- The biggest story about the arrest of Illinois governor
Blagojevich surfaced only briefly and then died away. Investigative reporter
Cam Simpson broke the news. "Conventional wisdom holds that U.S. Attorney
Patrick Fitzgerald ordered the FBI to arrest Rod Blagojevich before sunrise
Tuesday in order to stop a crime from being committed. That would have
been the sale of the Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.
But the opposite is true [The arrest was rushed by threats of media exposure
to save Blagojevich from going through with the crime].
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- "Members of Fitzgerald's team are livid the scheme
didn't advance, at least for a little longer, according to some people
close to Fitzgerald's office. Why? Because had the plot unfolded, they
might have had an opportunity most feds can only dream of: A chance to
catch the sale of a Senate seat on tape, including the sellers and the
buyers. The precise timing of Tuesday's dramatic, pre-dawn arrest was not
dictated by Fitzgerald, nor was it dictated by the pace of Blagojevich's
alleged 'crime spree.' It was dictated by the Chicago Tribune [very much
part of the controlled media]. At Fitzgerald's request, the paper had been
holding back a story since October detailing how a confidante of Blagojevich
was cooperating with his office... But editors decided to publish the story
on Friday, Dec. 5, ending the Tribune's own cooperation deal with the prosecutor....
On Friday, Dec. 5, it all came crashing down for the FBI agents underneath
the headphones.
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- "The Tribune's front page screamed: 'Feds taped
Blagojevich; TRIBUNE EXCLUSIVE: Adviser cooperated with corruption probe,
sources say.' Blagojevich read the same headline. 'Undo' that 'thing,'
the governor allegedly told his brother, according to the FBI. And just
like that, the meeting was off, only one day after it had been put back
into play. There appear to have been fears in Fitzgerald's office that
those caught on tape might now seek to 'undo' other 'things.' Hours were
logged over the weekend. Paperwork was pounded out. And before sunrise
Tuesday, Blagojevich and his chief of staff were arrested simultaneously.
At that same moment, FBI agents also knocked on the doors of witnesses.
These were just a few of the people agents wanted to interview before cellphones
started ringing across the city and others who had been caught on tape
had a chance to get their stories straight. Had it not been for the Tribune's
Dec. 5 story, the meeting Blagojevich's brother was arranging might have
proceeded. Mr. Blagojevich is quoted as citing the story, in the affidavit,
then calling off the meeting. At a minimum, the FBI's recorders would have
been rolling when he reported back. The feds also probably would have tried
to bug the session live, or at least to tail the participants and secretly
film or photograph them. That's what feds do. Jurors love video."
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- One of the reasons the Tribune intervened to stop the
taping was to save the careers of others that were either involved or driving
the negotiations. Blagojevich was and is expendable, but the son of Jesse
Jackson was not, and neither was Rahm Emanuel, the foul-mouthed newly appointed
Chief of Staff for President Barack Obama, who was in on the dealing on
behalf of the PTB. Fitzgerald the prosecutor must have also got the word
to "cool it" because he has given Jackson a walk and isn't going
to pursue Emanuel. They are going after the mob man Tony Rezko, who has
ties to both Blagojevich and Obama. Rezko is already in prison, so that's
a safe way to proceed.
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- The Sunday Times really took after Rahm Emanuel this
week, detailing how Emanuel acts more like a mafia enforcer than a representative
of Congress. "The bullish, foul-mouthed but effective Chicago arm-twister
Rahm Emanuel has come under pressure to resign after it was revealed that
he had been captured on court-approved wire-taps discussing the names of
candidates for Obama's Senate seat. Emanuel's presence at the heart of
the scandal threatens to roil the president-elect's administration as a
Chicago prosecutor builds his corruption case against Rod Blagojevich,
the Illinois governor.
