Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich wanted President-elect Barack Obama "to put something together…something big" in exchange for going along with Obama's choice to fill his vacant US Senate seat, according to an FBI affidavit unsealed following the Governor's stunning arrest.

Fitzgerald said "there is no allegation in the complaint that the President-elect was aware of it and that is all I can say." His comment did not close the door on the possibility that Obama or someone on his staff may have known of some aspect of the governor's demands.

"I've got this thing and it's f***ing golden, and, uh, uh, I'm just not giving it up for f***in' nothing. I'm not gonna do it. And I can always use it. I can parachute me there," Blagojevich said in a phone call secretly recorded by the FBI on Nov. 5, the day after the election, according to the affidavit.
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Blagojevich was overheard by the FBI saying "I want to make money," complaining he was "financially hurting."
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Told by two other advisers he has to "suck it up" for two years, the FBI says it heard Blagojevich complain he has to give this "motherf***er [the president-elect] his senator. F*** him. For nothing? F*** him."

The governor is heard saying he will pick another candidate "before I just give f***ing [Senate Candidate l] a f***ing Senate seat and I don't get anything."
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"We were approached 'pay to play.' That, you know he'd raise me 500 grand. An emissary came. Then the other guy would raise a million, if I made him (Senate Candidate 5) a Senator," Blagojevich was quoted as saying.
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Aware that he was under FBI investigation, Blagojevich apparently considered appointing himself to Obama's Senate seat, the affidavit says. He is quoted as saying "he will be able to obtain greater resources if he is indicted as a sitting senator as opposed to a sitting governor."

Fitzgerald said "there's no reference in the complaint to any conversations involving the president-elect or indicating that the president-elect was aware of it, and that's all I can say."

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Three former Illinois governors have gone to prison in the past 35 years, and a host of other governors have gotten into legal trouble.

US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said this afternoon that a federal corruption case against Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich makes no allegations of wrongdoing by President-elect Barack Obama.

"We make no allegations that he was aware of anything," Fitzgerald said of Obama.

Fitzgerald called the case a "political corruption crime spree," with the "most appalling" allegation that Blagojevich attempted to sell the US Senate seat vacated by Obama to the highest bidder.

UPDATE: Obama said he was "saddened" by the arrest and had no knowledge of Blagojevich's alleged attempts to sell the seat, according to press reports.

"I had no contact with the governor or his office and so I was not aware of what was happening. But as I said it is a sad day for Illinois. Beyond that I don't think it's appropriate to comment," Obama said in a brief press availability after meeting in Chicago with former Vice President Al Gore about global warming.

Blagojevich, arrested at his home this morning, also was charged with threatening to withhold state aid to the Tribune Co., the owner of the Chicago Tribune, in the sale of Wrigley Field, unless members of the paper's editorial board who had been critical of him fired.

The criminal complaint said the 51-year-old Democratic governor was intercepted on court-authorized wiretaps over the last month conspiring to sell or trade the Senate seat for benefits for himself and his wife, Patti. Blagojevich allegedly tried to drive a harder bargain by considering to appoint himself.