Flustered Burris Maintains Innocence On "Hardball" (WATCH)

Roland Burris began Wednesday by explaining to reporters how a recording of a telephone call of him promising the brother of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich that he would "personally do something" for Blagojevich's campaign fund-- while they were discussing his interest in being appointed to the Senate-- actually proved his innocence of pay-to-play.

Burris' rough day got even worse Wednesday afternoon during a phone interview on MSNBC's "Hardball with Chris Matthews."

Burris began the interview by reiterating his innocence, saying that "there was no money ever given, nor was there any money ever raised" for Blagojevich. Then Matthews played a portion of the taped call that appears to reveal Burris' awareness of the murky waters he was navigating while campaigning for the Senate appointment:

BURRIS: I mean, I'm trying to figure out how to deal with this and still be in the consideration for the appointment.

ROB BLAGOJEVICH: I hear you. No, I hear you.

BURRIS: And if I do that, I guarantee you that that will get out and people will say, Oh, Burris is doing a fund-raiser, and then Rod and I are both going to catch hell. And if I do get appointed, that means I bought it. If I don't get appointed, then my people who I'm trying to raise money from are going to look at me and say, yes, what was that all about, Roland? I mean, so Rob, I'm in a -- I'm in a -- a dilemma right now, wanting to help the governor.

Burris denied that that implied he was engaged in a quid pro quo and said the "dilemma" he was referring to was "the fact that I wanted to try to help the governor and I couldn't because I wanted to get appointed to the seat. That's clear. If I helped him, then I would be involved in some quid pro quo."

Matthews saw it in a less flattering light:

In other words if you don't get the job that you raised the money for, your people are going to be mad at you because they didn't get the Senate seat you were supposed to get out of this deal. How is that not incriminating?

Watch Burris' response and the rest of the interview:

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Comments

[cutesky]

Liar, Liar pants on fire!

[ThisIsJustMyObservation]

What's being overlooked is that Roland Burris admitted on Hardball that no wanted him; that he wasn't even on anyone’s radar to replace Barack Obama. So my question is, what made him get on Blago's radar; how is it that the person no one ever considered end-up getting considered? He admitted that he was #1 2 3 OR 4 the list; he admitted that the governor wasn’t even thinking about him and if the governor had not been arrested he would have never been appointed.

Roland Burris needs to explain how is it that he was chosen, was it because he was the lest best person for the job; or because more dignified candidates had more scruples and turned the corrupt governor down or because he play to pay or all of the above?

[mjb5406]

Remember earlier in this circus, Burris said it was God's will. How can you argue with that? :-)

[kareemachan]

Must be interesting knowing that your appointment is merely Blago giving the state of Illinois a final middle-fingered salute...

[ObamAtomic]

I feel strong about his resignation as I am against torture,he must go!

[Chris29]

i'm not a fan of burris, but i want to be objective here...

we know blago was trying to raise funds before the december deadline. we know burris supported him. isn't it logical to assume that burris would be asked for money?

let's say he legitimately wanted to help the governor. let's say he also wanted to be senator. let's say he didn't want to "pay to play" or do anything that looked like pay to play. how would THAT conversation look?

wouldn't it look like the one they had?

i didn't hear rob offer him one single bone. in fact, it sounded like burris was begging for help on how to get around looking like he was paying, and rob was all "yeah...that's nice....uh­-huh.....s­ucks to be you...." as if offering burris the seat was the last thing on his mind.

if anything, burris was maybe trying to pay but didn't know how, and rob was doing nothing to help him figure it out because they knew burris had nothing to offer.

[cam]

Agreed.

All the tape and subsequent events prove is that Burris is out of his depth in politics.

[realpolitic]

I almost feel sorry for Roland Burris when watching these tapes. He seems like a very nice guy who got caught up in circumstances perhaps over his head.

[CraigLove]

How do you figure? If he wasn't smart enough to realize ANYONE appointed by Blago would be under a cloud of suspicion, then he's not smart enough to be a politician.

But considering his false/misl­eading/inc­omplete testimony to the Senate regarding his conversations with Blago's associates, I'd say he's much smarter than that. Now he's doing an acting job similar to Blago where he pretends he's the innocent, framed guy. I'm not buying it.

