Not This Man

My NPR station reported earlier today that the SEIU contact that Blagojevich spoke with–referenced in the complaint–was not Andy Stern. NPR said it was Tom Balanoff, President of SEIU Local 1.

A senior advisor to the SEIU has confirmed to me that the contact in the complaint is not Stern, though he could not confirm that it was Balanoff.

The SEIU advisor also told me that SEIU proactively contacted Fitzgerald’s office. I guess that was the same conversation when, according to SEIU’s earlier statement, Fitz asked SEIU not to share any information at that time.

I guess all those nutters trying to take down Obama and Stern are going to have to work harder to make a mountain out of a molehill. 

I will leave it to those with much finer senses of snark than me to slam that crappy reporting of the NYT.

But this post from Mark Ambinder got my weed whacker out of whack, so I wanted to point out a few details for Ambinder, who is usually not so sloppy.

First, Ambinder crowns the guy who turned in Blago’s Senate seat sale as the most powerful guy around.

The most powerful person in Illinois politics is not David Axelrod. Not Valerie Jarrett. Not either the Daleys. Not either of the Madigans. Not Patrick Fitzgerald. It’s the person who dropped a dime on Rod Blagojevich, and it’s all the people who have information that Fitzgerald might be interested in. Someone dropped a dime on the Senate seat matter. Someone got fed up with the pettiness and went to the U.S. Attorney

Given the timeline, that "most powerful person in Illinois" appears to have been an FBI agent, listening to wiretaps placed at least a week before the "pettiness" in question began. I’m all in favor of celebrating the FBI’s work on this case. But it doesn’t mean that FBI agent is the most powerful woman in the room right now.

Then there’s this muddle.

Note: Fitzgerald didn’t seem to say, or didn’t say at all, that having a full and public accounting from the Obama team about their Blago contacts would damage his investigation.  Randal Samborn — am I wrong? Greg Craig? In fact, whereas, in the Valerie Plame investigation, President Bush may have been tangentially involved, or at least had an inkling that subordinates of his were involved, Obama does not have the same constraints.  There is no legal reason why he can’t comment, speculate, or engage in idle rumors on this whole turn of events. This isn’t to suggest that Obama should make off-the-cuff remarks about this or not take it seriously… it’s just that there doesn’t seem to be the same (veneer of a) legal justification for not doing so.

Mind you, I certainly agree that it would behoove Obama to get further out in front of this than he has thus far done. The Axe/Rahm backtracking on what they’ve said (which I’ll return to in a later post) is only feeding the nutters who want to blow this up. If I had my way as a partisan Democrat, Obama would come out today with a list of what conversations his advisors had with Blago on what dates–and summaries of those conversation–as well as a description of what the follow-up to those conversations were.  

That said, I think Ambinder stumbles here on several counts.

First of all, Bush was far more than tangentially involved in the Plame leak. At the very least, he expressed his concerns about the Wilson allegations the day that OVP started intensifying oppo research on the Wilsons. According to Libby, he authorized the leak of whatever it was that Cheney ordered Libby to leak to Judy Miller (which turned out to include Plame’s identity). And during discussions of what classified materials to leak that week, Stephen Hadley said that Bush was comfortable with the plan. 

Now, if Bush (and Cheney) really did remain silent on the Plame leak, that would sort of prove Ambinder’s point. But of course, they both said things publicly at key times (backing off calls to fire anyone involved, claiming Cheney had the authority to declassify what got leaked to Judy, buttering up Libby just after he was indicted) and then there are the conversations Libby and Cheney had about Libby’s cover story. So the pose of remaining silent on the investigation was largely that–a pose, an attempt to avoid obstruction charges themselves, an attempt to avoid saying anything really incriminating.

That said, given the prior example of the Plame case, I’m not sure we can safely say that Obama has no reason to be silent about contacts between his team and Blago. We’ve already got one instance where–as he did in the Plame case–Fitz asked a potential witness (or witnesses) he had spoken with not to discuss the case.

In keeping with the U.S. Attorney’s request, we are not sharing information with the media at this time.

