What Are the Odds Obama Testifies in Blagojevich Case?

April 24, 2010 — -- Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich wants to subpoena President Obama to testify in his corruption trial, an outcome experts say is highly unlikely, but not without precedent.

A computer glitch has made public redacted documents, in which the former governor alleges that Obama was actively engaged in the process to pick his Senate successor.

Blagojevich, indicted last year on 16 felony counts, does not accuse the president of criminal wrongdoing, but says only Obama can clarify conflicting stories -- from two government witnesses -- surrounding the processes to appoint a successor.

The White House said it would not comment on an ongoing investigation.

Experts said it was unlikely the president would be called to testify and even less likely that he would do so publicly in open court.

"It's unusual, but far from unprecedented, for a president to provide testimony, albeit at a physical distance from the actual court proceedings," said presidential historian Richard Norton Smith, former director of five presidential libraries.

The first sitting president called to testify was Thomas Jefferson. In 1807, Jefferson was called to testify in the treason trial of Aaron Burr, Jefferson's former vice president.

Jefferson invoked executive privilege and refused to testify, setting a precedent invoked by Richard Nixon, who resigned in 1974 after the Supreme Court ruled he would be required to turn over White House recordings pertaining to the Watergate scandal.

"Gerald Ford gave videotaped testimony in the criminal trial of a woman who had attempted to shoot him. And Ronald Reagan testified after leaving office in matters related to the Iran-Contra affair," Smith said.