Milorad "Rod" Blagojevich (pronounced /bləˈɡɔɪ.əvɪtʃ/ ( listen); Serbian: Милорад Благојевић; born December 10, 1956) is an American politician who served as the 40th governor of Illinois from 2003 to 2009. A Democrat, Blagojevich was a State Representative before being elected to the United States House of Representatives representing parts of Chicago. He was elected governor in 2002. He is the second Serbian American to be elected governor of a...
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Milorad "Rod" Blagojevich (pronounced /bləˈɡɔɪ.əvɪtʃ/ ( listen); Serbian: Милорад Благојевић; born December 10, 1956) is an American politician who served as the 40th governor of Illinois from 2003 to 2009. A Democrat, Blagojevich was a State Representative before being elected to the United States House of Representatives representing parts of Chicago. He was elected governor in 2002. He is the second Serbian American to be elected governor of any state in the United States.
Blagojevich was arrested on federal corruption charges on December 9, 2008. The charges involved conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and solicitation of bribery. The Justice Department complaint alleges that the governor conspired to commit several "pay to play" schemes, including attempting "to obtain personal gain ... through the corrupt use" of his authority to fill Barack Obama's vacated United States Senate seat. In a press briefing on the investigation, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald characterized...
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