So when Ambinder says, "Fitzgerald didn’t seem to say, or didn’t say at all, that having a full and public accounting from the Obama team about their Blago contacts would damage his investigation," I’m not convinced we know that. He didn’t say that to us, certainly, but then, if Fitz were trying to hide what witnesses he had spoken to from Blago and others, do you really think he would tell us?

Which brings us to the leak-non-leak of Rahm Emanuel. 

Yesterday morning, after all, someone from Rahm’s general vicinity had leaked that Rahm "tipped the scale" to trigger yesterday’s excitement. By the end of the day, Rahm had denied that–calling such claims, "overzealous reporting." Not, "totally inaccurate reporting," but just "overzealous" reporting.

And, as I pointed out yesterday, one of the things that Blago wanted to talk with "President-Elect Advisor" about in mid-November was Rahm’s now-vacant House seat (though as he is on many things, Blago’s a complete idiot about procedure for replacing a Representative in IL). In fact, three paragraphs pertaining to "President-elect Advisor" were the last chronological descriptions Fitz gave about the sale of the Senate seat, before throwing in details relating to Jesse Jackson Jr. at the end.

112. On November 13, 2008, ROD BLAGOJEVICH talked with JOHN HARRIS. ROD BLAGOJEVICH said he wanted to be able to call “[President-elect Advisor]” and tell President-elect Advisor that “this has nothing to do with anything else we’re working on but the Governor wants to put together a 501(c)(4)” and “can you guys help him. . . raise 10, 15 million.” ROD BLAGOJEVICH said he wanted “[President-elect Advisor] to get the word today,” and that when “he asks me for the Fifth CD thing I want it to be in his head.” (The reference to the “Fifth CD thing” is believed to relate to a seat in the United States House of Representatives from Illinois’ Fifth Congressional District. Prior intercepted phone conversations indicate that ROD BLAGOJEVICH and others were determining whether ROD BLAGOJEVICH has the power to appoint an interim replacement until a special election for the seat can be held.).

113. Also on November 13, 2008, ROD BLAGOJEVICH talked with Advisor A. ROD BLAGOJEVICH said he wants the idea of the 501(c)(4) in President-elect Advisor’s head, but not in connection with the Senate appointment or the congressional seat. Advisor A asked whether the conversation about the 501(c)(4) with President-elect Advisor is connected with anything else. ROD BLAGOJEVICH replied that “it’s unsaid. It’s unsaid.”

114. Later on November 13, 2008, ROD BLAGOJEVICH spoke with Advisor A. ROD BLAGOJEVICH asked Advisor A to call Individual A and have Individual A pitch the idea of the 501(c)(4) to “[President-elect Advisor].” Advisor A said that, “while it’s not said this is a play to put in play other things.” ROD BLAGOJEVICH responded, “correct.” Advisor A asked if this is “because we think there’s still some life in [Senate Candidate 1] potentially?” ROD BLAGOJEVICH said, “not so much her, but possibly her. But others.”

There’s no indication that P-EA is Rahm, though given the discussion about Rahm’s seat, it’s probably someone Blago knows locally. Further, there’s no indication that anyone from Blago’s team ever talked with P-EA–just discussions about what they want to say to him. Fitz just ends the narrative right there, without telling us if Advisor A ever met with Individual A and whether Individual A, in turn, met with P-EA.

In fact, Fitz was asked whether Blago’s folks had spoken with Obama or Rahm–only he chose to answer a more narrow question, whether Blago’s folks had ever spoken with Obama. 

Q You spoke before about if Senator — you didn’t know — no awareness that Senator or President-elect Barack Obama knew about this. So is it safe to say he has not been briefed? And can you also tell us if any phone calls were made to President-elect Obama that you intercepted, or to Rahm Emanuel?

MR. FITZGERALD: Okay. I’m not going to go down anything that’s not in the complaint.

And what I simply said before is, I’m not going to — I have enough trouble speaking for myself. I’m not going to try and speak in the voice of a president or a president-elect.

So I simply pointed out that if you look at the complaint, there’s no allegation that the president-elect — there’s no reference in the complaint to any conversations involving the president-elect or indicating that the president-elect was aware of it. And that’s all I can say. [my emphasis]

He was asked again later about conversations between Obama–or his aides–and Blagojevich, which he also dodged in classic Fitz fashion.

