On Monday: the prosecution lodged an attack on Rod Blagojevich through three different witnesses as it plows through its case at a rapid clip.
1. Bradley Tusk: testified while he was deputy governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich told him to deliver a message to then-U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel: He'd only get a $2 million grant for a school in his district if his Hollywood agent brother Ari Emanuel (the inspiration for Ari Gold on "Entourage") held a fund-raiser. Tusk testified that Gov. Blagojevich wasn't "engaged" and tough to find.
He said he had to hunt him down at his tailor and his daughter's salon to sign bills.
Otherwise, Tusk, today 36, was often tasked with signing bills. Good for Blagojevich: Tusk said he thought the Emanuel request was illegal, but didn't quit his job and never reported it to law enforcement.
2. John Johnston: racetrack executive says as he awaited the governor's signature on a bill, he was shaken down for a campaign contribution by Lon Monk, Johnston's "conduit" to Rod Blagojevich. Good for Blagojevich: Johnston says Blagojevich never asked him for cash and admits that Monk could be lying.
3. John Harris:says Blagojevich told him to cut off two brokerage firms from state business after each failed to hire his wife, Patti. Good for Blagojevich: Harris never carried out his alleged order.
A congratulations to Sam Adam, who joins four other defense team members in receiving a thumping by U.S. District Judge James Zagel.
Up today: Former chief of staff John Harris is back on the stand where he'll likely remain until next week. Assistant U.S. Attorney Carrie Hamilton says she'll bring in a series of secretly recorded conversations through Harris.
A mild-mannered Johnston is testifying with his hands folded before him.
He just told jurors the 2008 racetrack bill -- which would extend a 2006 law that funneled subsidies from riverboat casinos to the struggling horse racing industry -- would bring $9,000 a day to his two racetracks -- once it went into effect.
Every day counted when it came to getting the bill signed.
Prosecutors show jurors a chart showing that in 2006, it took Blagojevich just one day to sign a similar bill.
Earlier, Johnston testified about a series of conversations he had with Lon Monk during which Monk asked him for campaign contributions.
Johnston did not commit to giving money and generally dodged the issue, he said.
I would generally try to deflect the conversation to another subject matter," he testified.
Rod Blagojevich's jury is looking at financial charts that appear to buttress the testimony of onetime top Blagojevich aide Lon Monk.
One chart shows a series of wire transfers from various accounts belonging to Tony Rezko. Finally, one of the accounts is drawn down the day after a $200,000 check is written to another Blagojevich associate, Christopher Kelly.
Shari Schindler a 23-year revenue agent with the IRS testified that one check for $12,000 traced back to Patti Blagojevich's account at her business, River Realty in October 3, 2003, the same day that Rezko associate Joseph Aramanda was moving money out of his account.
Schindler is tapped in all the top criminal cases here in federal court. She's known as the expert who untangles the financial mess associated with complicated cases.
Schindler said she scrutinized all of Monk's bank accounts, including his wife's. Between Sept. 2004 and 2007: "There's virtually no cash withdrawn from the banks."
"In that time could you find any deposits for Mr. Monk or his wife?" Prosecutor Reid Schar asked.
"I looked for them and I couldn't find any," Schindler said.
That supports Monk's testimony that he was taking cash payments from Rezko, up to $90,000.
Blagojevich attorney Aaron Goldstein tried offering a reason for the cash payments.
"Someone was giving him potentially hush-money," attorney Goldstein tried asking.
It apparently was such an obvious objection, there was laughter in the gallery.
Judge James Zagel slapped down some of Goldstein's attempted questions, repeatedly telling him he was going outside the scope.
He's now giving the defense yet another tutorial on what kinds of questions they're allowed to ask and what they're not allowed to ask. In general, don't start questions: "is it possible," he said.
He made comparisons to the World Cup, saying it's "possible" that England or Brazil might win. But anyone who says it's possible that Australia wins doesn't know what he's talking about.
(Personally, I'm offended Zagel didn't use Argentina as an example of a "possible" winner.)
"Before you utter the word "possible" think about that," Zagel told them.
One of the government's chief witnesses, Lon Monk, concluded his testimony Tuesday.
Good for prosecutors: Monk dished considerably against his old boss, alleging Rod Blagojevich went so far as to agree to appoint someone to a senate seat in exchange for killing an ethics bill.
