The first served in the early 19th century and left no likenesses behind. The second. Is eliot spitzer. Every day in every state across the country, our political system is bankrolled by an army of fundraisers, pulling in millions of dollars a race. Sometimes it looks like you might imagine knocking on doors, calling every name in the phone book, and emailsso many emails. But for all those little fish throwing 100 to their local race, its the whales those Campaign Fundraisers really need powerful, rich individuals and companies. And when they donate 25,000, 100,000, a million dollars, they want a favor. Or 10. It should be obvious thats corrupt, but with a wink and a nod, political deals toe the bribery line every single day. And we may never have noticed that if a certain illinois governor hadnt flung back the curtain with an unrepentant ego, a political corruption crime spree, and a set of unprecedented Audio Recordings that shined a bright light on the inner workings of american political power. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Rod Blagojevich. It was early morning, cause i used to get up every morning and turn on the 6 00 news, and, you know, like, youre kinda waking up, and then youre like, well, wait, what . [helicopter whirring] oh, sh, they outside of blagojevichs house they got cameras, they got cars, and then they march him out. And youre like, thats our governor, joe. Breaking news the illinois governor, Rod Blagojevich, charged with plotting to sell Barack Obamas former senate seat. Tapper remember this guy . He sure hopes you do. Governor Rod Blagojevich went down in a blaze of infamy for one of the largest political corruption scandals of our time. The governor was allegedly trying to sell the Illinois Senate seat vacated by President Elect obama. In fact, part of the governors sales pitch was that the seat still had that new obama smell. [audience laughter] appointing someone to the senate is a rare opportunity when the will of the people is swapped wholesale for a gubernatorial power trip. Blagojevich had the Sole Authority to place whomever he wanted straight into the halls of the u. S. Senate, and he was not shy about wanting a Little Something in return. With the fbi recording his phone calls, for the First Time Since nixon, the public was able to listen in on raw backroom politics, and theres nothing quite like hearing it from the horses mouth. Reporter the criminal complaint quotes blagojevich as saying the senate seat was a valuable thing. You just dont give it away for nothing. Another quote ive got this thing, and its bleeping golden. [blagojevich speaking] ive got this thing, and its [bleep] golden. Yeah. [audience laughter] and im not just giving it up for [bleep] nothing. [laughter] was there a second [bleep] in there . Tapper racking up a staggering 24 criminal charges, governor blagojevichs actions essentially boiled down to four things extortion, bribery, corruption, and wire fraud. And it wasnt just about the senate seat. Blagojevich was also found guilty of extorting a Childrens Hospital. You cant write this stuff. Hes an arrogant punk who thinks that, you know, hes bulletproof. Well, hes not. He was convicted on 18 total charges and sentenced to 14 years, the longest sentence ever handed down to a governor. People loathed blagojevich for the way he politicked, but was what he did so blatantly criminal . cause the truth is that the line between whats illegal and whats allowable is much murkier than wed like to think, and this is where the Rod Blagojevich story gets interesting. Let me reassert to all of you once more that i am not guilty of any criminal wrongdoing. [camera shutter clicks] was rod a corrupt politician or just a politician operating in a corrupt system that still thrives to this day . So, governor, thanks for doing this. Thank you. So youve been out of prison now for almost two years. A little over two years. And youre still very outspoken about how you feel like the case against you was unjust. There isnt really an argument about what you said. Right. Its on tape. Right. The question is whether it was illegal and whether it was morally wrong. Look, if youre saying, do we have a fundraising system in america that you can arguing is legalized bribery . I think theres truth to that. But did i do anything other than that standard that every other person in politics does, from President Biden on down . I did the same as them and nothing worse. There is this real problem in american Politics Today where prosecutors are weaponizing themselves, criminalizing Routine Illegal Practices in government politics, and i think its wrong when they do it to bill clinton. Its wrong, i think, when they did it to President Trump cause i have strong views on that, and i know it was wrong when they did it to me. Okay, lot to unpack there. Lets talk about the chicago and illinois system, because youre hardly the first governor in history, even in recent history, toto go to prison. Whats the situation here that causes this to happen . Well, i think its timehonored here, and theres a long history in chicago politics, illinois politics, where pretty much everybody gets rich. Ah, chicago politics. Its like going to a pay pond when you go fishing. Like, if you are a prosecutor, you cannot be in illinois and not get something. Illinois is steeped in a rich history of political corruption that dates back a century to the prohibition era, when bootlegging gangsters such as al capone bought off politicians and police departments, keeping them drunk on power and. Also just drunk. In rods lifetime, illinois has developed a rap sheet that any mobster would be proud of more than 1,700 convictions for corruption, including nearly 30 