āBullsh*t!ā said Cooper, in remarks not bleeped by CNN. Blagojevich responded with the same phrase.
The two were at war almost from the start of this interview.
āI bet if you were to ask Nelson Mandela whether he thought it was fair in the early ā60s in South Africa, he would say what Iām saying today,ā Blagojevich said.
Blagojevich would not back down, and noted Cooper threw out Nelson Mandela.
āWhat Iām saying is, I was thrown in prison and spent nearly eight years in prison for practicing politics ā for seeking campaign contributions without a quid pro quo. No express quid pro quo ā and I was given the same standards Senator (Robert) Menendez was given,ā Blagojevich said. āI could very well have been in the US Senate instead of where I was.ā
Cooper said BlagojevichāsĀ āargument doesnāt hold up.āĀ Cooper later said Blagojevich was using a āwhole new alternate universe of factsā
āThat may be big inĀ politics today but itās stillĀ frankly just bullsā,ā Cooper said.
āItās not bullsā, I lived it myself, itās not bullsā at all,ā Blagojevich said.