Good for defense: By the time Monk went back to his home in Decatur, his old friend Blagojevich said Monk's parents were likely ashamed of him and defense lawyer Sam Adam Jr. accused him of being a liar.
Witnesses up today:
1. Joseph Aramanda continues his testimony. Aramanda, an associate of political fund-raiser Tony Rezko, testified
2. A financial analyst who's likely to keep talking about a $10 billion pension bond deal.
3. A "brief witness related to an insurance company." Lon Monk testified that Rezko had attempted to make money personally off the state involving an insurance company.
4. Joseph Cari, a onetime heavyweight Democratic political fund-raiser who has pleaded guilty for his role in a criminal scheme involving the Teachers' Retirement System of Illinois.
Rod Blagojevich addressed the press moments ago on his way out of the courthouse. It was the first time he had spoken publicly since his old friend and former chief of staff, Lon Monk, took the stand last Thursday to testify against him.
"Today was, in many ways, from a personal standpoint, a very sad day," Blagojevich began with Patti by his side.
"It was very sad to see my old friend on the stand, testifying to statements that he made, acknowledging that those statements were not true," he said.
The ex-governor was referring to several points from Monk's testimony that defense attorney Sam Adams Jr. cast as lies in his cross-examination today.
"As my old friend was testifying and saying things that he knew weren't true, I couldn't help but think about times that we spent together," Blagojevich continued. "I couldn't help but think about his mother and his father, especially his father, and the shame that his father probably feels.
"And, of course, I felt a real sadness for him, knowing that he made statements and said things that were not true and is now going to spend time in jail for something he didn't do.
"So it's a very, very sad day from a personal standpoint, but from the standpoint of getting the truth out, I think we made real strides in establishing what the truth is," he said.
We begin again after the lunch break with a new witness, David Abel, 49, who lives on Chicago's North Side.
Blond, glasses, Abel sits very still on the witness stand. He looks every bit of the part of the number-crunching expert he was employed to be with the state.
He gives such details as "I knocked lightly on the door," when asked what he did first when he joined a ongoing meeting in the governor's office at the Thompson Center, downtown.
Abel talked about the $10 billion pension bond deal the state took part in under Rod Blagojevich.
Former Blagojevich chief of staff Lon Monk, a government witness, testified that Blagojevich, Monk, Tony Rezko and Chris Kelly plotted to split a kickback off that deal.
Monk testified that Kelly pushed Blagojevich to issue all $10 billion in bonds in one day so that the chosen firm Bear Stearns, would get all the business. Monk testified that Rezko struck a deal with Stearns, in which he'd get $500,000 off the deal. Monk testified that money was to be split four ways -- to Blagojevich, Monk, Kelly, and Rezko.
Abel testified that Kelly was in attendance in the meeting.
"Clearly it's the largest that the state has ever done. At that time it was the largest ... done by any municipality in the United States," Abel said.
"I think we have order support for the $10 billion, we have other alternatives if we're not comfortable with the full $10 billion and we could go either way," he said he advised Blagojevich and others in the meeting.
That's different than what we heard from Monk, who said he believed people in the budget office were pushing to sell all $10 billion. That gives the prosecution room to later argue that it was Kelly's alleged corrupt role that made the sale go forward, rather than professionals advocating the move.
John Filan, who headed the office of budget management, later told Abel they'd be issuing all $10 billion in bonds.
Cross-examination of Lon Monk is back after a short break. Sam Adam Jr. picked up where he left off, with the Illinois Tollway project and alleged shakedown of contractor Jerry Krozel.
Adam is asking Monk why, if Krozel felt extorted by the governor's requests, the contractor didn't complain but instead asked to schedule an in-person meeting with the governor in his office.
Did Krozel do anything to tell you he was feeling extorted, Adam asks?
Did he send you a letter, he asks? Call you on the phone?
"No," is Monk's answer each time.
"Smoke signal?!" Adam finally yells. "Anything? Anything at all?"
Even Lon cracks a smile at the "smoke signal" question.
Judge James Zagel tries to calm down Adam's questioning on the topic, telling him to stay on track.
"My concern is there is a discrete set of charges. Some of your questions seem to be directed toward things that are not charged and irrelevant. And that's my concern," Zagel said.
Adam is now vigorously attacking Monk's credibility as a witness, arguing that he is telling jurors the prosecutors' version of the truth in exchange for a sentence one-tenth as long as the one he might have faced.
