Book festival but while i loved reading i never thought i would write a book can certainly not one about myself. It is a sense of urgency to go to the oldest people to get the stories before it is too late to have a father and a daughter who both came together the daughter said i am taking you to the coffee shop now and you will tell me this story that 30 30 000000 people read the Health Insurance to say that a moral arc spins slowly there are things wrong with the Health Care Bill but which johnson would have said once you pass it is easy to fix it. The true calling is to bring back the dead i try to do that might be eisenhowers of the warburg also those lights generals request ted roosevelt, jr. I dont think i can afford another 10 years on Franklin Pierce so i am bringing all mind back in the same time absolutely what i care about the ku. Cspan will have questions brother, rod blagojevich. This is 45 minutes from the city club in chicago. [applause] [applause] date you. The queue thank you i will say a that is the last thing i expected as i prepared for this talk then the you have too much fun up here and i want to say thanks for inviting me and i see a lot of friends and family my son alex made the trip to be here with me to hang out with his dad for a few days. [applause] it is an honor and privilege to speak to you today very quick background my wife who was not here who was still emotionally spooked by what had happened chose to stay home which i totally respect for she had encouraged me to write a memoir for our family so in the future of any family wanted to read what happened we would have a record while beginning to write that of restoring public speaking at the Chicago Bar Association and others and as i went out to speak every time i was asked about writing a book which was encouraging. And finally my attorney told me almost immediately after the trial you need to write a book about your experience it is very rare to survive a federal prosecution where 96 percent of the time a defendant is found guilty or pleads guilty for the you have a perspective and having gone through the process and from the court room people may be curious to learn about some with his encouragement and others coming here i am today to tell you about a book is started writing august 2011. Where in your Life Experience have you ever come across an institution that can boast 95 percent success rate . Even in your lives. Day you ever succeed 95 of the time . Ted williams failed 67 to 10 times in his best year when he went to the plate with a 400 batting average. I never knew one existed in july was indicted by the United States department of justice and began doing research to find depending on the year they boast between 95 and 96 percent conviction rate. If you were a defendant in federal court you are facing goliath a battle that i have been fortunate enough to be out on the other side to talk about. That was the reality i stepped into win a 6 21 a. M. The doorbell would not stop ringing of was fundraising former brother. The doorbell continue to ring i thought somebody was playing pranks i went downstairs to seek to amend flashing fbi badges and subpoenaed to request entrance. That was a shocking zero currents and it forever changed alive to put me in a direction and never expected. Later that morning the u. S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald in a press Conference Announcing my brother had been arrested said Abraham Lincoln would roll over in his grave if he was trying to sell the Barack Obama Senate seat to the highest bidder it was the surreal moments that i lived through as the complete opposite of what i experienced working with my brother i had no basis to understand what he was talking about. While he spoke he referred to fundraiser a in several times later we read the criminal complaint where fundraiser a was mentioned almost 130 times that i realized he was talking about me. Clearly that set the course of my life in the direction that brings me here today i got a call from the beloved family friend to suggested any time youre mentioned in a criminal complaint federally you better get a lawyer. He gave me the names of a number of them and i quickly began to think through my neck steps. The me and who might ultimately chose to defend me, we met on september 17 and 530. He told me his wife was not cooking dinner circuity to his dinner and a by that time i had lost my robust appetite and i only drink coffee. I consider results fairly sophisticated but i served in the military, executive of the National Services industry dealing with corporate attorneys regularly in national and other places in the country that never swore, always polite and as i sat talking to mike he began to school beyond what it was like to be in the bullseye of the federal government and quickly changed indeed even impression i thought that i could go into explained this absolutely human business understanding schumann misunderstanding announced days before. And to submit to an interview with the fbi to turn over the subpoena documents and stared at me with that intensity a team to go to almost love to say if i defend you, you will not please you will plead the fifth which when i heard that, again i responded only guilty people plea. That is what i thought. He convinced me very strongly not to do that also he told me the federal government was not busy seeking truth but they want to win and i should be prepared for them to use any means possible if i was indicted to try to convict me or discredit me to do whatever they could emotionally or physically to wear me down not to mention the belief. While he was cooling me he was eating scrambled day eggs and sausages and hash browns. Here is a very intense, very energetic passionate man telling me the government is not my friend eating scrambled day eggs and a little piece of vague was hanging on his lips that i could not staring at and i am wondering who is this guy . Nothing like lawyers i have dealt with to quickly conclude reveal criminal defense is a complete different