Politics

CHICAGO (CBS) ― An Illinois prosecutor says there isn't enough evidence to charge U.S. Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill.) with perjury.

Sangamon County State's Attorney John Schmidt said Friday that, while some of Burris' statements were vague, they wouldn't support a perjury charge.

"This matter has now been fully investigated; I cooperated at every phase of the process, and as I have said from the beginning, I have never engaged in any pay-to-play, never perjured myself, and came to this seat in an honest and legal way," Burris said in a statement. "Today's announcement confirms all that."

The Illinois Democrat still faces in investigation by the Senate Ethics Committee, which is looking into the circumstances of Burris' appointment to the Senate. That committee, however, hasn't voted to oust a sitting member since the Civil War era.

Burris, 71, was appointed to President Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat by Blagojevich after the FBI arrested Blagojevich on corruption charges. Those charges include allegations that the former governor tried to sell the seat for political donations. Blagojevich, who was impeached and removed from office, has denied wrongdoing.

The new senator has been under intense scrutiny because of the circumstances surrounding his appointment and for changing his story multiple times about whether he promised anything for Blagojevich in exchange for the seat.

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.

Burris has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and asserted his appointment to the Senate was clean.

In a prepared statement on the release of the transcripts, Sen. Burris said:

"The release of transcripts by the U.S. prosecutor's office shows that I was truthful when I testified that at no time did I take any part in pay to play while lobbying for the Senate seat.

"Did I want to be appointed to the Senate seat? Yes, I did. Did I try to buy the seat? Never.

"While I wanted to keep my commitment to making a personal contribution, I did not, because of the perception of impropriety that might arise. Did I commit perjury? No.

"I also said I wanted the tapes and the transcripts to become public. I expect the media and the public to review every word of the transcript in context. And at the end of the day, I expect both to judge me fairly and to acknowledge I did not carry favor, and was not a willing party to any alleged pay-to-play scheme, and that I did not lie to anyone about the events leading to my appointment.

"It is my belief the transcripts help set the record straight and should settle this issue once and for all." 

 Click here to hear the full conversation.

When questioned about the conversation with Robert Blagojevich stating that he would give money on a particular date, Sen. Burris said, "After I hung up the phone, I said I can't even do that. That was on November 13th. I didn't give him any money and I did not raise any money."

When asked why he never revealed these conversations to the impeachment panel, Sen. Burris said, "It was never asked."

The details of the conversation emerged after a federal judge said Tuesday he would allow the U.S. Senate Ethics Committee to hear a federal wiretap of the former governor's brother, Robert, having a fund-raising conversation with Burris. Rob Blagojevich was running the campaign fund at the time.

As for the transcript released by the FBI, it tells a very different story than the one Burris told to a committee investigating former governor Blagojevich just last February.

In February, Burris said he immediately shot down talk about raising money for the governor while he was being considered for the U.S. Senate seat.

But on the tape recorded conversation with Rob Blagojevich, Burris agonizes about how it would look to the public.

Click here to read the full transcript of the conversation

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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