kickbacks out of firms seeking to invest state pension fund assets. He took the stand as the government's star witness in hopes of getting a lenient sentence.
Levine testified Blagojevich told him: "Stick with us and you will do very well for yourself."
After the testimony, a spokeswoman for Blagojevich was quick to dismiss the report.
"Stuart Levine's assertions about the governor are wrong," communications director Abby Ottenhoff said at the time. "As we've said before, that's not how the governor does business."
Blagojevich also denied Cari and Levine's assertions to federal agents, according to the documents, which also said Cari didn't remember his conversation with Blagojevich until his fifth interview with government agents.