Flap's Blog – FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog

President-Elect Barack Obama said today that a review by his own lawyer shows he had no direct contact with Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich about the appointment of a Senate replacement, and transition aides did nothing inappropriate.

Obama pledged to make the review public, but said he decided to hold off because prosecutors asked for a delay and “I don’t want to interfere with an ongoing investigation.” U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald released a statement confirming the request.

Controversy has swirled around the president-elect and his incoming White House chief of staff, Rep. Rahm Emanuel, following Blagojevich’s arrest last week on charges he schemed to trade Obama’s Senate seat for personal gain.

Obama, fielding questions at a news conference, sidestepped when asked whether Emanuel had spoken with aides to the governor about potential Senate appointees.

Emanuel was one of several aides who watched the news conference from the wings.

The president-elect pledged the results of the investigation by his incoming White House counsel, Gregory Craig, would be released “in due course.”

He said the probe was complete and thorough, but did not say which of his aides Craig interviewed, whether any of them was under oath at the time, or any other details.

Obama appeared before reporters to announce his environmental and natural resources team.

How do you spell cover-up?

What did Rahm Emanuel know and when did he know it? And, under whose authority did he discuss Obama’s replacement with Governor Hot Rod Blagojevich’s staff?

But, will the “IN THE TANK” media let Obama get away with this? Obama travels to Hawaii next week and the release date is a few days before Christmas.

Does anyone think they will get access to ask Obama or Emanuel any questions about unanswered questions regarding the flap before the first of the year?

Obama held his news conference shortly after his transition office released a statement by spokesman Dan Pfeiffer saying the internal review had found no wrongdoing.

Like the president-elect, the statement left several issues uncovered.

It did not say whether Emanuel was heard on a wiretap providing the governor’s top aide with a list of names that the president-elect favored. Nor did it say who, if anyone, on Obama transition’s team had made contact with the governor or his aides concerning a replacement for Obama or whether Craig interviewed people under oath, or to whom he talked.

Pfeiffer said the review “affirmed the public statements of the president-elect that he had no contact with the governor or his staff, and that the president-elect’s staff was not involved in inappropriate discussions with the governor or his staff over the selection of his successor as U.S. Senator.”

As Flap asked before: How does waiting a week really help the United States Attorney’s investigation?

Both Patrick Fitzgerald, the United States Attorney and Barack Obama had better have good answers next Monday. And, Rahm Emanuel better be available to answer questions about his role in this affair.

The review of President-elect Obama’s Tansition Team and Illinois Governor Hot Rod Blagojevich who was arrested last week and charged with trying to sell an appointment to Barack Obama’s former U.S. Senate seat has been delayed until December 22, 2008.

“At the direction of the President-elect, a review of Transition staff contacts with Governor Blagojevich and his office has been conducted and completed and is ready for release. That review affirmed the public statements of the President-elect that he had no contact with the governor or his staff, and that the President-elect’s staff was not involved in inappropriate discussions with the governor or his staff over the selection of his successor as US Senator.

“Also at the President-elect’s direction, Gregory Craig, counsel to the Transition, has kept the US Attorney’s office informed of this fact-gathering process in order to ensure our full cooperation with the investigation.
“In the course of those discussions, the US Attorney’s office requested the public release of the Transition review be deferred until the week of December 22, in order not to impede their investigation of the governor.  The Transition has agreed to this revised timetable for release,” said Obama Transition Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer.

So, Team Obama gets another week to spin the story. Guess Geraghty is RIGHT.

Note the following statement above:That review affirmed the public statements of the President-elect that he had no contact with the governor or his staff, and that the President-elect’s staff was not involved in inappropriate discussions with the governor or his staff over the selection of his successor as US Senator.

As an Obama transition spokesman says ,but since the press will not be able to scrutinize the report until a few days before Christmas, Flap supposes we will just have to wait another week.

Want to bet that Obama has NO COMMENT at this afternoon’s press conference?

Update:

And, how does waiting a week really help the investigation?

Last week, in a press conference on Thursday, President-elect Obama announced that his staff would conduct an internal review of contacts with Blagojevich and his office. At the same press conference, Obama announced that this internal review would find no inappropriate dealings between his staff and Blagojevich. Since Obama announced the findings of the promised internal review at the same time he announced the internal review, it should come as no surprise that the internal review found just what Obama said it would.

If none of those contacts were “inappropriate” could releasing the details really “impede” the investigation? Such a public release would reveal the nature of some Blagojevich discussions about the Senate seat and would necessarily compromise the identities of the individuals involved in those discussions. Presumably, Fitzgerald is interviewing some of those people now and the less they know about these discussions, the better.

But how will waiting a week — until Christmas week — help? We’ll see. But for political reasons it will be incumbent on Obama and (or?) Fitzgerald to explain in some detail why waiting a week was necessary.

So, Flap asks again: Why is Barack Obama lying about contact with Illinois Governor Blagojevich? The above video (3:31) shows Obama explicitly stating on December 9, 2008: “I had no contact with the governor or his office and so we were not, I was not aware of what was happening.”

Now, it has been revealed that Barack Obama dispatched his Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel to give Hot Rod Blagojevich his list of perferred nominees for his Senate seat. How is that NOT contact?

The question was actually, “Mr. President-elect, did you have any contact — were you aware of — were you aware at all of what was happening with your Senate seat?” Two questions are asked, the first on “any contact,” and Obama’s answer was that there was no contact, which I argue is contradicted by the two men meeting at the National Governors Association meeting.

But nonetheless, today we learn from the New York Times and Wall Street Journal that      . . . surprise! Obama “dispatched” Emanuel to “to begin talking up Mr. Obama’s preferred candidates.”

So once again, Obama’s initial “I had no contact” answer is proven to be inaccurate, or in a less sympathetic interpretation, a lie.

So, tell me how is this NOT a blatant lie by President-Elect Obama?

And, do not the American people need an explanation and apology by “The One?”

Previous:

Updated: Why is Barack Obama Lying About Contact with Hot Rod Blagojevich? Part Two

Why is Barack Obama Lying About Contact with Hot Rod Blagojevich?