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- "Grover Norquist, an influential conservative tax
reform lobbyist, said: 'If Obama wants to be squeaky clean, he is going
to have to cut all his Chicago friends loose. His chief of staff has fingerprints
on the murder weapon.' Emanuel ducked out of view last week, avoiding reporters'
questions and complaining of harassment and 'death threats' as the news
spread that he was the likely unnamed adviser cited by the FBI with whom
the tainted Blagojevich hoped to bargain over the appointment... Private
telephone discussions between Emanuel and John Harris, Blagojevich's chief
of staff, began as early as the weekend before the November 4 election,
the Chicago Tribune revealed yesterday. Emanuel let it be known that Valerie
Jarrett, an Obama adviser, Tammy Duckworth, a wounded Iraq war veteran,
and two other candidates would be 'acceptable' to Obama. Unable to complete
a sentence without the f-word Emanuel had further talks with the governor's
office after the election, during which he added another name to the list
[Jesse Jackson Jr.]."
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- "It does not appear that Emanuel engaged in any
illegal horse-trading - but questions remain over what Emanuel said when
and how much he know about the governor's 'pay to play' scheme. He may
have been fully aware of what Blagojevich was attempting. At one stage
the governor told an aide that he wanted an unnamed 'president-elect adviser',
thought to be Emanuel, to help 'raise 10, 15 million' for a charitable
group, which the governor could head.
-
- "Obama once joked at a charity 'roast' that the
notoriously crude Emanuel - who was elected to Congress in Blagojevich's
old seat - was rendered 'practically mute' when he lost his middle finger
in an accident.' When you are Rahm Emanuel and you use the f-word all the
time, it is supposed to be cute and amusing,' added Grover Norquist...
Blagojevich is a product of the entrenched graft and corruption that have
characterized Chicago's style of government since the days of Al Capone,
the prohibition-era gangster.
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- "Obama is himself embroiled in a subplot of the
scandal with uncomfortable connections to Blagojevich, even though the
president-elect said last week that he was 'appalled' by the governor's
actions. As Fitzgerald widens his inquiry across Chicago, witnesses will
be lining up to talk - if only to save their own necks. Harris, who has
been accused with his boss of planning to sell the Senate seat, resigned
last Friday, prompting speculation that he intends to cooperate with federal
investigators. Ominously for Obama, Antoin "Tony" Rezko, the
property dealer and fixer who helped him to buy his $1.65m house in Chicago
by purchasing an adjacent plot on the same day, has also been talking to
investigators in an attempt to reduce a prison sentence following his conviction
for fraud and bribery. Rezko is expected to be a key witness in the corruption
case against Blagojevich but he also knows more than anybody about the
house purchase and other deals with Obama."
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- This affair, I predict, won't touch Obama, though it
should. I believe that Fitzgerald is a controlled entity. He went after
Scooter Libby only to save VP Dick Cheney for outing the CIA's Valery Plame.
Libby, the fall guy, got off with a partial pardon, as predicted. Rezko
will NOT be asked about the Obama corruption, but has lots to tell about
Blagojevich: "Rezko appears to have helped Blagojevich with his domestic
affairs. Investigators have been trying to find out whether he charged
[or gave as a gift] the governor for $90,000 worth of improvements to the
family room and deck of his house. The governor's wife, Patti Blagojevich,
a Lady Macbeth figure who may face charges herself for encouraging her
husband to behave corruptly, received $47,000 in commission from a property
deal involving Rezko.
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- Here is how the Obama house deal was structured by Rezko
to benefit Obama according to the Times. "When the house came on the
market, the seller insisted that both plots (house and adjoining lot) be
sold at the same time. But while Obama bought his part of the property
for $300,000 under the asking price, it has emerged that Rezko's wife not
only paid the asking price for their slice of land - $625,000 -but that
the extra piece of property may have been deliberately overvalued [to compensate
for Obama getting the house at a lower value]." The first appraiser
says his lower appraisal was overruled by those higher up.
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- World Affairs Brief
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- December 19, 2008
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- Commentary and Insights on a Troubled World
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- Copyright Joel Skousen. Partial quotations with attribution
permitted.
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- Cite source as Joel Skousen's World Affairs Brief http://www.worldaffairsbrief.com
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