[mjb5406]

Well, he blames it on the committee not asking "the right questions" since, according to Burris, it's not up to the person giving testimony to go above and beyond the scope of the questions asked. What he seems to forget though is that his testimony was not in the context of a criminal proceeding where, obviously, you only answer the specific question asked. He deliberately withheld information in order to cover his own behind, then repeatedly changed his story.

[JeffmChicago]

Roland Burris is no dummy. He's smart enough to be a politician. In fact, right now he is our senator for Illinois. He got there under dubious and questionable circumstances but he's still a U.S. Senator. So, that have to count for some kind of smarts.

Roland must be stressed out of his mind after appearing via phone on MSNBC the other night. I mean Chris Matthews really had Roland on the ropes with Roland's own words. Burris was contradicting himself and sounded like a trapped animal. It was bad for Roland. He did himself a disservice by being on the Chris Matthews show.

Patty Blagojevich is off to some far away island to participate on a reality show. If I were Roland I think about resigning right now and joining Patty. He's going to need the money.

[No2Kennedy]

How is Kennedy going to get any support from labor with his anti-union record?

Found this on YouTube. Seems like this anti-union apple fell FAR from the Ted Kennedy tree.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPKwGhKvqgc

[realpolitic]

Thanks for not changing the subject.

[ObamAtomic]

Plain Garbage! Get out.

[kareemachan]

Shoo.

[Lakeview Greg]

"I want to buy the seat, but I don't WANT be seen as buying the seat."

I think that covers what Burris was talking about.
Lynn Sweet was right, he is keeping his foot in the door.

A disgrace to Illinois. A disgrace to Centralia. A disgrace to Chicago and the nation.

Oy.

[mjb5406]

That was a pretty good summary... or maybe put another way "I want to support Rod but don't want to get caught doing it". Surprised he didn't simply set up a shell company to do it.

[festry548]

An honest man wouldn't get flustered.

[Ron333wood]

Why is this a surprise??? EVERYONE except Roland Burris new this appoinment was "tainted" because it was being shopped around by one of the most corrupt, conniving, conceited political criminals in the annals of American politics. Roland Burris was a "little" man with grandiose visions of himself that saw another accolade for his tombstone...ON SALE. The vast majority of politicians are ethically challenged...they are just ambitious lawyers. I apologize to the handful of elected officials that do actually go to Washington or to various state capitals with their constituents interest ahead of their thirst for campaign contributions, perks from lobbyist and cushy post political employment(s) or present employment for family...like Emil Jone's wife...or enormous pay raises for family to stall any legislation that the govenor hasn't received compensation ..like Emil Jones wife...or maybe get a son elected to a nice political office...like Emil Jones son.

[rwext]

And why is Burris in office?..... Because the cowardly slime that Durbin and Reid are, reneged on special elections and wanted that 60 seat majority

[LooktotheLeft]

Ok Roland, you got caught, once again, w/ your pants down. We've decided the only way for you to remain on the job is to appear on the Senate floor, on CSPAN, wearing no pants or underwear. Only then can you keep your job.

You know what, I bet you'd do it too.

[kareemachan]

Must...get­...image..­.out...of.­..head...a­rgggh!

[LooktotheLeft]

Upon entering Roland's mausoleum, it reads: "Wecome to Roland's...I didn't do it"

[sasha34]

The controversies surrounding the replacements for two great Senators (Obama and Clinton) is so shameful. To think that those who replaced them can never walk in their shoes.

[sasha34]

The controversies surrounding the replacements for two of the greatest Senators (Obama and Clinton) is such a damn shame. Those who replaced them will never walk in their shoes.

[sasha34]

Burris you were caught with your pants down. Resign already.

[ThisIsJustMyObservation]

Even during this interview with Chris Matthews he admitted that the Corrupt Governor didn't even have him on his radar for this seat. That he wasn't even being considered so why was he all of a sudden considered.?

[LooktotheLeft]

I would hate to see him w/ his pants down. For that matter, I pretty much hate looking @ him w/ pants up

[kareemachan]

LOL