Blagojevich Asks Judge to Subpoena Obama

(April 23) -- Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is counting on testimony from a higher power to prove his innocence: President Barack Obama.

The disgraced politician has asked a federal judge to subpoena the president as a witness for the defense in his June corruption trial. Blagojevich faces a number of charges, including the allegation that he tried to sell or profit from Obama's soon-to-be vacant Illinois senate seat in 2008.

In court documents, Blagojevich's lawyers claim that Obama's testimony is critical to the defense of the indicted former governor.

"President Obama has direct knowledge to allegations made in the indictment," the 11-page motion reads. "President Obama is the only one who can say if emissaries were sent on his behalf, who those emissaries were and what, if anything, those emissaries were instructed to do on his behalf."

Legal experts say it is unlikely that the president will be forced to testify in the trial, which is scheduled for June 3.

Other sitting presidents have been called to the stand before, but the practice is very unusual. Ken Starr, the lawyer who led the investigation of President Bill Clinton, said Blagojevich's request would probably be denied. Lawyers for the ex-governor would have to make a "very substantial showing of the need for his testimony," Starr told the Chicago Tribune.

Nothing in the request for a subpoena accuses Obama of any wrongdoing. But throughout the motion -- which was meant to be redacted by the court but can be read clearly -- Blagojevich and his lawyer Sam Adam say the president was far more involved in the scandal than he publicly let on.

The ex-governor says, for example, that Obama has "pertinent information" about Tony Rezko that he has never shared before. Rezko, a former fundraiser for both Blagojevich and Obama, was convicted in 2008 for using his relationships to receive kickbacks in state contracts.

The Chicago NBC affiliate has a list of the five other redactions Blagojevich and his lawyer made in the request, which includes the accusation that Obama pushed hard for friend and adviser Valerie Jarrett to fill the Senate seat.

White House spokesman Bill Burton declined to comment, citing an ongoing criminal investigation.

The ex-governor's flamboyant political style and flair for the dramatic have scored him plenty of press, though not necessarily the kind most politicians hope for.

He has hardly kept a low political profile since his arrest in December 2008. He impersonated Elvis Presley to earn extra income and appeared on various talk shows to assert his innocence. His website, governorrod.com, declares that the former governor is "a champion for ordinary Americans."

And last year, he even planned on competing in a "Survivor"-like reality show in Costa Rica until Judge James Zagel forbade him from leaving the country.

"I don't think this defendant in all honesty ... fully understands the position he finds himself in," Zagel told the Chicago Sun-Times last year.