rod blagojevich closed down this landfill which dick mell was a part owner of. said that this was for environmental issues. tapper: what did he want you to do? leave it alone, and i had learned that it was operating in violation of the environmental laws. i had knowledge of that. uh, ultimately, i decided i had a duty, that i had to shut it down, and then he made some accusations that really unleashed the furies. dick mell called a press conference and basically accused rod blagojevich of selling board and commission seats within state government. reporter: mell has had a falling out with his son-in-law, the governor. this is a family at war. ♪ so your father-in-law, dick mell, accused chris kelly of selling political favors for campaign contributions of $25,000 to $50,000 at a time. tell me about where were you when you heard that he was leveling this accusation. i remember vividly. it was early january of 2005, and this was the consequence of me shutting down his landfill. the very next day, he called a press conference, and he was clever enough to accuse chris

there was an opportunity to run for office in rod blagojevich mel could see a guy that eventually if he doesn't write, i can sort of pass the mantle toward rod was an immediate hit with illinois voters who sent him first to the state house in 1992 and then to the us this congress in 1996, dig mill says, i can see you being governor. and i gotta be honest, i'm sure if i'm looking at it from the nails position, he's saying, man, if i can elect this guy governor, i can run the whole state >> seven astronauts setting off on a scientific mission. >> they were doing great >> comm check oh, you're nothing >> if you work in spaceflight, this is the worst possible thing i could ever happen >> the space shuttle accident, it's usually not one thing is that the wing coming apart >> my dad died doing what he space shuttle columbia, the final hello, flight premieres next sunday at nine on cnn. >> okay. yeah, we got an orders coming in, starting a business is never easy. a star and eight months pregnant desk for story. >> i couldn't slow down. we were starting a business from the ground up people we

breaking news-- the illinois governor, rod blagojevich, charged with plotting to sell barack obama'sr senate seat. tapper: remember this guy? he sure hopes you do. governor rod blagojevich went down in a blaze of infamy for one of the largest political corruption scandals of our time. the governor was allegedly trying to sell the illinois senate seat vacated by president-elect obama. in fact, part of the governor's sales pitch was that the seat still had that new obama smell. [audience laughter] appointing someone to the senate is a rare opportunity when the will of the people is swapped wholesale for a gubernatorial power trip. blagojevich had the sole authority to place whomever he wanted straight into the halls of the u.s. senate, and he was not shy about wanting a little something in return. with the fbi recording his phone calls, for the first time since nixon, the public was able to listen in on raw backroom politics, and there's nothing quite like hearing it from the horse's mouth. reporter: the criminal complaint quotes blagojevich as saying the senate seat "was a valuable th

and if politicians or the public feel the same way he does, then another rod blagojevich is just aroundhe corner. i didn't break a law, cross the line, or take a penny, okay? but i never said i wasn't a [bleep] idiot. [laughter] thank you very much. thank you very much. thank you very much. thank you very much! -awesome. thank you so much. -yeah, thanks. appreciate it. really enjoyed it. you're all right. i wish you the best. we'll see how it ends up and who cares. that's true. find out-- what are you gonna do, throw me back in prison? -no, but i mean, like, -you can't hurt me, man. tapper: for a country that bills itself as the world's oldest democracy, we sure do love a strongman, and from teddy roosevelt all the way up to our reality tv president, nowhere produces more of them than the empire state. and i get it. in an age where congress' approval rating hovers somewhere around sewer rats, we wanna vote for the politician who can finally just get things done. that was eliot spitzer to a "t." but when new yorkers sent the sheriff of wall street to the governor's mansion, we all learne