Obama Transition Report Finds ‘No Indication Of Inappropriate Discussions’ With Blagojegivich
Obama Transition Report Finds ‘No Indication Of Inappropriate Discussions’ With Blagojegivich
For the past few weeks, the media and the right wing have been speculating whether President-elect Obama or chief of staff-designate Rahm Emanuel were hiding their involvement in Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s pay-to-play scandal.
Today, the Obama transition team released a report on its involvement, the release of which was delayed “at the request of” U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald. “[T]he accounts contain no indication of inappropriate discussions with the Governor or anyone from his office about a ‘deal’ or a quid pro quo arrangement,” White House Counsel nominee Greg Craig notes. Other highlights:
– Barack Obama: Had “no contact or communication” about the Senate seat with Blagojevich or his office and did talk to Axelrod and Emanuel about “other qualified candidates. Obama never heard “that the Governor expected a personal benefit” for the seat.
– Rahm Emanuel: “Had one or two telephone calls with Governor Blagojevich” and “about four telephone conversations with John Harris,” Chief of Staff to Blagojevich about other candidates but never discussed “a cabinet position, 501c(4), a private sector position for the Governor or any other personal benefit for the Governor.”
– David Axelrod: Had “no conversations with anyone outside the President-Elect’s immediate circle” about the seat, and nothing came up in any conversation about any “quid pro quo.”
– Valerie Jarret: Had “no contact or communication with Governor Blagojevich” or anyone in his office about the seat.
Obama reportedly was considering “Dan Hynes, Tammy Duckworth, Congresswoman Schakowsky and Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr” for the seat after Jarrett declined it in November. Read the full report here.
Topic Cloud
ArchivesBlog Roll
Yeah, big surprise, no direct links like there are with bush and torture, etc…….whine on right wingers.
December 23rd, 2008 at 5:15 pmYes, but Obama may have been spotted on a grassy knoll in Dallas…
December 23rd, 2008 at 5:22 pmCould this possibly be the same television political media that overlooked and was uninterested in the outing of a CIA agent? Could this be the same television media which has completely ignored Dick Cheney’s startling admission this week that he personally approved of torture? The way TV news is acting reminds me of something… oh yeah, it’s starting to act the way it did when we last had a Democrat for President.
December 23rd, 2008 at 5:22 pmOk, glad that’s cleared up.
Where’s that picture of Obama on the beach, TP? ;)
December 23rd, 2008 at 5:24 pmTry not to make that hand gesture in many places out of the continental US. Oh and do something about that hairdon’t as well…
December 23rd, 2008 at 5:27 pmHilarious, the right wants the democrats to be as corrupt as the right so badly that they will say anything. Sad for them that it just has never been true and never will.
December 23rd, 2008 at 5:28 pmBut, but…he’s black…and er, ah, he’s a secret muslin…and, and he…ah…pals around with terrorists…and he….is not really a citizen….and ah, he smokes crack…and he…ah…hates puppies….and he is a socialist and a communist, and he is going to give the country to those people…and he is…ah…has a terrorist middle name…etc. etc. etc.
Give it up Reichwing loons, you got nothing, except for alot of corruption on your side of the fence.
December 23rd, 2008 at 5:28 pmUm…”no indication of inappropriate discussions” to the media just means “we need to keep looking, and we’ll make stuff up if we have to.”
December 23rd, 2008 at 5:29 pmDamn, the Wall Street Journal already had Obama convicted. I know the WSJ is a right winger paper that was taken over by Mr. Sleeze but I don’t expect a retraction, ever. Get the lie out there and keep repeating it is their motto. Faux Noise, Wall Sleeze Journal, and the rest of them, push the lie.
December 23rd, 2008 at 5:33 pmWell, maybe no conversation, but Obama does belong to the same political party as Blagojevich and may have attended the same political functions and they are both male. Do you see the connection?(sarc off/)
December 23rd, 2008 at 5:34 pmBuckie: “Give it up Reichwing loons, you got nothing, except for alot of corruption on your side of the fence.”
Right on, but let’s remember that it was ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC and FOX who were pushing the idea that there was some kind of scandal here. The mainstream WILL revert to its Clinton-era ways. We can already see this happening. That the media was able to manufacture phony concern about this when we had the sleazebag on tape cursing Obama out for not cooperating should give us all pause. I mean this was really reaching in a way reminiscent of Clinton and totally not reminiscent of any press behavior during the Bush years.
December 23rd, 2008 at 5:38 pmSATYAM, check your spelling of Blago’s name in your title.
December 23rd, 2008 at 5:39 pmDidn’t Fox News report that there were many conversations between Barack Obama and Blagojevich? Can Fox News be wrong?
So the next juicy non-news item is Obama offering to pick up the beer tab for the paparazzi. I’m sure there will be more non-news to be reported. These non-reporters are attempting to turn Obama into a “Britney Spears” type headliner.
December 23rd, 2008 at 5:40 pm“Obama Transition Report Finds ‘No Indication Of Inappropriate Discussions’ With Blagojegivich”
Well I, for one, am completely mollified.
December 23rd, 2008 at 5:40 pmBecause NOBODY in St. Barry’s camp would ever try to mislead us.
Good eyes, Zooey. I looked right past that misspelling.
December 23rd, 2008 at 5:41 pmI’d sure like to know where all the concern was by the media and rightwingers when Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rove, Gonzalez, Wolowitz, Rice, Feith, Armitage, Delay etc, were weaving their web of corruption, deception and war over these past eight years?
December 23rd, 2008 at 5:42 pmWolowitz = Wolfowitz
December 23rd, 2008 at 5:43 pmWTF!?! CNN just had a trailor for a program they will be showing I believe on X-mas eve titled: Obama, revealed. Like it was a trailor for some scary movie or something.
December 23rd, 2008 at 5:46 pmWell, with fitzgerald on this one I think you can rely on it. Credibility comes with objective scrutiny, not unfettered doubt of all involved as you imply.
December 23rd, 2008 at 5:46 pmThere wasn’t any “gossipy Runaway Bride” story in the Bush/Cheney corruption. It would have required real gumshoe work on the part of the reporters to expose these traitors. It’s much easier to hang out on the beautiful beaches of Hawaii with Obama and make up sensational stories. No toe tapping in bathroom stalls but I wouldn’t be surprised if these reporters followed Obama into the bathroom, just in case.
December 23rd, 2008 at 5:47 pmOMG – Obama went swimming —– WITHOUT HIS SHIRT!!!!!
OoooOOOoooOOOooh, the HUMANITY!!!!
/snark
December 23rd, 2008 at 5:50 pmCats: “There wasn’t any “gossipy Runaway Bride” story in the Bush/Cheney corruption.”
I don’t know. I seem to recall a “journalist” under an assumed name who was actually a gay male prostitute visiting the Whitehouse on a number of occasions at night when there were no press gaggles scheduled with no record of leaving according to the Secret Service records which were made public. Somehow, the same media which is fired up about this Blago thing wasn’t that interested in a gay whore sleeping over unscheduled at the Whitehouse. Go figure.
December 23rd, 2008 at 5:51 pmYeah! Who the hell is this Obama guy, who’d only give effing ‘APPRECIATION’ for his pick? WTF? No story here, MSM, sorry, you’ll have to go looking for missing white girls somewhere.
December 23rd, 2008 at 5:57 pmGeeeeezzzz, all those hours of troglodite discussion on fox….does this mean mean Sean Hannity is a waste of time?
December 23rd, 2008 at 5:57 pmWhat, you mean that after Fitz’s wiretap report showed only that the transition team wouldn’t deal, the report of contacts that the media demanded from Obama also didn’t show any evidence of deals? Something must be fishy here. Obviously the fact that Fitz’s report completely exonerates Obama’s team must constitute a clue that Obama’s team was really involved with Blago’s dirty politics. Otherwise Blago wouldn’t be tapped saying that they weren’t. I stand with the entire wingnut community as shocked and appalled that Obama’s report didn’t contain a confession of wrongdoing like we wanted it to. No wait, I stand with the wingnut community as taking the fact that the report said they didn’t do anything wrong as proof that they really did! As long as there’s no evidence Obama didn’t do anything wrong, we must need more evidence!
You people are going about this all wrong – the standard of evidence here isn’t what the evidence actually says, but how advantageous it would be to the right wing if the evidence said something else. That’s why all your fancy-pants “logic” and “not being stupid” will always fail. Intelligence is mere weakness.
