Speaking on WTIC AM, Diamantis denied that he took bribes or extorted people in a wide-ranging federal investigation into school construction projects in Hartford and Tolland.
“Everybody decided that the jury was right and it wasn’t wrong in its decision,” Diamantis said by phone on the show. “I would beg to differ.”
Speaking with afternoon host Reese Hopkins, Diamantis, a former Democratic state representative who was appointed by former Gov. Dannel Malloy to head the state’s school construction office, said that while he has applied for a pardon, he doubts that President Donald Trump will approve it.
“I wasn’t born yesterday, where I had this imagination that I’m going to get a pardon,” Diamantis said. “I don’t have horses that, you know, are working for me, for a pardon, OK? No lobbyists I hired. None of that stuff.”
Diamantis said he has filed a complaint with the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., but has “no expectations” of any action resulting from it.
“The only expectations I have are the things that I am capable of handling myself and doing the best I can so that the general public knows who I am as a person and a human being,” he said. “And I don’t accept bribes and I don’t extort people. I didn’t take bribes from these people and I certainly didn’t shake them down.”
Prior to the radio interview, CT Insider obtained a 10-page email Diamantis sent to his attorney in which he alleges corruption in the administration of Gov. Ned Lamont. The claims in the email were called “baseless and frankly absurd” by Cathryn Vaulman, the governor’s communications director.
Diamantis defended his role as head of the state’s school construction office, which moved from the state Department of Administrative Services to the Office of Policy and Management, the governor’s budget office.
“I ran a program that was top shelf,” he said.
Diamantis, 70, failed to attend his criminal sentencing in Bridgeport federal court last Thursday, after reportedly driving to Florida, boating to the Bahamas, then flying to London, before ultimately arriving in Greece, where he has dual citizenship and a passport.
“I haven’t hidden, have I? People are suggesting he’s a fugitive,” Diamantis told Hopkins. “Well, most fugitives don’t tell you where they are. Most fugitives… you’ve got to find out where they are.”