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#1
07-01-2010, 05:48 PM
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Blago
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...ich&mg=com-wsj
"An ex-aide to former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich testified this week that President Barack Obama knew Mr. Blagojevich wanted a plum job in the administration in exchange for appointing a politically palatable person to fill Mr. Obama's vacated Senate seat. John Harris, Mr. Blagojevich's former chief of staff, testified in the ex-governor's corruption trial in federal District Court here this week that Mr. Obama was aware Mr. Blagojevich was working to leverage the Senate seat into a cabinet position for himself. He also said Mr. Blagojevich believed that if he appointed to the Senate Mr. Obama's longtime friend Valerie Jarrett, Mr. Blagojevich would get a top job. Ms. Jarrett had been working on the Obama presidential campaign before accepting her current position as a senior White House advisor. "The president understands that the governor would be willing to make the appointment of Valerie Jarrett as long as he gets what he's asked for," Mr. Harris told the court Wednesday. The White House declined to comment Thursday on testimony regarding Mr. Obama and Ms. Jarrett. Mr. Blagojevich's attorneys will cross-examine Mr. Harris next week. In court filings, Mr. Blagojevich's defense team asked presiding Judge James B. Zagel to order the government to hand over interviews the Federal Bureau of Investigation "conducted with President Obama regarding this case." The defense team's filings said that, contrary to White House statements, Mr. Obama had "direct knowledge and communication with emissaries and others regarding the appointment to his Senate seat." Mr. Blagojevich's lawyers tried to subpoena Mr. Obama earlier this year but Judge Zagel refused to allow it. Other White House aides, including Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, have been subpoenaed. Mr. Harris, who has pleaded guilty to wire fraud as part of an agreement to testify against Mr. Blagojevich, has been on the witness stand since Monday. Throughout his testimony, the government has played secretly recorded conversations among Mr. Blagojevich, Mr. Harris and others that touched on which positions the former governor might be eligible for, and which Mr. Obama could grant. In one conversation, Mr. Harris said "Obama would do" ambassadorships. "He would?" Mr. Blagojevich asked on the tape. "Okay. I'm interested. How about India?" 
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#2
07-01-2010, 05:52 PM
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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...DS=blagojevich
By DOUGLAS BELKIN CHICAGO—The night before he was elected president, Barack Obama told an emissary to suggest that former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich appoint Mr. Obama's close friend to fill his U.S. Senate seat, a union leader testified Tuesday in federal court. Tom Balanoff, an official with the Service Employees International Union and Mr. Obama's purported emissary, testified that Mr. Obama told him on the telephone that he had two criteria for the Senate appointment: He wanted someone who was good for the residents of Illinois and someone who could hold onto the seat in 2010. Mr. Balanoff also said Mr. Obama told him he wouldn't publicly support any particular person but that he believed Valerie Jarrett, now a senior adviser in the White House, would meet those criteria. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said he had no comment on the testimony. Mr. Balanoff testified that when he spoke with Mr. Blagojevich, the governor raised the possibility of being named a member of Mr. Obama's cabinet. Mr. Balanoff said he understood Mr. Blagojevich to say that, if he were named secretary of Health and Human Services, he would appoint Ms. Jarrett, Mr. Obama's friend and confidante, to the vacant Senate seat. "That's not going to happen," Mr. Balanoff recalled telling Mr. Blagojevich, according to the Associated Press. Mr. Blagojevich, he said, responded by saying, "Is that because [of] all the investigations around me?'' Mr. Blagojevich, 53 years old, has pleaded not guilty to scheming to sell or trade Mr. Obama's former Senate seat and to plotting to launch a racketeering operation within the governor's office. Mr. Obama and his staff addressed the Blagojevich matter during the presidential transition, in December 2008. "I have never spoken to the governor on this subject. I'm confident that no representatives of mine would have any part of any deals related to this seat," Mr. Obama said at the time. Mr. Obama's reported discussion with Mr. Balanoff was not addressed in a report written by then-incoming White House counsel Greg Craig in December 2008 that found Mr. Obama had not had any contacts with Mr. Blagojevich or his staff about the Senate seat. Mr. Balanoff also testified that when he raised the notion of appointing Illinois state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias to the Senate seat, Mr. Blagojevich rejected him with several expletives, saying Mr. Giannoulias routinely bad-mouthed him. Mr. Giannoulias's campaign spokeswoman, Kathleen Strand, said the two weren't close because Mr. Giannoulias consistently opposed Mr. Blagojevich. "The former governor's response and expletive-laced tirade says all you need to know about the relationship between them," Ms. Strand said. Mr. Giannoulias is the Democratic nominee for the seat and is running against Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk. Roland Burris, whom Mr. Blagojevich ultimately appointed to the Senate seat, has said he wouldn't run.
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#3
07-01-2010, 05:53 PM
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#4
07-01-2010, 05:56 PM
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#5
07-01-2010, 08:56 PM
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__________________
"Have the clean racing people run any ads explaining that giving a horse a Starbucks and a chocolate poppyseed muffin for breakfast would likely result in a ten year suspension for the trainer?" - Dr. Andrew Roberts
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#6
07-01-2010, 10:09 PM
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Yea the trailer. Now we get to see the movie. The only way Obama gets subpoenaed into this is if Rahm implicates him. The Feds admitted Rahm on tape as evidence so we shall see. The bigger difference from a year ago is that statements will not be released by spokesman in a brief but will be testified to under oath. Personally I think Obama skates. Rahm admits making a 'mistake' in judgment talking but no exchange of anything occurred but down goes Jesse Jackson Jr. I can hear the song now, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aWzuQ1ufGs
__________________
“To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.” Thomas Jefferson
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#7
07-01-2010, 10:10 PM
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__________________
Horses are like strawberries....they can go bad overnight. Charlie Whittingham
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