Sam Adam Jr. gets animated asking Monk if he remembers any details from the meetings where the four -- Monk, Blagojevich, Rezko and Kelly -- agreed to split up money off of state deals.
"I don't remember," Monk says repeatedly.
Adam is nearing him, then paces away. He points to the ex-governor and points in the air.
Adam notes it's the first time in Monk's adult life he was going to commit a felony and he can't recall "one!" detail about what Tony Rezko wrote on the board.
Rod is sitting sideways with one arm lazily lying on the courtroom table, looking as if he's enjoying this.
"I don't know if we gave that much thought where the money was going to go," Monk says. Rod starts quietly laughing to himself, then puts his hand over his mouth suppressing a smile.
"The truth is the way they see it!"" Adam says.
Monk pauses and appears to try to collect himself.
"I'm supposed to tell the truth," he said, his forehead wrinkling deeply as he answers.
Adam has seized on the fact that Monk called $90,000 in cash he accepted from Rezko an "advance payment" for a future job he might take with Rezko. In advance interviews with prosecutors, it appears Monk called the money a "gift."
"You told us it was an advance payment on the insurance deal, didn't you?" Adam asked.
"Yeah. Or some other endeavor I might be working with Tony on," Monk said.
"That's not true either is it, Mr. Monk? You're lying about that, aren't you?" Adam asked.
Sam Adam Jr. has begun questioning former Blagojevich chief of staff Lon Monk about the early years of his involvement in Blagojevich's political career - the transition to the governor's seat in 2003.
He is first tackling the issue of the board and commission appointments that Blagojevich made - allegedly in exchange for campaign cash.
Adam argued that with some 1,500 board and commission seats that needed filling, there were thousands of applicants, and Blagojevich could not have reviewed them all.
"While you say it's the governor's ultimate responsibility, the governor didn't sit down and interview, 3, 4,000 people for these jobs, did he?" Adam asked him.
Sam Adam Jr. is now asking Monk about "philosophies" under Blagojevich's gubernatorial administration. Adam is animated, pacing, speaking very loudly in response to Monk's calm, measured words.
Adam is prompting repeated objections from the government, and all of them so far have been upheld by the judge. Government prosecutors have perhaps already objected more in the first 15 minutes of the day than Sam Adam Jr. objected for the entirety of the government's three days of questioning Monk.
"It might be better if you use less loaded words," Judge Zagel told Adam. Zagel has also cautioned him on the relevance of his questioning.
Rod and Patti Blagojevich arrived at the courthouse around 9:20 this morning. His attorneys arrived separately.
Blagojevich is now chumming with the spectators in the courtroom, making them laugh. Lon Monk is in witness chair, awaiting the arrival of Judge James Zagel.
Today Blagojevich is wearing an olive-colored suit, lighter than the darker suits he's usually wearing. Monk is wearing the same gray-colored suit.
Sam Adam Jr. is wearing a gray three-piece suit and a pink tie.
A big roar of laughter comes from defense table; they're all sharing a joke.
Rod Blagojevich's friend and former chief of staff Lon Monk will spend his fourth day on the stand today.
This time though, he'll be answering questions for defense lawyers.
Blagojevich's lead lawyer, Sam Adam Jr. said he plans to spend all day today cross examining Monk.
Day 7 recap: Monk testifies he took part in shakedown schemes with Rod Blagojevich involving extracting $100,000 campaign donation from horse-racing businessman John Johnston while the man was awaiting Blagojevich's signature on legislation that would benefit his industry.
Good for prosecutors: Monk gave specifics about numerous conversations in which Blagojevich time and again asked about the status of Johnston's donation. Monk says Blagojevich kept delaying signing the legislation because he knew it hurt them financially. The more it hurt, the more Blagojevich hoped it would mean Johnston would pull the trigger on a contribution, Monk testified.
Good for Blagojevich: Monk admits he wasn't the good guy here.
He was getting paid $150,000 a year by Johnston to lobby on his behalf. At the same time, Rod Blagojevich was pressuring Monk to pressure Johnston for campaign cash.
Robert Blagojevich's lawyer, Michael Ettinger gets Monk to admit he lied repeatedly to both Blagojevich's in order to benefit himself.