approach. And without a doubt the most important decision of my life kyushus michael as my attorney. He is here today with us and has been the knowledge and our second chair is year. Please raise your hand. [applause] and they are the toughest women i have never met to have agreed is compassion a defendant would want to have they became personal friends and i consider them my Guardian Angels because without them it with hot be hard for me to give you this talk today. Indicted april 2008 of undersurfaces wire fraud of very vague statutes that alleged i had violated there right to his Honest Services that it was so vague there were three cases heard during trial the Supreme Court agreed to hear. In the attempt there are so many ways how the government played with my life one of the things done by the u. S. Attorney in the event it was deemed to unconstitutional he added three more charges conspiracy to extort, a conspiracy to bribe an extortion and the only question i had to ask if i had done those things why wasnt charged to begin with now one year later . It was of ploy to keep me in legal jeopardy to be used as a pawn to give my brother for gore was arraigned in federal court the first time 2009 the absolute worst day of my life. Until you walk in the shoes of someone you dont know hall over overwhelmingly powered you feel the court room is as big as the big paul with a judge on the bench with the seal of the Northern District of illinois behind him and a ray of prosecutors prosecutors, iris, the fbi and any resource available from the United States government against the defendant is not a fair fight i can go into more detail but i want to give you my view why it is so lopsided in favor of the government for private standing there next to my brother pleading not to guilty thinking about our parents you probably would have been shocked and overwhelmed by what was happening to their sons and we will never forget that moment as long as i live as well. To give little insight into these agreements i have a fingerprint and mug shot from the u. S. Marshals with the fbi. Right after the arraignment and went to visit my pretrial case officer who i went to sea after i was arranged to turn over my passport and any weapons that i own to and give Financial Data i thought was private and personal. Again you have no idea how with feels to tell strangers all the personal details of your life especially financial be leaving they may use that against you. That is what goes in federal court. I thought i could get back with my attorney. He gave me a plastic cup to say i need a sample were not done yet. We went to the mens room this is one of the more absurd memories i had when i walked and, in the army we did eight his test all the time. But it is floor to ceiling mirrors around the, or to make sure you dont put in a full sample said case officer turned his back so i could give my a simple after the trial i called him and thank him for that kind gesture even after all these years i have to laugh it is one of the absurdities of my experience. A few days later mike got a call from the prosecutor that was offering a Global Solution you can win if you have the brothers talk and of course, never been federally indicted and used to be black and white i said why did they exploitive indict me if they thought i could win the . He said forget about that. That is not the issue they want you to talk to your brother and discuss a solution between the two of you to come back to the prosecutors with a Family Commitment to possibly workout a plea agreement. That was so appalling to me it quickly told mike know. We will go to trial i did not do anything wrong and i never brought it up to my brother if he ever reads the book he will find the things i had to deal with that the government through my way to year tried to use me to get him. All along the way i could tell the government was playing with wildlife to keep me through the entire process. I asked mike to file a severance on my behalf that the trial would take six months and the thought to be away from home and having to be on trial would be a personal and Financial Hardship as a peace and businessman was a reasonable request my child would have taken two weeks at a substantial reduction of cost that was the most logical thing but reluctantly mike submitted the severance request i got a shorter two week trial would save money resubmitted it to the prosecutors and the judge they opposed it the judge denied and we went to your trial. That child did last two 1 2 months, not six but it was a major financial all parts shipped. George shipp i for fund raised former brother now one time commissioned a contribution in exchange for a government favor or contract. One of my favorite phrases is i dont do that, no. When people try to get things in return i never came close to excepting anything. I had a wiretap 50 days, 400 hours 4,000 intercepts 1500, a personal cellphone and 284 personal conversations with my wife. One embarrassing example of one of the wiretap conversations that evolve my son and i told him i would tell this story today but it illustrates how sloppy our government is to protect our civil liberties. He called the when we were attacked topped talking about father and son stuff the fbi is supposed to follow the minimization rules when theyre eavesdropping that is what i call verses intercepted in they did not do it such to this day there were so many days sloppy did not minimize you could hear alex urinating in the toilet if that wasnt a signal to the agent to minimize and turn off the tap the flushing of the toilet would have made it clear what was going on. I share that now because i can laugh about it but the first time to the herd julie transcribe those conversations so though legal team to have the conversations that she did the heavy lifting, she broke down emotionally and it took a couple of weeks to recover to hear her voice talking about when nobody has any business to listen to know she has recovered to resume her life but not Strong Enough to be your role promoting of book but at the heart of everything that happened is what i called the approach. I was approached by two men represent change Jesse Jackson from the indian community. And came to me to say they would come in order to assist congressmen jackson to be considered and awarded the senate seat an offer of 1. 