chicago aldermen, eight stage legislators, two u. S. Congressmen, and before rod came onto the scene, three governors. In an odd way, the very people who should hate the idea of corruption are kind of proud that this is al capones illinois. Chicago is a wink and a nod town. Its a shot and a beer town. [clink] lot of it has to do with family relationships, because a lot of the Political Leadership in chicago and illinois are familyrelated. Theres the daley family, the madigans. All of these families sort of become part of this mafia. Yeah. A political mafia, and theyre the ones who make the rules. I didnt come from that. I had to marry into it. I met a girl on the 6th of march, 1988. She was wearing a red dress, and she happened to be the daughter of an oldfashioned chicago political war boss. And shes my wife patti. We fell in love. Patti blagojevich is a loyal wife, she is a tough customer, and shes the daughter of dick mell. Shes complicated. That budding relationship between those two is how rod goes from this nobody politically, finding a way to kind of imbed himself into one of these big political families in chicago. They have so much power. I dont think it was, you know, some great surprise that, like, you know, when it comes time to meet the parents, that dick mell was the fatherinlaw and thethe powerful city council chieftain. Were gonna try to Work Together to put this great city back together so that were all part of it and we all feel free. Dick mell was a guy who always had the voice in the backrooms. He was a power broker in that kind of chicago classic sense. Before politics, it was a nice relationship, but for the most part, respectful. And then because i was in the family, and i was actually pretty good at helping her dad, local politics, knocking on doors and trying to get him votes, there was an opportunity to run for office. In Rod Blagojevich, mell could see a guy that eventually, if he does it right, i could sort of pass the mantle toward. Rod was an immediate hit with illinois voters, who sent him first to the state house in 1992 and then to the u. S. Congress in 1996. Dick mell says, i can see you being governor. And i gotta be honest, im sure if im looking at it from dick mells position, hes saying, man, if i can elect this guy governor, i can run the whole state. Reporter the campaign for illinois governor has gotten pretty lively. Youve got chicago congressman Rod Blagojevich. Whats that name again . Balajovich. Reporter balajovich, huh . Balajovich. You sure . Positive. Tapper during rods 2002 governors campaign, dick mells membership in the Old School Chicago elite was a definite bonus, but it was rods Working Class Bonafides and People Skills that did all the rest. Coming from the family he did, he had a real working class chip on his shoulder, and his two heroes were elvis and richard nixon, both because they were guys who came from the wrong side of their tracks and fought their way up and were kind of disdained by the elites. In fact, if those two gritty 20th century icons fought their way into a single person, you might actually end up with Rod Blagojevich, for better and for worse. The Rod Blagojevich that i first met was youthful. He was energetic. He had this kind of mane of black hair that was super thick, and you could tell it was filled with hair product. The hair so iconic in its own right, that it became a Comedy Staple on every late night show. The hair. The hair. Really, it looks like youre wearing a toupee thats also wearing a toupee. [audience laughter] he had a huge infatuation with elvis presley. His charisma was disarming. [cheers and applause] [amplified voice] thank you. Thank you very much. [cheers, whistles, and applause] but the elvis of illinois was itching to lose his colonel parker, because despite the many benefits of dick mells patronage, rod was still in his shadow. You know, he really became known as dick mells soninlaw first. And i know he hated that. He didnt know how to both be his own man and not let dick mell foreshadow him. The only way for rod to survive outside of his fatherinlaws machine was to create his own cash flow. So his first step was to hire two of chicagos most bareknuckled political fundraisers, chris kelly and tony rezko. Chris kelly and tony rezko could generate big bucks. They were fundraisers. They were donors. You know, lets just call em what they were. They were influence peddlers. They wound up being able to shake the bushes here and help rod raise money. They promised access and favors if blagojevich won, and they got results. Where dick mells Good Old Boys would fetch 2,000 at a time, kelly and rezko would shake loose 50 grand. All that money plus rods appeal to voters who had felt ignored by the entrenched chicago political dynasties well, it proved to be an unstoppable combination. He ran on some things that were uniquely important to black people. Healthcare for kids is a good idea. When he said, free rides for seniors on Public Transportation, that resonated with black people specifically. Blagojevich became governor in 2003. Congratulations, governor. Thank you. May god bless you. [cheers and applause] how do you view your your time as governor apart from the scandals . How do i say this in a way where i dont sound like a guy without any humility . But i truly believe i was a great governor. I cant think of any governor in my life that did anything for anybody i knew that can walk around and say, you know what . Thank you, governor. My daughter had healthcare through you. Free Public Transportation for seniors and the disabled . I did that cause they raised the sales tax, which hurts working people and poor people and seniors. With the legislature raising taxes that hit lowerincome