Judge James Zagel has adjourned court for the day, but first he asked defense attorney Sam Adam Jr. how much time he'd need to finish cross-examining Lon Monk.
"Tomorrow," Adam said -- meaning all day.
A pause from the judge. Then, "Umm... sure."
If Adam's cross-examination of Monk ends before the end of the day, we will hear brief testimonies from two witnesses -- David Abel and Vinnie Mazarro.
Next up on the stand will be Joseph Aramanda, a Tony Rezko associate who is accused of siphoning money to Rezko tied to the $10 billion state pension bond deal, which was referenced earlier in testimony.
Before Zagel called it a day, Adam was working on breaking down the line between pay-to-play and politics as usual.
Blagojevich was always going to sign the race track bill, Adam argued, contribution or not.
"At no point did he ever say to you, that (the contribution) is what I want, or I'm not going to sign the bill?" Adam asked Monk.
Adam also painted Monk as a bad friend and untrustworthy employee who lied to both Blagojevich and his clients, the Johnstons.
Prosecutor Chris Niewoehner wrapped up his questioning quickly after a break. Monk is now being cross-examined by Michael Ettinger, attorney for brother Robert Blagojevich.
Ettinger appears to be trying to prove that Robert had little to no involvement with the Friends of Blagojevich campaign office for most of the time period in question.
The attorney went year by year from 2001 to 2006, asking Monk if Robert Blagojevich had had any involvement in his brother's fund-raising that year.
Monk's answer was generally no, until 2006, when he said that Robert "wasn't getting paid. He was asked too do a few things, but he wasn't getting paid."
Monk looks a little more relaxed and is looking Ettinger right in the eye. Rod Blagojevich, at the defense table, is staring right at Monk. Ettinger is standing at the lectern in the center of the room.
When Monk met with John Johnston on Dec. 3, 2008, he tried to put the race track owner at ease about making a hefty contribution so close to the signing of a bill that meant millions of dollars in subsidies for his industry.
"I wanted to let him know why the bill wasn't getting signed," Monk testified -- namely, because the governor wanted $100,000 to sign it -- "and as a result, he should give the contribution now,"
Prosecutor Chris Niewoehner asked Monk if Johnston was only worried that the contribution would create a perception of wrongdoing.
"No," Monk said.
The prosecutor asked what Johnston was worried about.
"That we were all doing something wrong in linking the signing and the donation," Monk said.
Key government witness Lon Monk actually worked for horse-racing businessman John Johnston.
The alleged shakedown of the executive is among the central allegation's against Rod Blagojevich: that he delayed signing legislation that would benefit Johnston because Johnston wouldn't donate $100,000 campaign donation.
Yet, Monk somehow continues to fumble Johnston's name, repeatedly calling him "Johnson."
It's a clear mix-up that must be apparent to jurors.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Niewoehner appears to try to clue him in, clearly pronouncing the "T" in the name in question after question.
Jurors in Rod Blagojevich's trial hear the first conversation that the FBI secretly captured on bugs they installed in the Friends of Blagojevich fund-raising office.
The sound is grainy at best in the courtroom. In the overflow room, it's unintelligible.
The call is more talk about John Johnston's horse-racing bill. Monk and Blagojevich are discussing the timing of signing the racetrack bill and Blagojevich getting a campaign donation.
We resume today with more of Lon Monk's testimony. We're likely to hear many more recordings through Monk as well. We just got started Thursday with four recordings, the first of the trial.
Last week, Monk, the former governor's onetime best pal, running buddy and former chief of staff dished incredible amounts of information on Rod Blagojevich. He spoke of secret meetings, secret bank accounts and code names -- 1, 2, 3 and 4 -- that referred to Blagojevich, Monk, Christopher Kelly and Tony Rezko, making money off of state deals. He said Blagojevich agreed to use his influence to help his friends and himself make money off the state.
Good for prosecutors: Monk is articulate, straightforward and doesn't embellish. Sometimes he hardly completes a sentence, blurting out phrases: "to make money," only after being pushed by the prosecutor. He testifies he didn't tell then Gov. Blagojevich about Rezko giving Monk up to $90,000 in cash because he'd be afraid Monk would get caught.
Good for defense: Monk is giving the defense much to work with on cross examination.
