Rod Blagojevich told FBI Special Agent Patrick Murphy that he didnt' mix politics with fund-raising during a March 2005 interview, the agent testified Tuesday.
Murphy said at the time, Blagojevich was being investigated for soliciting campaign contributions in exchange for awarding state contracts and jobs, and the extent to which he was aware of what was being given to his campaign.
He testified that Blagojevich said he stayed a "million miles" away from issuance of contracts, and that he tried to maintain a "firewall" between politics and government.
Murphy said Blagojevich told him he did not track who contributed to him or how much they gave.
In fact he said Blagojevich insisted that even though he knew about contributors before becoming governor, that after his election he took himself out of that process.
He said the FBI wanted to record that interview, but the governor's lawyers refused that request.
(This all relates to count 24, making false statements to the FBI).
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The testimony paints a direct contradiction to other testimony about Blagojevich, namely from Joseph Cari and Ali Ata who both said Blagojevich made clear that contributions would lead to appointments.