illinoisans hardest, and rod striking back with policies to offset that, its no surprise that his populist agenda made him a lot of enemies amongst the big political families. To the people and the masses, he was on our team, and to the aristocracy and to the political elites, he was this guy that was taking their resources and giving em to the peasants, and so he became robin hood. I knew the reality that im gonna have resistance from the old guard, the old ward bosses, the madigans, daley to some extent, my fatherinlaw, and so the goal was raise money now and raise a lot of it so that you can afford to make enemies, and you can afford to lose support. Right, but some of these people that you were that you were relying on like chris kelly werewere corrupt. Right . Turned out that chris had problems in his own personal business, and he was found guilty of those things. Had nothing to do with me. But, like, a lot of the people in the world of fundraising are not necessarily. They are not. Upstanding individuals. No, theyre not. Yeah. No, theyre not. Whats the saying . Ignorance is not a defense . Tony rezco and chris kelly they started compiling this list of different entities that were state contractors, and they hit all those people up for money, probably with rods assistance. Hey, you got a contract . You wanna keep it . Or you want to get more . You gotta pony up. A lot of people in play have scalpellike tendencies when they fundraise, and rod was probably more of a meat cleaver. [beeping] [telephone rings] kelly and rezco were using Government Levers to squeeze anyone they could for a Campaign Contribution kickbacks like a cushy job or a fat contract, a little light extortion such as holding up teachers funds. They had deep pockets to fill and a financial machine to do it. You cant trade official actions as a governor in exchange for Campaign Contributions or jobs. I mean, there is one simple word for that. Its called graft. Graft is simply the use of political power and authority in exchange for personal gain. To state the obvious, appointing unqualified people to State Positions because you wanna use the government as a Vending Machine for your Political Campaign thats completely illegal. The m. O. Was to make money from every State Petitioner possible, and smalltown hospital ceo pam davis looked like just another easy mark. But in this case, the Whole Shakedown Process is recorded by the Hospital Executive who was getting shaken down. [laughs] woman he needs to reset your wire. [laughs] oh, god, another wire. Sorry for, uh. I dont care. Just in here. Uh, the governor really wasnt on my radar, um, at all until i experienced an Extortion Attempt through one of his, um, colleagues. Pams Hospital System wanted to build a new facility in plainfield, illinois. Seems pretty straightforward, but there were red flags right away when she went to get Government Approval for the project. Davis in my case, the governor had appointed individuals to this board who had either contributed money to his campaign, so they bought their way on, or individuals that were controlled by the governor and other individuals and would approve only those projects where a kickback was going to be given. Turns out the board was willing to approve the hospital. All she had to do was use builders and lenders who were in their pocket and pad the contract so the board could take. Lets call it a Transaction Fee for their trouble. It became clear to me that this was a major Extortion Attempt, and i was furious. So i called the fbi. The feds set her up with a wire so they could listen in on her meetings with Board Members and get the dirt straight from the source. Shed be meeting with these players, and they would be basically laying out the whole scheme to her. Davis the contract would be padded, um, by roughly 10 million so that that money would go then to the various players. At one point, i decided, i wonder if this goes up to the governor, because the governor appoints these individuals to the various boards. The feds were wondering the same thing, and over the course of their investigation, their suspicions proved to be spot on. Out of the public eye, rods fundraising goons, chris kelly and tony rezko, felt safe to strongarm money from donors across illinois. But unbeknownst to them, the fbi was following their every move as part of a farreaching Corruption Investigation into the blagojevich administration. As the money rolled in, their role in rods administration only grew, which had his fatherinlaw, dick mell, feeling as though hed been served divorce papers. As dick mell famously said, he got replaced by a trophy wife or trophy wives. Those were the people who were getting the love that he should have gotten and wasnt getting. We all know that you got here because of dick mell. Rod says, i got my own team, and so dont talk to dick mell. Not only does he not do what you wanna do, but he said, dont talk to my boss. Im the boss now. Well, dick mell aint feeling that, and dick mell is not the type to be like, so, may i talk to you privately . Mell wears his heart on his sleeve, his anger on his sleeve. Leave me out he can love you today, and if he starts hating you tomorrow, he can, you know, pull the switch just like that. And mell becomes more and more resentful of being cast aside, and so that fueled this tension in that family to the point where it eventually exploded. [explosion] that explosion came in 2005, and though it may not have aired on reality tv, it was still inextricably linked to garbage. Rod blagojevich closed down this landfill which dick mell was a part owner of. Rod said that this was for environmental issues. Tapper what did he want you to do . Leave it alone, and i h