He says he took cash payments and didn't tell Blagojevich about it. He says Rezko rehabbed his basement and didn't make him pay for it. The defense will try to convince jurors that Monk had committed his own crimes and is now on the stand only to save himself. His deal calls for two years in prison instead of the more than five that he faced.
Other updates:
• Dismissed juror tells Sun-Times tales of others in pool disregarding judge's order.
• Over the weekend, Robert Blagojevich's lawyers put in a filing asking for a chunk of cash from his brother's campaign fund to help pay for legal costs. To read filing: Click here.
Lon Monk testified that as a large Illinois tollway expansion, a $1.8 billion road building program, was going to be announced, Rod Blagojevich told Monk he should hit up engineering firms for campaign donations.
"He wanted to put pressure on me to put pressure on them to donate money by the end of the year," Monk said.
Monk told prosecutor Christopher Niewoehner he wouldn't do it, at least not make straight up requests.
"It was just a blatant mixing of fund-raising for state action and vise versa," Monk said.
At one point, the two met with Jerry Krozel, a contractor who was pushing Blagojevich to
approve capital expansion. Though they were talking about state action, they met in the fund-raising office.
Blagojevich asked Krozel for financial "support" at the same meeting. Krozel told Blagojevich would be happy to help.
"It would really incentivize him to really fund-raise for Rod," Monk said.
Krozel was told the expansion would be a boon to the industry and in turn, Blagojevich hoped Krozel would raise $500,000 from others. Rod Blagojevich based that number, which Monk called "unrealistic," on past donations.
As Monk checked up on progress, Krozel said he hit a snag.
"I'm not going to be able to raise money from my members right now because they had been served subpoenas from the U.S. Attorney's office," Monk said.
The voices of the Blagojevich brothers are filling the courtroom for the first time as secret FBI recordings are played with Lon Monk on the stand.
Jurors can hear an animated and irritated Rod Blagojevich who is pushing his brother hard to get to $4 million.
Rod Blagojevich is snapping at his brother, telling him to keep hitting people up.
"In terms of having money in the bank, it's going to be close," Rod says. "We've got to somehow get there...get to that $4 million."
Rod tells Rob to keep calling people and ask:
"Can you send us $5,000, can you find us whatever, follow me?"
Rod tells his brother on the recording to hit up anyone and everyone: the Pritzkers, Sam Zell, Blair Hull.
"Every event that we've done with the exception of (state Sen. James) DeLeo have been under the budgeted amount," Robert Blagojevich can be heard saying.
Robert Blagojevich sounds almost alarmist telling his brother that everyone's pulling back on donations.
"The Greeks are falling off," as well as others, he said.
Two more calls are played, including one in which Rod Blagojevich discusses asking Blair Hull for a campaign donation. Hull had expressed his interest in the Senate seat.
Lon Monk is now describing meetings in 2008 where Blagojevich and those close to him would pore over fund-raising lists and set goals for the end of the year.
How high was Blagojevich's fund-raising goal in 2008?
"As high as possible," Monk said.
That's because the ethics law would take effect in 2009, stifling the then-governor's ability to tap into anyone who did significant business with the state.
The sheets of paper jurors are seeing show past donors and had a "low projection" of $2.5 million and a high projection at $3.3 million.
Though Monk was a lobbyist at the time and no longer working for Rod Blagojevich, he still said he played a role in helping raise money for the then-governor. Otherwise their relationship would be "strained," he said.
Monk said Blagojevich pushed them to raise money but they ran into brick walls.
The next election wasn't for another two years.
"A lot of people we were asking for money didn't see a need to be donating money," Monk said.
Plus, there was a presidential election.
"We had Barack Obama in Chicago running for president," and they were hitting up some of the same people, Monk said.
And one more reason: "The economy was not good and there were federal investigations that I'm sure was concerning donors," Monk said.
Blagojevich could not use the money for anything he wanted if he didn't run for governor in 2010.
He could donate it to another candidate or create political action fund or some other entity to promote various issues, Monk said.
Lon Monk just gives a new angle on the most compelling storyline of the Rod Blagojevich trial: horsetrading for the senate seat.
Monk described Blagojevich as a man so consumed by raising money, and thus power, for himself, that he was willing to trade a Senate seat appointment to kill an ethics bill.
Monk testified that a call from Barack Obama in 2008 unwittingly derailed a deal hatched by Rod Blagojevich and Illinois Senate President Emil Jones.
