FBI tape: Burris pleads for Senate appointment

updated 10:40 p.m. ET May 26, 2009

CHICAGO - Sen. Roland Burris promised to "personally do something" for Rod Blagojevich's campaign fund while pressing for the then-Illinois governor to appoint him to President Barack Obama's former Senate seat, according to a wiretap transcript released Tuesday.

"Tell Rod to keep me in mind for that seat, would ya?" Burris tells Robert Blagojevich, who headed his brother's campaign fund, in a Nov. 13 phone conversation secretly taped by the FBI.

The remark came after Robert Blagojevich urged Burris to "keep me in mind and you know if you guys can just write checks that'd be fine, if we can't find a way for you to tie in."

"Okay, okay, well we, we, I, I will personally do something, okay," Burris says.

Earlier in the conversation, Burris and Robert Blagojevich explored the possibility that Burris might raise campaign money on a larger scale.

"I know I could give him a check," Burris said. "Myself."

Burris attorney Timothy Wright said Tuesday that Burris never wrote any checks to the Blagojevich campaign following the conversation. Burris, a former Illinois attorney general, had donated to Blagojevich's campaigns previously.

"These transcripts verify the accuracy of my previous public statements on this matter and demonstrate once and for all there was no 'pay to play' involved in my appointment to the United States Senate or perjury in my recounting of that process," Burris said in a statement.

Burris repeatedly said he wanted to help but added that major fundraising would have "so many negative connotations that Burris is trying to buy an appointment from the governor."

The transcript was released Tuesday as part of a motion by the U.S. attorney's office. The U.S. Senate ethics committee is investigating how Burris got his seat.

Burris has been under intense scrutiny since he was appointed by the now-ousted governor at the end of December, and for changing his story multiple times about whether he promised anything in exchange for it. The ethics committee began a preliminary investigation into how Burris got his job, and the Sangamon County State's Attorney was asked to determine whether perjury charges were warranted.

‘Gonna make me king’
Burris opens the wiretapped conversation by telling Robert Blagojevich: "I know you're calling telling me that you're gonna make me king of the world.

"And therefore I can go off to, you know, wherever and do all these great things," Burris adds. He says that he has "been trying to figure out what the heck, you know, I can do."

"We've had a number of conversations about, you know, anything you might be able to do," Robert Blagojevich says a moment later.

Burris says he is concerned about how fundraising on his part would be viewed if he got the Senate seat.

"And I'm trying to figure out how to deal with this and still be in the consideration for the appointment," he says.

"I hear ya," says Robert Blagojevich. "No, I hear ya."

The then-governor was arrested Dec. 9 on charges of scheming to sell or trade the Senate seat Obama was vacating and using the political muscle of the governor's office to squeeze people involved in state business for campaign contributions.

Blagojevich, ousted by lawmakers in January, and his brother have both pleaded not guilty in response to charges in the case as have four other members of the former governor's inner circle.

MORE FROM MORE POLITICS

More politics Section Front

CQ: More doctors might be Rx for House GOP With election near, Florida's Gov. Crist changes Palin draws hundreds at Iowa book signing ACORN prober: No illegal conduct on videos Salahis join lengthy list of security breaches Ex-N.Y. Senate leader convicted on 2 charges Palin joshes herself at journalists' dinner NYT: Similarities to Iraq surge mask Afghan risks First US ambassador to the Vatican dead at 95 Church clears Giuliani friend in abuse case More politics Section Front   Add More politics headlines to your news reader: