Blagojevich terms Illinois Senate impeachment trial a 'Kangaroo Court'

Chicago (Illinois, US), Jan.27 (ANI): Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich has declared the Illinois State Senate impeachment proceedings a "kangaroo court."Blagojevich told FOX News on Monday that "What's happening to me is unimaginable. It's a kangaroo court...when they are basing an impeachment on a criminal allegation that their rules don't allow them to prove up."

"And they, even worse than that, don't allow me to disprove by preventing me from calling witnesses, then my lawyers and I believe that to be part of a process like that is to dignify a fraudulent impeachment process that sets a dangerous precedent for governors in Illinois and governors across America," he added.

"All I'm asking the state Senate to do is allow me to bring witnesses and bring evidence to show I did nothing wrong, and if they're going to say I did something wrong, then the least they should do is prove it up," he said.

The Illinois governor also emphasized White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel's statement last week that the two men never discussed anything inappropriate in regard to Obama's vacant Senate seat.

"Rahm Emanuel said on national television about a week or so ago that there was nothing improper in his conversations with me, and that's certainly accurate," he said.

When asked whom Emanuel wanted him to name to replace Obama in the U.S. Senate, Blagojevich declined to answer, saying, "those are private conversations."

Blagojevich also said that talk show host Oprah Winfrey was among those he considered to fill Obama's seat -- a revelation he made Monday morning during an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America."

"There were discussions...that was for real," he said.

Blagojevich added that his conversations over the Senate seat were taken "out of their proper context." (ANI)