Blago hits talk show circuit as impeachment trial begins

SPRINGFIELD -- Impeachment prosecutors said Monday Gov. Rod Blagojevich's own words will show he so violated the public trust that he should be the first governor in Illinois' checkered political history to be kicked out of office.

At the same time, Blagojevich was still refusing to explain his own words caught on federal wiretaps as he paraded before five national TV shows based on the East Coast in a boycott of his impeachment trial at the state Capitol.

Today, the public is scheduled to get its first listen to a portion of those tapes - a nearly five-minute segment in which the governor allegedly tries to trade signing a law benefiting racetracks for campaign cash

Blagojevich said Monday that tape will be heard out of context. He said the entire recorded conversations would eventually tell "the real story."

And the embattled governor even upped his rhetoric Monday night on CNN's "Larry King Live," calling for all of the secretly recorded conversations to be released to prove his innocence - despite the fact that he filed a court statement Jan. 7 opposing the release of "any tapes or transcripts, redacted or unredacted" to lawmakers. The governor has not filed an official request to release all the tapes.

"I wish we could have all those tapes made public tomorrow," Blagojevich bemoaned after being pressed about the criminal allegations.

Blagojevich also seemed to suggest he may have said the things prosecutors accuse him of, but that it was just talk and therefore not a crime.

"Think about some of the things people say all the time that they don't mean," he said at one point.

Blagojevich said that despite whatever he might have been recorded as saying, "When the decision was made and the action was taken it was always, always in the best interests of the people of Illinois."

The two-term governor is still refusing to provide the full context he claims will prove his innocence. He told King that court rules bar him from talking about the trial. Then he backtracked, saying the rules only suggest he keep silent. He didn't specify what rule he was referring to.

"When I have my day in court I will prove that and I will clear my name," the governor said of his innocence on the "Today" show.

The governor will be even more pressed for answers today after lawmakers hear the released FBI tape and hours of testimony from an FBI agent involved in the sweeping Blagojevich investigation.

"These words at times may shock you. At times they will probably disgust you," said prosecutor David Ellis in his opening arguments Monday. "These words will demonstrate a fundamental breach of the public trust. A violation of the governor's oath. These words from the governor's own mouth ... will show that the governor put his office up for sale."