Monk testified that Blagojevich told him that Jones (who has since retired) would not call an ethics bill that Blagojevich strongly opposed if "Rod named him to Obama's Senate seat if Obama won in November."
"Did you understand he was serious?" prosecutor Chris Niewoehner asked.
"Yes," Monk said.
Obama himself then called Jones and told him to call the bill for a vote, Monk said. Jones then called to tell Blagojevich he was going back on the deal.
Rod Blagojevich was writing furiously and leaning into his notebook during this part of the testimony.
The reason Blagojevich was so interested in killing this bill goes back to fund-raising, Monk testified.
Once Chris Kelly was charged in 2007, Rod Blagojevich took a more direct and active role in fund-raising, Monk testified. Blagojevich picked up the phone and called people himself. He was more active.
Then the brakes were going to be put on him. The Illinois Legislature in 2008 passed a far-reaching ethics bill that would keep him from soliciting donations from people who did business with the state. After Jan. 1, 2009, there was a fairly large group of donors who were no longer able to give him money.
Blagojevich thought: "It was overreaching and unfair because it focused only on the governor's office and not the legislature," Monk said.
As an aside: When the bill stalled in the senate, there were many negative headlines. That was led by the Chicago Sun-Times where an editorial eventually asked then-Presidential candidate Obama to call Jones and force the bill to be called. The editorial included Jones' office phone number.
Prosecutors lay the groundwork to show a financial relationship between Patti Blagojevich and Tony Rezko.
Lon Monk said the then-governor wanted his wife to get a steady flow of income. So they asked lawyers from Winston & Strawn if it was legal for Patti Blagojevich to work at Rezmar, Rezko's company. She would sell and market real estate on retainer.
"It wasn't a problem for her to work for Rezmar so long as she was actually working for them," Monk said the lawyers told them. "His advice was, you know, make sure she's working."
That was a concern, he said, because:"She was not only the governor's wife, but she was also a stay at home mom for two little girls."
Prosecutors will later say, through other witnesses, that Patti was a ghost payroller, that she didn't actually do work but came in to Rezmar offices for show. They'll say she sometimes brought her kids to the offices with her but didn't do the work. She was paid $12,000 a month on retainer.
They'll say that Mr. and Mrs. Blagojevich flouted the advice of their attorneys.
Rod Blagojevich, Tony Rezko, Chris Kelly and Lon Monk used code names for themselves "when talking about the four of us making money," Monk said -- "1, 2, 3, 4."
Monk said in 2007 or 2008, when he and Blagojevich were alone in Blago's office, they discussed an FBI investigation.
Blagojevich told Monk not to ever talk about the "1, 2, 3, 4" reference.
Monk on the stand silently mimicked Blagojevich's actions, putting up his fingers one at a time, then running a single finger across his throat.
Blagojevich is clearly upset, unsettled in his chair. He leaned forward and stared right at Monk. But at Monk's gesture, Blagojevich sat back hard in his chair and appeared to mutter something.
He's now trying to be contained, hands folded before him.
Prosecutor Chris Niewoehner is questioning Lon Monk about appointments that Blagojevich made to a list of unpaid positions on state boards and commissions in 2003 and 2004.
Tony Rezko and Chris Kelly brought forward a list of recommendations for these at positions -- mostly people who had made sizable contributions or could be counted on to make sizable contributions, Monk testified.
They were "people who would support the governor's agenda, potentially donate money," Monk said. The appointments were a fund-raising tool, he said.
Rezko said that "some of these board spots were high-profile enough and prestigious enough ... that at a minimum some of these people ought to be donating $25,000," Monk said.
These were positions like trusteeships at the University of Illinois, the State Board of Investment, and the like, Monk said.
Blagojevich called these positions his "ambassadorships," Monk said -- referring to the notion that ambassadorships are appointed by presidents as a thank-you for big campaign contributions.
One of those most publicized appointments was that of Ali Ata, former director of the Illinois Finance Authority. Niewoehner is questioning Monk on that appointment.
Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich trial day 6 will feature expanded testimony from Lon Monk, who started dishing considerably against his old friend and boss during his first day on the stand Wednesday.
EXPECTED TODAY: The government could begin playing the first, much-anticipated secret FBI recordings today. Since Monk's cell phone was tapped, he'll have a bunch of calls to discuss.
