Video: The Obama-Blagojevich Cover-Up
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.
Technorati Tags: Barack Obama, Rod Blagojevich, Rahm Emanuel
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Jamie Guadaldo
Sadly, if there are any incriminating evidence implicating now president Barrack Obama (I hope not I really like the guy), it might die with this trip because you know how it really is, delay the investigators, throw up some “crisis” that delays the investigation even more, which gives more time to get themselves clean of any criminal activity.
Maybe Obama is innocent or maybe he’s not, but at the rate things are going with the current economic slowdown, there’s a good chance that we may never really know. I do know for a fact that this Blagojevich person is toast though. His laywer quit a short time ago from this writing, complaining that “My clients don’t have to take my advice, they just have to listen to it” or something to that effect.
I truly do hope Obama is clean of this corruption but in reality, who knows… *sigh* Hard to find any honest politicians these days huh?
Al
I can’t believe the Blogojevich thing is still rumbling on nearly two months later. Obama should have pulled out all the stops to get this guy out of office and away from the news as quickly as possible.
Now with the problems he’s having with Daschle and Killefer, it’s starting to look less and less like a new dawn. On the upside, at least he’s admitting he’s screwed up. When was the last time you heard a president, or any politician, admit to that?
Joanne
I agree Al it is nice to see that he fessed up to making a mistake but I am really upset with the media for giving him such a pass on it. If GWB nominated a single person who had issues with tax evasion he would have been crucified in the media but Obama does it four times and its just “no big deal”.