Thursday, December 11, 2008

BARACK OBAMA

Rahm Emanuel 'Occasionally' Spoke to Blagojevich

I'm a smidgen more cautious about this line in the New York Times than Jen Rubin is. But it is intriguing:

Mr. Emanuel was among the few people in Mr. Obama’s circle who occasionally spoke to Mr. Blagojevich. He declined to answer questions on Wednesday, waving off a reporter who approached him as he walked across Capitol Hill.

A Democrat familiar with Illinois politics and the Obama transition, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said there probably were calls between the Blagojevich and Obama camps about the Senate seat. It was not clear if any calls were recorded by federal agents, who had tapped the governor’s phones.

We know that somebody on Team Obama had to communicate to Blagojevich that all he would get in return for appointing Obama's preferred candidate was "appreciation." The intriguing questions are, who did Blago make his demand/request to? Was "you'll get appreciation and that's it" the immediate response? Or was Blago's request for a cabinet post or other rewards contemplated for a while? Did anyone on Team Obama go to the FBI? Or did they shrug their shoulders and dismiss it as Blagojevich just being himself? And were Blagojevich's demands passed on to the President-elect, or did Obama's staff want to keep him out of the loop?

12/11 10:37 AMShare