MONK'S KEY POINTS FROM WEDNESDAY:
Good for prosecutors: OK, Lon Monk went on family vacations with Rod and Patti Blagojevich, he even lived with the couple when he returned to Chicago to take a job in the governor's administration back in 2002. So prosecutors made it crystal clear that Monk is close to the former governor and maybe that makes him more believable to jurors.
•Monk said he witnessed Blagojevich in meetings where the former governor agreed
he'd use his influence to help his friends -- and himself -- make money off of state deals.
•Monk says $500,000 was funneled into a secret bank account and it was to be split in four, with a share going to Rod Blagojevich after he left office.
Good for Blagojevich: Monk said he never saw a dime from the $500,000 that Tony Rezko took as a kickback payment for steering a state deal to a firm he and Kelly hand-picked. That means he didn't see Blagojevich ever dip into that money either.
"Do you know what happened to it?" Prosecutor Chris Niewoehner asked. Monk: "No."
Rod Blagojevich and his defense team will refrain from making statements to the press while a witness is on the stand, Sam Adam Jr. told reporters after court today.
That means he won't say anything publicly about Lon Monk's testimony until after the defense has cross-examined him.
"We want to respect Judge Zagel, we want to respect the court, we want to respect the process," Adam said.
"Don't blame Rod," he said, adding that maintaining radio silence was his idea and not Zagel's.
Secret FBI recordings of Rod Blagojevich and his top aides will be made public as they're played in court, Judge James Zagel said today at the trial's conclusion.
Zagel cautioned that they cannot be released until the defense has its chance to cross examine the witness on the recordings.
That's tough from a media standpoint because we may hear stuff one day in court but will have to wait days before we're able to publish it to the public.
We may hear recordings tomorrow, since Monk, by his own account, is on many of them.
His cell phone was tapped by the FBI in the fall of 2008.
Lon Monk's critical testimony continues as he alleges that a $10 billion state deal was controlled not by experts in Rod Blagojevich's administration -- but fund-raising friends who wanted to make money off the deal.
That's because Blagojevich, Tony Rezko, Chris Kelly and Monk were to win a $500,000 kickback off the deal, he said.
Monk told of a number of secret meetings involving the four of them. He said they referred to one another as 1,2, 3 and 4.
Monk said he listened intently when Kelly explained to him how they could profit off of state deals.
"I was intrigued and I wanted to make money," he said.
While the money was paid into a secret account held by Rezko, Monk never testified whether he knew if Blagojevich ultimately got any of the money.
Monk said in 2003, early in Blagojevich's first run in the governor's office, Blagojevich gave the OK to sell all $10 billion in bonds in one day -- rather than over several days, and by several different firms.
Handling the huge task was Bear Stearns, a firm recommended by Kelly and Rezko.
Blagojevich gave the nod to the deal only after Kelly took him aside in a government meeting and told him what to do.
Kelly was the only non-staffer present at the meeting, Monk said.
Kelly later told Monk he pushed Blagojevich to approve the deal.
"It was either really going to help fund-raising or we were going to make money ... The four of us," Monk said Kelly explained.
Monk said the $10 billion deal was steered to Bear Stearns while Bob Kjellander was lobbyist.
Monk said as a reward for the business, Kjellander: "had given Tony $500,000 and that Tony was putting that in a separate account for the four of us."
Monk said he, Rezko and others didn't want anyone to know about the account: "Because it would have been illegal."
Was the money all for Rezko?
"No," Monk said. "That it would eventually be divided equally among us ... "After Rod was out of office."
Kjellander at the time was the National Republican committeeman.
Chris Kelly later blew his top at Rezko for withdrawing $100,000 from the account.
"By withdrawing the money it would make the account more visible than it otherwise would because there was activity in it," Monk said.
Kelly told Rezko to put the money back in, Monk said.
Kelly wasn't worried Rezko would take the governor's share just: "That the account would become known," Monk said.
Ultimately, Monk said he saw not a cent of the money.
"Do you know what happened to it?" Prosecutor Chris Niewoehner said.
Said Monk: "No"
Rod Blagojevich was worried about money in the year after he won the governor's seat in 2002. Patti's real estate firm had taken a hit since she'd become first lady, and the family was forced to live on Rod's $160,000-or-so governor's salary, Monk testified.
It didn't help that Rod liked to buy expensive suits, he said.
