CHICAGO (AP) – Rod Blagojevich tells jurors he discussed the possibility of appointing himself to the U.S. Senate in 2008 so he could hunt down then-al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.
The ousted governor is on the stand for a fifth day Thursday, addressing the most explosive allegation against him – that he tried to sell or trade President Barack Obama’s vacated Senate seat. He denies that. Defense attorney Aaron Goldstein asked if he’d ever talked to a deputy governor about appointing himself to the Senate, then traveling to Afghanistan to get bin Laden.
Blagojevich said, “Yes.” He says he discussed a “lot of ideas” about the Senate seat after Obama’s election as president. He’s acknowledged that not all those ideas were good.
Bin Laden was killed in a U.S. raid on May 2.