Q Sir, just to be crystal-clear on this point, you’re not aware of any conversation, then, that took place between the governor and any member of Barack Obama’s transition team at all?

MR. FITZGERALD: And what I simply said is you can read the complaint. I’m not going to sit here with a 76-page complaint and parse through it. You know, that’s all we’re alleging. And I’m just — I’m not going to start going down and saying, "Did anyone ever talk to anyone?" You can read what we allege in the complaint. It’s pretty detailed. Look in the 76 pages, and if you don’t see it, it’s not there.

Which, if you read that 76-page indictment complaint, you see there’s absolutely no reference to any conversation with the President-elect. But there is a reference to a potential conversation with the President-elect’s advisor. 

None of that, of course, is definitive (as, I’m sure, Fitz intends it to remain). 

But it all suggests the very real possibility that Fitz has had discussions with the President-Elect Advisor in question, and doesn’t want us–or, especially, Blago–to know that, or to know what was discussed at that meeting.

I’d love for Obama to come clean with real details about who, from his team, talked to Blago, and in particular, whether President-Elect Advisor ever talked to Blago’s Advisors. 

But I get the feeling we’re not going to learn that just yet. 

Short version: Jackson uses this as a campaign commercial, he makes a narrow denial about the conversations of his supporters with Blago, makes a categorical statement saying he (personally) hadn’t met with Blago for four years, and he refuses to take questions. 

[Starts by expressing outrage at the pay to play schemes.]

The people of IL deserve better. 

The governor should resign and forfeit his authority to make the appointment. Anyone would be too tainted.

Meanwhile the governor’s fate is in the hand of the justice system.

I want to address rumors about me. I reject and denounce pay to play politics. I did not initiate or authorize anyone at any time to promise anything to Blagojevich on my behalf. I never sent an emissary to make a deal. I thought, mistakenly, that the process was fair. 

I have more seniority than all those–except Luis Gutierrez–considered for the position.

I thought the governor was considering me based on my 13 years of hard work on the part of IL.

I did not know that the process had been corrupted. I did not know that qualifications meant nothing to the governor. I wanted to be considered for the appointment because I believe in public service. That’s what I shared with Blago on Monday, when I had the opportunity to meet with him for the first time in four years.  The media saw me enter his office, the media saw me exit his office. Despite what he may have expected, that’s all I had to offer.

[Thanks all those who have endorsed him for the position.]

Know this. I spoke to the US Attorney’s office on Tuesday. I am not a target of this investigation and I am not accused of any misconduct. In the days ahead, law enforcement officers want to meet to discuss what I know about this process. I look forward to cooperating completely. I retain the advice of James Montgomery Sr. 

On his advice, I will not be taking any questions.

I do want to add one point before I leave. This morning I got text messages from my little sister, who said she was proud of what I’ve done. This morning she told me, Jesse Jr, I’m proud of you.

Illinois’ Deputy Governor Bob Greenlee just "resigned."

A spokeswoman for Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich says one of his top aides has resigned.

Spokeswoman Kelley Quinn on Wednesday said Deputy Gov. Bob Greenlee resigned. The reason for his resignation wasn’t immediately clear.

Greenlee’s resignation comes a day after Blagojevich was arrested on federal corruption charges.

Gosh, why do you think someone in Blagojevich’s office resigned today, the day after his boss got busted?

You don’t think it has anything to do with the search the Feds conducted of the Deputy Governor’s office yesterday, do you?

MR. FITZGERALD: It’s at the office of Deputy Governor — a deputy governor. And there’s a search warrant being executed at the Friends of Blagojevich campaign headquarters.

Or maybe it has to do with the large number of times one or another "Deputy Governor" was named in the complaint yesterday, you think? There’s no confirmation which Deputy Governor is which in the complaint, but there are descriptions of a Deputy Governor participating in the Trib stuff and the Senate seat sale and some of the fundraising scams. 

I mean, if I recognized I were the Deputy Governor named all those times in a complaint supporting the arrest of my boss, I might consult a lawyer pretty quickly. In fact, I might want to get chatty pretty quickly. Heck, even if I weren’t that Deputy Governor, I might chatty and get myself as far away from Blago as quickly as I could.

Then again, given the sheer stupidity of Blagojevich as portrayed in yesterday’s complaint, I wouldn’t put him beyond going on a firing spree as he got more and more paranoid about which of his friends had flipped on him. 

… further inflame those nutters trying to tie Obama to Blago, or will it give them a favorite lefty dynasty to devour and in so doing stave their hunger for a scandal larger than it is?

Because Jesse Jackson Jr. sure looks like he’s the Candidate 5 whom Blago claimed was trying to bribe him for a half million dollars (h/t Prof Foland and twolf).

Chicago Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill., is the anonymous "Senate Candidate No. 5" whose emissaries Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich reportedly offered up to $1 million to name him to the U.S. Senate, federal law enforcement sources tell ABC News.

According to the FBI affidavit in the case, Blagojevich "stated he might be able to cut a deal with Senate Candidate 5 that provided Rod Blagojevich" with something "tangible up front."

Jackson said this morning he was contacted Tuesday by federal prosecutors in Chicago whom he said "asked me to come in and share with them my insights and thoughts about the selection process."

Jackson said, "I don’t know" when asked whether he was Candidate No. 5, but said he was told "I am not a target of this investigation."

Jackson said he agreed to talk with federal investigators "as quickly as possible" after he consulted with a lawyer.

Um, Jesse? After receiving that invitation to come and chat, you were really supposed to call them, not wait for them to call you…

One more point: assuming Jackson is Candidate 5, Blago badly implicated him. But thus far, that’s based on representations from Blago, who is clearly delirious. As always, Jackson (and Blago himself) are assumed to be innocent. Jackson denies that he offereda quid pro quo, and it’s not clear he had the half million to a million that Blago was asking for.

Two days after Fitz indicted Scooter Libby, I did a post showing how details Fitz left unstated in the indictment pointed directly at Dick Cheney.

Tricky Fitzgerald!! He’s been hiding Dick right in the middle of his Libby indictment.

Fifteen months later, the press finally noticed Fitz pointing to the cloud over the Vice President. 

Yesterday’s complaint against Blagojevich has similar silences worthy of note. We know this, partly, because Fitz tells us. He makes it clear that he has not included everything he’s got in this case, generally.

Because this affidavit is submitted for the limited purpose of securing a criminal complaint and corresponding arrest warrants, I have not included each and every fact known to me concerning this investigation.

That is, Fitz has only laid out what he needs to make the case on the two charges described here–the conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud to deprive Illinois of his honest services (this includes attempts to get campaign contributions, favorable coverage from the Trib, and money or a job for the Senate seat), and the attempt to extort the Tribune Company (the firing of editorial staff in exchange for help on Wrigley Field). Note already how this shifts the focus onto recent events–particularly the Trib bribery attempt–and away from his larger investigation into corruption; this allows him to keep much of the latter investigation (which undoubtedly relies on more cooperating witnesses than he has named) hidden for now. Indeed, note how the general corruption investigation generally jumps from evidence from the 2004 timeframe presented at Rezko’s trial to stuff collected from the wiretaps. Fitz doesn’t want to tell us everything about how he got from Rezko to the taps (except insofar as revealing some details of Rezko’s cooperation, which I’ll get to in a later post).

Similarly, Fitz tells us that he hasn’t revealed everything pertaining to Blago’s attempt to sell Obama’s Senate seat.

Set out below are summaries of certain of the conversations referenced above. This affidavit does not include all calls dealing with the corrupt efforts of ROD BLAGOJEVICH, JOHN HARRIS, and others to misuse the power of ROD BLAGOJEVICH to appoint a United States Senator for the personal gain of ROD BLAGOJEVICH and his family, nor does this affidavit set forth other calls where ROD BLAGOJEVICH and others discussed a possible appointment to the Senate seat based on considerations other than financial gain for ROD BLAGOJEVICH and his family, discussions which took place with greater frequency after efforts to arrange for a private job for ROD BLAGOJEVICH in exchange for appointing a particular candidate to the open Senate seat did not meet with success. As set forth below, more recent discussions focused on an effort to obtain campaign contributions up front in consideration of an appointment to
the Senate. [my emphasis]

Now, in this case, I don’t so much think Fitz is hiding how he got the evidence about the Senate seat. We know that: he discovered this in the course of his taps regarding campaign donations.

Overall, I think Fitz leaves all this unsaid for two reasons: to hide the extent to which he may have gotten cooperation from witnesses. More importantly–and he made this point in his press conference yesterday–to encourage those who have evidence about this stuff to come forward on their own accord to provide information to investigators. Fitz knows he hasn’t nailed this prosecution yet, and he’s trying to turn the lemon of having to arrest Blago early into lemonade, by using the complaint to encourage cooperation from others. So he has repeatedly provided enough in the complaint to let people know he’s investigating them, without revealing everything he has against those people.

Just as an example, consider Fitz’s mention of a list of people Blago’s team intended to target for bribes before yearend, when the new Ethics Law goes into effect.

Specifically, Individual A advised that ROD BLAGOJEVICH is seeking a total of approximately $2.5 million in campaign contributions by the end of the year, principally from or through individuals identified on a list maintained by Friends of Blagojevich. The FBI has obtained a copy of that list, which identifies individuals and entities targeted for campaign contributions, as well as amounts sought from those individuals and entities.

The FBI executed a search warrant at Friends of Blagojevich yesterday, so they not only have this list, records of any campaign donations, but potentially more from the campaign office that would incriminate these people.  I’m guessing that if people have been hit up for donations of late, they’re going to get awfully chatty with the FBI in short order, because they know Fitz has that list in his hand and has been using it as a road map of whose donations to investigate next. Clearly, Fitz has left clues like this in the complaint to induce other to come forward to tell about Blago’s demands for bribes from government contractors.

Now, I don’t think there’s much that Fitz left out of the Trib discussions; while Zell and his finance advisor may be in some trouble (particularly if they left the Cubbies out of Monday’s bankruptcy deal believing they had won favors from Blago), Zell may have been saved by the Trib’s decision to break the wiretap story on Friday, forestalling layoffs that could be construed as Zell delivering his end of the bribe.

But the sale of the Senate seat is another issue. As I’ve pointed out in comments, for example, Candidate 5 is in a heap of trouble right now. Fitz includes details of Candidate 5’s discussions with Blago’s team as if it were an afterthought, just one more example of Blago’s continued scheming.

These calls [after the SEIU and Obama-related ones] have included the following:

a. On December 4, 2008, ROD BLAGOJEVICH spoke to Advisor B and informed Advisor B that he was giving Senate Candidate 5 greater consideration for the Senate seat because, among other reasons, if ROD BLAGOJEVICH ran for re-election Senate Candidate 5 would “raise[] money” for ROD BLAGOJEVICH, although ROD BLAGOJEVICH said he might “get some (money) up front, maybe” from Senate Candidate 5 to insure Senate Candidate 5 kept his promise about raising money for ROD BLAGOJEVICH. (In a recorded conversation on October 31, 2008, ROD BLAGOJEVICH described an earlier approach by an associate of Senate Candidate Five as follows: “We were approached ‘pay to play.’ That, you know, he’d raise me 500 grand. An emissary came. Then the other guy would raise a million, if I made him (Senate Candidate 5) a Senator.”)

Yet this is obviously no afterthought. Candidate 5 is portrayed as having approached Blago, not the other way around, and offered large sums for the Senate seat. By saying they got this conversation among others, Fitz is suggesting to those around Candidate 5 that he may well have more and that they might want to come forth to explain that more of their own accord.

"Oh, by the way, Candidate 5? Blago says you tried to bribe him to the tune of $500,000. What do you have to say about that, Candidate 5? I’d love to hear your version of that story…"

The most intriguing such reference, in my opinion, is Fitz’s description of a November 10 strategy session that took place on a 2-hour conference call between Chicago and DC.

On November 10, 2008, ROD BLAGOJEVICH, his wife, JOHN HARRIS, Governor General Counsel, and various Washington-D.C. based advisors, including Advisor B, discussed the open Senate seat during a conference call. (The Washington D.C.-based advisors to ROD BLAGOJEVICH are believed to have participated on this call from Washington D.C.). Various individuals participated at different times during the call. The call lasted for approximately two hours, and what follows are simply summaries of various portions of the two-hour call. [my emphasis]

Fitz makes sure to signal to Blago’s wife (who is legally implicated elsewhere in this complaint, and in other activities reported by the Trib) and Advisor B (who brokered some of these deals, including to Obama’s team) that he’s got their statements during this long meeting. But he also signals to others who participated in the call–"various individuals"–that he knows they were part of these discussions but has not yet focused on their particular actions.

Fitz spends three pages discussing the various strategies laid out in this call, and describes Blago’s insistence on getting cash value for himself or his wife in exchange for the Senate seat. It’s clearly a goldmine of proof about Blago’s efforts to sell the seat.

Advisor B has got to realize he’s in some doo doo here; that may make him want to chat.

But those other individuals who participated in the call? They’ve just been sent a very clear invitation from Fitz to visit their local FBI office for a long discussion.

It’s a remarkable sort of hospitality Fitz has, with these public but unspoken invitations, don’t you think?

One final thing. Fitz states clearly that he does not include details of discussions that aren’t clearly related to financial gain for his family.

nor does this affidavit set forth other calls where ROD BLAGOJEVICH and others discussed a possible appointment to the Senate seat based on considerations other than financial gain for ROD BLAGOJEVICH and his family

He may do this for one of two reasons. First, he may simply not think it appropriate to show us all the sausage-making that got picked up on the wiretaps, the offers of political (as opposed to financial) favors in exchange for the Senate seat. He’s right–since those things would not support his legal case, why include them? That’s when you’d get into criminalizing politics (and laying out those discussions would only intensify the feeding frenzy to determine who gets mentioned where in this complaint.

But there is one other possibility–that those things, not of financial value, still have interest for his legal case, and he’s signaling that he heard those conversations as well. For example, is it possible Blago pitched a Presidential pardon in exchange for the Senate seat? I have no idea–he was thinking more seriously about impeachment than prosecution–but if so, it would be of legal interest. I actually think a pardon would be considered to have financial value, but who knows what else the flailing Blago was pitching?

If those discussions were of more interest than simple political horsetrading, then Fitz has made it clear he’d like to learn more about them. 

I know I reported the local Chicago Fox reporter’s scoop that Rahm may have turned Blago into Fitz.

CONATY: We did receive a tip this morning that perhaps all of this came together so quickly because the Governor may have reached out to Rahm Emanuel, the president-elect’s chief of staff, in attempting to leverage filling the Senate seat. And it may have been Rahm Emanuel who tipped the scale and made this move as quickly as it did.

Rahm now denies he was the one who tipped off the investigation. But it was already clear from the chronology that Rahm couldn’t have been the one to tip off the entire wiretap.

My question now is whether Rahm’s source’s reference to "overzealous reporting" suggests Rahm was involved at all.

First, as to the chronology, Fitz’s complaint gives a timeline in which Blago’s discussions about the Senate replacement starting on November 3, the day before the election. While it is possible that Fitz is withholding earlier conversations about it (I’ll return to this later), it’s clear that Blago’s thoughts about brokering the seat were still formulating on November 4, when he starting thinking about things he might ask for in exchange for the Senate appointment.

On November 4, 2008, ROD BLAGOJEVICH spoke with Deputy Governor A. This was the same day as the United States Presidential election. With respect to the Senate seat, Deputy Governor A suggested putting together a list of things that ROD BLAGOJEVICH would accept in exchange for the Senate seat. ROD BLAGOJEVICH responded that the list “can’t be in writing.” Thereafter, ROD BLAGOJEVICH discussed whether he could obtain an ambassadorship in exchange for the Senate seat. [my emphasis]

In other words, even assuming Fitz isn’t giving us everything, it’s clear that Blago was just beginning to think about brokering the position. 

But we know the first wiretaps went in much earlier than that–on October 22–and that they were based on information that came to light in early October. 

… in early October 2008, the government obtained information that ROD BLAGOJEVICH was accelerating his corrupt fund raising activities to accumulate as much money as possible before the implementation of ethics legislation on January 1, 2009, that would severely curtail ROD BLAGOJEVICH’s ability to raise money from individuals and entities conducting business with the State of Illinois.

