Obama knew of Blagojevich plot

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Harris: Obama knew of Blagojevich plot

BLAGO TRIAL | Price of Senate appointment of president-elect's friend

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June 24, 2010

BY NATASHA KORECKI AND SARAH OSTMAN Staff Reporters
A top aide to former Gov. Rod Blagojevich said he believed Barack Obama knew of Blagojevich's plot to win himself a presidential Cabinet post in exchange for appointing Valerie Jarrett to the U.S. Senate.
John Harris, Blagojevich's former chief of staff, testified Wednesday in the former governor's corruption trial that three days after the Nov. 4, 2008, presidential election, the ex-governor told Harris he felt confident Obama knew he wanted to swap perks.
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John Harris, Rod Blagojevich's ex-chief of staff, said he was convinced Barack Obama knew of the quid quo pro Blagojevich expected for a Senate nod.
(Richard A. Chapman/Sun-Times)

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"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. . . . The governor gets the Cabinet appointment he's asked for," Harris said, explaining a recorded call.
Harris said Blagojevich came away believing Obama knew what he wanted after having a conversation with a local union representative, who in turn spoke with labor leader Tom Balanoff, with whom Blagojevich met to discuss a Jarrett appointment. Jarrett, now a White House adviser, was seeking the appointment to Obama's Senate seat.
Defense lawyers say Harris' testimony contradicts the government's previous public statements that Obama knew nothing about deal-making involving the Senate seat appointment.
The defense on Wednesday moved to force the prosecution to turn over FBI reports of Obama's interview with federal agents in December of 2008. Obama is not accused of wrongdoing.
"Testimony elicited by the government from John Harris and wiretaps played in court raise the issue of President Obama's direct knowledge and communication with emissaries and others regarding the appointment to his Senate seat," lawyers wrote in the filing.
The filing came on the trial's third day of the extensive playback of recordings in which Blagojevich is heard repeatedly discussing ways to personally capitalize on his Senate seat appointment power. Blagojevich could be heard plotting to try to head up a charity; swearing and snapping at his wife, Patti, and dismissing the possibility of a federal position that pays $190,000 a year.
"I make $170 . . . So Fred, that has no appeal to me . . . I want to make money," Blagojevich tells national Democratic consultant Fred Yang. "I might as well go out and find a way to make money."
Obama's 2008 internal report about his staff's contacts with Blagojevich at the time indicates that Balanoff relayed to Jarrett that Blagojevich was interested in a Health and Human Services Cabinet post.
Recordings also revealed that Blagojevich had tried to get the Chicago Tribune's editorial board fired after it ran a series of disparaging write-ups about the then-governor.
Harris testified that he ignored Blagojevich's firing directive.
Also Wednesday, U.S. District Judge James Zagel refused to gag the talkative Blagojevich as prosecutors had asked. Zagel said Blagojevich keeps saying he's innocent, and that anyone who says otherwise is a liar.
The repetition, Zagel said, has rendered Blagojevich's out-of-court talk unnewsworthy.





Harris: Obama knew of Blagojevich plot :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Gov. Blagojevich

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Jurors in ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich's corruption trial got a purported look Thursday at a short list of candidates President Obama favored to replace him in the U.S. Senate.

Federal prosecutors played a tape that revealed the first official message from the budding Obama administration about who the president supported for the Senate seat.

In the call, Blagojevich's chief of staff, John Harris, tells his boss that Rahm Emanuel, Obama's soon-to-be top aide, had called him to give him a list of four people that Obama would find acceptable as his successor in the Senate. They were Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr.; injured Iraq War vet Tammy Duckworth; U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky and Illinois State Comptroller Dan Hynes.

Harris tells Blagojevich "He doesn't want to say who he doesn't like," adding that if a person Blagojevich was considering was not on Emanuel's list, "he's not high on them." Harris explained that the message from Emanuel was that Illinois Senate President Emil Jones was not a favored candidate for the U.S. Senate spot.

Harris also testified that Emanuel told him that no one else in the Obama camp was authorized to talk about the Senate seat. That seemed to be an indication that previous messages from a union official that Jackson Jr. was not one of Obama's preferred candidates were unauthorized.

But Blagojevich doesn't appear to believe the list Emanuel provided is a genuine list of Obama's preferences for the Senate seat.

"It's a B.S. list," Blagojevich says.

From the stand, Harris explained that the list appeared it might be just a political maneuver to show that Obama backed a diverse crop of candidates for the Senate seat. The four names included an African American male, Jackson; a white female, Schakowsky; an Asian-American female, Duckworth; and a white male, Hynes.

Testimony: Obama Had 4 Possible Successors In Mind For His Senate Seat - cbs2chicago.com

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Blagojevich on tape: Get Obama to fund-raise from Warren Buffett, Bill Gates

By

Sarah Ostman

on June 24, 2010 11:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

In the next tape, Blagojevich is heard floating another idea -- to ask the president-elect to ask Warren Buffett or Bill Gates to throw $15 million into a health-care related charity account that Blago could manage and live off. In exchange, of course, he'd appoint Valerie Jarrett to Obama's Senate seat.
Blago had just seen on the news that Obama didn't want Jarrett in the Senate anymore; instead, he was considering her for a cabinet post. But Blago's not convinced, and he floats this new fund-raising idea.
Rod: This is one of those things where you're the president-elect of the United States. His people, they go get the money.
Harris: I think that's a lot easier for them than an appointment, sure...
Rod: You go to these big Democratic multi-billionaires ... and you ask them all to give 2, ... a couple million each ... That's all they got to do for Valerie Jarrett... that's not hard for them.
Harris wasn't so convinced -- the Obama camp "may have higher priorities," he said from the stand. But he didn't fight the idea.
"I was just being agreeable with him," Harris said in court. "Just keeping the conversation moving along. There was other matters i was hoping to get to."
Later on the tape, Blago says he wants Harris to find some other Senate candidates.
"Why don't we start looking for an African-American Tammy Duckworth? We can, can't we?" he is heard asking.
Judge Zagel has called a lunch break. We'll resume at 1:30.


Blagojevich on tape: Get Obama to fund-raise from Warren Buffett, Bill Gates - The Blago Blog