As I predicted, Obama’s team did indeed have contact with Blagojevich regarding Obama’s Senate replacement:
Rahm Emanuel, President-elect Barack Obama’s pick to be White House chief of staff, had conversations with Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s administration about who would replace Obama in the U.S. Senate, the Tribune has learned.
The revelation does not suggest Obama’s new gatekeeper was involved in any talk of dealmaking involving the seat. But it does help fill in the gaps surrounding a question that Obama was unable or unwilling to answer this week: Did anyone on his staff have contact with Blagojevich about his choice for the Senate seat? . . .
One source confirmed that communications between Emanuel and the Blagojevich administration were captured on court-approved wiretaps.
(Via Hot Air.)
Since Emanuel’s communications with Blagojevich are on the wiretaps, we also should eventually know whether Jim Lindgren’s theory is true (that a bribe was solicited from Obama’s people). If so, I imagine we’ll soon after find out whether it was reported.
The big question in all of this remains, why hasn’t Obama just said what he knows?