But Rod's money worries were bad news for Tony Rezko and Chris Kelly, Monk said.
"They didn't want Rod and Patti to really be worried about finances, because they didn't want finances to be the reason why he may not run for re-election or run for higher office," Monk said.
The higher office Rezko and Kelly had in mind?
"At one point, president of the United States," Monk said.
They were eying the 2008 election, Monk said, because "2004 would have been premature for someone who had just become governor."
Rod Blagojevich is livid and cannot contain the anger he's reflecting as Lon Monk finally gets to the meat of his remarks: he puts Rod Blagojevich in the room when there was a discussion to divvy up hundreds of thousands of dollars made through state action.
Monk described a 2003 meeting in which Blagojevich, Monk, Tony Rezko and Chris Kelly are all in the room talking about how to make money off of state deals. He said one of Rezko's ideas involved creating an insurance agency that would make money by getting business from the state. Blagojevich presumably would be sure he directed the control appropriately.
Monk says that Rezko led the discussion and on a blackboard puts up nine different ideas that would make each of them money. Each idea was worth about $100,000 he said.
What was the thrust of the meeting: "How the four of us could make money different ways."
Who was going to make money off the deals?
"The four of us," Monk said.
How was that money going to be divided? "Equally," Monk said. "All told, hundreds of thousands of dollars ... in total."
In court, Blagojevich appears angry and is almost smiling at times, shakes his head and shoots glances at the prosecutor and Monk.
Monk said Blagojevich agreed not to take the money until after he was out of office.
"Because we didn't want anyone to know what was going on," Monk said. "There wouldn't be as much scrutiny. ... "In all liklihood (it was) wrong and we would be breaking the law."
The exchange wasn't lost on jurors; several of them were furiously taking notes during the questioning.
Chris Kelly was the first person to suggest to Lon Monk that he could benefit personally from Rod Blagojevich's position as governor, Monk has testified.
The conversation occurred just before the 2002 election in the garage of the Blagojevich campaign office on Lincoln Avenue.
The polls were leaning in their favor, and Kelly and Monk were pretty sure Blagojevich was going to win over competitor Jim Ryan.
Kelly told Monk "in essence, that the Republicans had been in power for so long and they have been benefiting from the state," Monk said. "And that was something we were going to be able to do now that we were close to Rod and he was going to become governor."
How did Monk feel about this?
"I was intrigued by the topic and I wanted to make money," Monk said.
In the courtroom, Rod is shaking his head and almost smiling. Several jurors are taking notes.
Lon Monk, former close friend and fund-raiser for Rod Blagojevich, is back on the stand.
Before the lunch break, prosecutor Chris Niewoehner questioned Monk about his involvement in Blagojevich's 2002 gubernatorial campaign. Now he's asking about the transition period between his win and when he took office in January 2003.
There were 30 to 35 "senior positions" in state agencies that needed to be filled, Monk said -- heads of the Department of Human Services, public health directors, general counsel, and the like.
Monk helped to fill those spots, he said, along with Tony Rezko and Chris Kelly.
"Were these people going to be Blagojevich's closest advisers?" Niewoehner asked. Monk said yes.
The prosecutor asked who had the most success placing people in these senior positions in the Blagojevich administration.
"Probably Tony Rezko, Chris (Kelly) and (2002 Blagojevich campaign chairman) David Wilhelm," Monk said.
Political appointees in that round included heads of the state transportation agency and the Illinois Tollway, he said.
Rod scribbled furiously in his notebook as Monk talked about filling jobs.
Of all the Rod Blagojevich witnesses expected in this trial, no one's cooperation personally hurts the former governor more than Lon Monk.
Monk was Blagojevich's running buddy, his law school roommate, his groomsman.
Monk's parents even attended Blagojevich's wedding.
But today, Monk will be on the stand for the government.
Monk, whose cell phone was among those wiretapped in the Blagojevich corruption probe in 2008, can take prosecutors through numerous alleged corruption schemes beginning when Blagojevich first took office in 2003.
Monk will say he took cash pay offs from political fixer Tony Rezko, among other schemes. Monk also worked as Blagojevich's chief of staff.
In opening statements yesterday, attorney Sam Adam Jr. noted Monk was the California guy with "beautiful hair." He then paused and looked at Blagojevich, rattling off a line that made more jurors laugh than most things Adam said over two hours:
