Rod Blagojevich has repeatedly urged prosecutors to "play all the tapes," in his upcoming trial.
But his codefendant brother is taking a different tactic.
His lawyer, Michael Ettinger, has asked that the secret FBI recordings in the case be thrown out, saying there was no proper probable cause for a judge to issue a warrant allowing secret FBI wiretaps.
It's not a contradiction, Ettinger said. The case against his client, Robert Blagojevich, is far more narrow than the one against the former governor. Without the recordings, there's not much of a case against Rob Blagojevich, he said.
"In my opinion, with or without the tapes my client's innocent," Ettinger said. "However, if we win this motion, he doesn't have to bear the expense of a five-month trial."
Still, it's a vast contrast in strategy from the former governor who just Monday told NBC's "Today" show that he wants all the tapes played because they will vindicate him.
But Ettinger said the recordings never should have been made. He is challenging an application to the order that allowed the FBI to set up wiretaps, which was based on cooperation from the former Blagojevich friend John Wyma.
"The application fails to set forth an explicit promise to perform an official or not perform an official act or the existence of a quid pro quo for any of the solicitations made by Robert Blagojevich or his knowledge of an explicit promise or quid pro quo," Ettinger wrote.
The Blagojevich brothers are scheduled to go to trial June 3.