( CNN ) -- The Illinois state Senate on Monday began its impeachment trial against Gov . Rod Blagojevich without the governor present . Illinois Gov . Rod Blagojevich denies any wrongdoing . Blagojevich said he expects lawmakers to vote to convict him . He is facing federal corruption allegations , including trying to trade or sell the Senate seat that became vacant after Barack Obama was elected president . The second-term Democratic governor has denied wrongdoing . Instead of attending the trial , Blagojevich hit the media circuit Monday . He appeared on ABC 's `` Good Morning America '' and `` The View , '' and was scheduled to give his first live prime-time interview Monday night on CNN 's `` Larry King Live . '' Speaking on `` Good Morning America , '' Blagojevich restated his complaints about what he called the `` unconstitutional '' impeachment trial , which he said `` denies me the right to call witnesses to defend myself and prove my innocence . '' Watch Blagojevich say he 's done `` nothing wrong '' » . He said he is certain the Illinois Senate will vote to remove him from office and said he expects they will demand he step down `` relatively soon . '' Earlier this month , the Illinois House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to impeach him . Blagojevich has said the vote was politically motivated . Under the Illinois Constitution , the House can vote to impeach an executive or judicial officer , but it is the Senate that conducts the trial . A two-thirds majority vote in the Senate is required to convict an officer of an impeachable offense . According to a federal complaint issued in December , Blagojevich and his chief of staff , John Harris -- who also was arrested on federal corruption charges -- were `` conspiring to obtain personal financial benefits '' for the governor by leveraging his sole authority to appoint a U.S. senator to replace Obama . `` I 've got this thing and it 's [ expletive ] golden , '' Blagojevich allegedly said in one recorded phone conversation , referring to his authority to appoint , according to the complaint . `` I 'm just not giving it up for [ expletive ] nothing . '' When asked about those alleged quotes , Blagojevich told ABC that federal prosecutors `` took snippets of conversations completely out of context . '' `` When the whole story comes out , you 'll see that the effort was to work to have a senator who can best represent Illinois , '' he said . Blagojevich has said his rights are being violated because he can not challenge assertions in the House impeachment report . Watch Blagojevich demand a fair trial » . Blagojevich also is asking for a change in a Senate trial rule that he said is preventing him from calling witnesses such as Valerie Jarrett , a confidant of Obama 's ; Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. ; and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel . Emanuel , claimed Blagojevich , agrees that he did not break any laws . State Sen. Matt Murphy , part of the nine-member committee that put the Senate trial rules together , called Blagojevich 's complaints `` the theater of the absurd . '' iReport.com : Do you trust your political leaders ? `` What you 've seen here ... is a cynical effort on the part of this governor that 's perfectly consistent with his actions over the last six years , to try and further undermine the faith in this process that the people already have , '' Murphy said . He said the House prosecution team responsible for presenting the impeachment case to the Senate is operating under the same restrictions as Blagojevich with regard to calling witnesses . Murphy said on `` Good Morning America '' that U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald has asked both sides to `` defer to the criminal prosecution '' of Blagojevich and `` limit witnesses . '' He noted that the governor has every right to submit `` positive statements that the governor says exonerate him '' -- such as those from Jarrett , Jackson and Emanuel -- as evidence in the Senate trial . `` We have lowered the standard for the admission of evidence for the governor to bend over backward to make this fair , '' Murphy said . `` The suggestion that this is somehow unfair to the governor is the most self-serving , ludicrous statement I have ever heard in my life . It could n't be fairer for this guy . '' Blagojevich missed deadlines this month for answering the impeachment charge and for filing a motion to dismiss , a spokesman for Illinois Senate President John Cullerton has said .
Impeachment trial proceedings for Illinois Gov . Rod Blagojevich begin . Comment: Blagojevich accused of scheming to sell Barack Obama 's ex-Senate seat .