5 million the other offered 6 million and each time i told them rod will do the right thing for the people of illinois and it is not about money. A third conversation was a wiretap he had come to meet to speak to me and older to agree to what the true gentlemen were talking about and he was concerned about bad things happening and he was right and you can hear it of the wiretap the department of justice hurt me to tell him that i will do for the people of illinois at was not about money i said that twice. If you went through all though wiretaps and the reports of the investigation and the centers of influence , no one who ever said anything that was harmful to be in any way if anything it was the opposite which to this day you be the judge why was i indicted . We did the third in discovery that is a dump of the information that is required by law to the defense. We learn to to read to the reports that we turned this back to the u. S. Attorneys office, i read the reports of the two men that approach may. One was interesting because he said under oath he met with congressman and jackson early october 2008 the gentleman approached me october 28 and 31st of that same year. Congressman jackson was encouraging him to talk about money and the ascendancy and he believed there were possibilities of fraud to be indicted with something he would be close to the future president to help prod get a part that is one of the most of certain things that i read but it was clear that congressman jackson was the man who empower the emissaries to talk about the United States senate seats and it is my view that congressman jackson was allowed to get away with a federal crime because the u. S. Attorney and fbi knew all of this from their interviews of witnesses and the people at the center of this. It was one other thing that i recall that was very interesting out of the report ready agent was told the congressmen jackson was concerned about the conversations they had and asked them if they talked about money. Jackson said dont talk about money anymore. I hereby agree of fitch Robert Blagojevich is investigated so congressmen jackson was tipped off there was an investigation going on of my brother and protected him i know i am running at a time it with a q a period. It is david and goliath up against a superpower the United States of america. Every time i went into the courtroom except for my Guardian Angels i knew the route there to help me. But during the trial the government still never stopped investigating i got a call from my cpa two weeks into the trial giving me a heads up that the iras just subpoenaed all your tax records 2003 through 2008 i just wanted you to know not only am i indicted with felony charges they put me in jeopardy to face the penalty of how many additional years if convicted there still chasing me looking at tax returns and what they learned they contacted all organizations weve made charitable contributions to the red cross the ymca, they all got calls to verify that what i had contributed was accurate. They could not find anything to discredit me because thats all they had i discovered that at the trial was being crossexamined all he had was to catch me with logic holes to Say Something i did not intend and wear me down because they have nothing of substance tried to connect the dots from the wiretaps and they could do whatever they wanted. I testified for todays they prepared we as well as anybody could be prepared to sit in the courtroom. It was packed with strangers and very few friends and the enemy staring at you waiting for you to scrub. The United States government was my enemy. The whole process of testifying wears you down i have a tendency to the answer the question and quickly without sinking and that would have been a tragic legal mistake i had to discipline myself to listen were the prosecutor was coming from with his question. Todays into the testimony during the break i was feeling tires away eight of protein bar to power through the rest of the afternoon and wrote a note to myself stay focused. I took it up to the steel and premise still being surveiled it in court with a special agent got up to walk over to the prosecutors table to demonstrate what i had done for cry watch the interaction they came over very abruptly to say what it you have up there . I showed my sticky note that said stay focused. Give me that you cannot have that. He went straight to the prosecutors table to slap them on his forehead to say this is what he had up there. Needless to say if you will the rest of my afternoon i did not need any other Supplemental Energy to get me through. Tactics and antics to get you any way that they can. After three weeks of deliberation the jury came back on all my accounts and rod was hung on all counts but one end for the first time that night to be listened to the news i could not afford to be brought down by negative thoughts for year and a half ive major every day before trial of a set of 530 in the morning to work out because it gave me a mental edge over the prosecutors. I tried to explain that in the book but with this and to a juror who looked like he was 20 years old to talk about the verdict 11 one in favor of guilt. We were shocked the spent a sleepless night in the next morning recalled mike what will we do to fix this . He said you going to fire me but we have to figure this out. He called me later that the jury came back nine three in favor of acquittal the odds are completely against a defendant so the average guy if you could afford to pay for good counsel, even if you are innocent even if you can articulate you were innocent on the stand doesnt mean you will be acquitted because the government has every a vantage to bring in witnesses get the judge to determine wh