Where there’s smoke there’s fire, follow the rabbit trails, or something like that…
December 23rd, 2008 at 5:58 pmLeftside Annie Says:
OMG – Obama went swimming —– WITHOUT HIS SHIRT!!!!!
OoooOOOoooOOOooh, the HUMANITY!!!!
– - Ya know what else has a telescopic lens like that camera that took Obama’s photo? Uh huh…..the Secret Service had better get their protectee better protected.
December 23rd, 2008 at 6:00 pmLeftside Annie Says:
OMG – Obama went swimming —– WITHOUT HIS SHIRT!!!!!
OoooOOOoooOOOooh, the HUMANITY!!!!
/snark
December 23rd, 2008 at 5:50 pm
Is someone making a fuss about our very fit Prez to be? They must be nuts. :D
December 23rd, 2008 at 6:07 pmBadmoodman – very good point.
December 23rd, 2008 at 6:07 pmI read that he has the largest security contingent ever given to any public figure and that there have been an excess of death threats, so I think they’re on the case. We should have expected this. Jackie Robinson got death threats simply for being the first black man in the league. Henry Aaron got death threats simply for breaking a white man’s home run record. Jack Johnson was under constant threat because he was the first black man to beat up white guys in the ring on a national stage. I believe Thurgood Marshall needed a larger security team than usual for a Supreme Court Justice. It’s called the U S of A. Racism has infused itself so firmly in our culture that it will take generations to get rid of it.
December 23rd, 2008 at 6:07 pmThe right wing will fight. The right wing will fight. The right wing will fight..until their last fart.
December 23rd, 2008 at 6:11 pmZoo — Gov. Buttermybread
December 23rd, 2008 at 6:12 pmJust as I expected.
can the msm move on to repugs’ crimes, nixed subpoenas and where the freshly minted money went?
if the trolls/repugs/msm get too happy about a President-Elect story, ya gots to know it’s a lie.
Why are trolls/repugs/msm so freakin stupid?
December 23rd, 2008 at 6:22 pmIt is only reasonable and logical athat Obama would have suggested candidates to fill his Illinois Senate seat — after all, why would he not be interested? He suggested 5 candidates, but it is up to the governor to make the selection.
December 23rd, 2008 at 7:10 pmIt seems pretty acceptable to me, but when repugnicans are frothing at the mouth to find something untoward or unethical or scandalous about Obama, I don’t think that the report, the assertions by the Obama camp, and the vindications by Patrick Fitzgerald (even as it is reported that Obama was interviewed in the matter) will be enough to satisfy the rabid dogs of the opposition.
They judge everyone, it seems, by their own standards — they always pay to play, they always make deals, they always walk in lockstep with one another, so they cannot accept that the Obama team was not playing the same game.
Blagojegivich»
– - Apparently a person’s name isn’t worth spelling correctly no matter how many people point out the gaffe.
December 23rd, 2008 at 7:13 pmSome of you are discussing Obama’s shirtless photo — have you seen Drudge? He has placed Obama’s pic (great pecs) next to Vladimir Putin’s shirtless photo of last summer and is taking a poll. When I saw it, his readers had Putin at 65% and Obama at 35%.
December 23rd, 2008 at 7:14 pmDrudge never “fixes” his surveys, does he? hahahaha.
realpatriot @#24 YES>
December 23rd, 2008 at 7:15 pmMSM feeds on fear and loathing. That’s why they manufacture stuff to evoke those emotions.
December 23rd, 2008 at 7:19 pmMSM thinks the truth is boring.
Get ready, folks, after more than 8 years of not questioning and challenging the moron in the white house, the msm is oging to make up for lost time and question and challenge what Obama has for breakfast – if he has oatmeal, that means he favors the ag business; if he has scrambled eggs, he is supporting abusive chicken farms.
December 23rd, 2008 at 7:27 pmA 5th Grader could understand what Patrick J. Fitzgerald said at his Press Conference. But it seems either the Media is dumber then a 5th Grader or their paid to lie/spin. To wait for an answer that’s already been given is a GOP trick yet again. Now one would have thought after 8 years of GOP trick and making fools of Americans things would have changed. It’s time Republicans get over the fact McCain/Palin lose the election big time. Even if Obama gave McCain/Palin have of his electorial votes McCain/Palin still lose big time. Using God’s Name, fixing voting machines and denying voters right didn’t work this time.
December 23rd, 2008 at 7:35 pmSo where the HELL is the accountability of Chicago Sun Times and their Snead gossip bloggers creating a completely PHONY and FALSE posting that Emmanuel spoke with Blago 21 times about Obama’s seat?
FoxNews, Drudge and NBC have been using this as a SOURCE for weeks now! No accountability? No omnibudsmen? This is going to be the method of operation against Obama for 4 years, is it???
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:30 pm#26 badmoonman,
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:47 pmI also am concerned that a photographer was able to get the picture — why wasn’t Obama better protected?
The pic wasn’t taken with a super high powered lens.
mk3872
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:51 pmThe Sun Times is a rag – sensational news; and their columnists (which have included the likes of Robert Novak and Bill OReilly) simply report gossip or manufacture it.
John Kerry Says:
STFU you cowardly troll. Why does TP put up with this coward. He is the epitome of a troll.
December 24th, 2008 at 12:48 amOk.
Now what about a truly independnet study.
Like the (ahem) 9/11 Commission (sarcasm off, now)
December 24th, 2008 at 7:20 amoops. I meant independent investigation. need more coffee.
December 24th, 2008 at 7:22 amHe did sort of accidentally stumble onto a point. I am sick to death of 8 years of self-investigations/exhonerations. The transition team releasing a report saying ‘We didn’t do anything wrong’ isnt an earthshattering revelation. If they DID do something wrong chances are they’d release the same report. When Fitzgerald substantiates the report, then its news.
Although seeing as how Fitzmeister Flex has ALREADY SAID THE OBAMA TEAM DID NOTHING WRONG and no one had any reason to doubt him.
December 24th, 2008 at 10:03 amAnd wait…. did EugeneDebbs (a real progressive liberal) just call out JohnKerry (a phony progressive liberal)?
Ironic lulz…
Part 2: Is JohnKerry (The troll) hoping for a merry Fitzmas?
more lulz…
December 24th, 2008 at 10:05 amMarie Says:
Some of you are discussing Obama’s shirtless photo — have you seen Drudge? He has placed Obama’s pic (great pecs) next to Vladimir Putin’s shirtless photo of last summer and is taking a poll. When I saw it, his readers had Putin at 65% and Obama at 35%. Drudge never “fixes” his surveys, does he? hahahaha.
Actually, I think it has more to do with who reads Drudge.
December 24th, 2008 at 11:51 amMarie Says:
#26 badmoonman,
I also am concerned that a photographer was able to get the picture — why wasn’t Obama better protected?
The pic wasn’t taken with a super high powered lens.
Which just as easily been a high powered rifle lens.
December 24th, 2008 at 11:53 amEugeneDebs Says:
John Kerry Says:
STFU you cowardly troll. Why does TP put up with this coward. He is the epitome of a troll.
This is something I don’t understand. He is not only a troll, he is a racist troll. TP was doing well there for a while weeding out the trolls but for some reason has continually given JK a pass.
TP – Why are you ignoring the racist troll JK? I’m sure that he is regularly reported, but you do nothing about it.
December 24th, 2008 at 11:56 amdeebaser Says:
He did sort of accidentally stumble onto a point. I am sick to death of 8 years of self-investigations/exhonerations.
It’s not like Obama had any choice here. The MSM was DEMANDING that he come clean on his and his staff’s contacts with Blago and this report was just that. I knew that it wouldn’t be enough for the right wing MSM. The only thing that will satisfy them is if Obama tells them what they want to hear. If he doesn’t, then he must be lying. Their next line of attack will be that Fitzgerald is in cahoots with Obama and is covering for him.
December 24th, 2008 at 11:58 amEven if Obama came out and said he and his staff said he was involved w/ the Ill. gov. scandal you still wouldn’t believe it.
Just like people would not believe it if Bush and Cheney got on live national tv and said they caused 9/11. People don’t want to belive their “elected” leader could never hurt them.
December 24th, 2008 at 12:30 pmThe hoopla of the Inauguration and the “self” investigation will definitely silence Blagojevichgate.
December 24th, 2008 at 7:34 pm