[snip]

On October 21, 2008, Chief Judge James F. Holderman signed an order authorizing the interception of oral communications for a 30-day period in two rooms at the Friends of Blagojevich office: the personal office of ROD BLAGOJEVICH and the conference room. On the morning of October 22, 2008, the FBI began intercepting oral communications in those rooms.

In addition, Rahm’s potential involvement doesn’t correlate with the Tribune’s understanding of the wiretaps, which seem to closely relate to John Wyma’s decision to cooperate with Fitz.

Federal investigators recently made covert tape recordings of Gov. Rod Blagojevich in the most dramatic step yet in their corruption investigation of him and his administration, the Tribune has learned.

As part of this undercover effort, one of the governor’s closest confidants and former aides cooperated with investigators, and that assistance helped lead to recordings of the governor and others, sources said.

The cooperation of John Wyma, 42, one of the state’s most influential lobbyists, is the most stunning evidence yet that Blagojevich’s once-tight inner circle appears to be collapsing under the pressure of myriad pay-to-play inquiries.

Given the Trib’s earlier reference to a subpoena delivered on roughly October 9 (two weeks prior to October 23), given Fitz’s reference to discussions with the Trib occurring "about eight weeks ago" (making it around October 14)–at which point his office was already concerned about whether they would get to place the wiretap on Blago, the wiretaps placed on October 22 appear to be directly related to Blago’s accelerated efforts to sell of Illinois’ government in anticipation of the state’s ethics law going into effect. It’s possible that Rahm got a call about that fire sale–but if so, the conversation almost certainly didn’t relate to the sale of the Senate seat.

But it is still possible (though unlikely) that Blago’s attempts to sell the Senate seat may have been related to the wiretaps in some form. Fitz tells us that there was a later tap set on Blago’s land line at his house.

On October 29, 2008, Chief Judge James Holderman entered an Order authorizing the interception of wire communications to and from a landline telephone subscribed to ROD BLAGOJEVICH’s home address and used by ROD BLAGOJEVICH and others. The interception of wire communications to and from ROD BLAGOJEVICH’s home phone began on the evening of October 29, 2008.

Something made them go after that additional line. Granted, this was almost certainly after Wyma was deep into this (so it may be that he told them about the line). But it’s possible that line was tapped because of new, marginally related evidence.

In any case, October 29 is close enough to the November 3 conversations that Fitz starts the selling the Senate seat with such that there may be a connection. I say "may"–it’s just one possibility, not the most likely. (Note, given the report of Blago’s wife targeting the Trib in the background of calls in early November, it appears likely that some of the Trib calls were tapped on that home line.)

So why wouldn’t any earlier indication of this stuff show up in the Complaint? Fitz is clear–he did not give us all the wiretapped conversations pertaining to selling the Senate seat.

Set out below are summaries of certain of the conversations referenced above. This affidavit does not include all calls dealing with the corrupt efforts of ROD BLAGOJEVICH, JOHN HARRIS, and others to misuse the power of ROD BLAGOJEVICH to appoint a United States Senator for the personal gain of ROD BLAGOJEVICH and his family, nor does this affidavit set forth other calls where ROD BLAGOJEVICH and others discussed a possible appointment to the Senate seat based on considerations other than financial gain for ROD BLAGOJEVICH and his family, discussions which took place with greater frequency after efforts to arrange for a private job for ROD BLAGOJEVICH in exchange for appointing a particular candidate to the open Senate seat did not meet with success. As set forth below, more recent discussions focused on an effort to obtain campaign contributions up front in consideration of an appointment to
the Senate.

So it’s possible Blago’s calculations about the Senate seat started earlier, but for some reason Fitz doesn’t want to give us those intercepts.

Still, I don’t think that’s the most likely suggestion. If Rahm did turn Blago in for advances about the Senate seat, I think he did so sometime around November 10 through 13.

From the details Fitz does give us, it appears that Blago’s folks first specific discussion with anyone about quid pro quo for a Jarrett appointment was on November 7.

Later on November 7, 2008, ROD BLAGOJEVICH discussed the open Senate seat in a three-way call with JOHN HARRIS and Advisor B, a Washington D.C.-based consultant. ROD BLAGOJEVICH indicated in the call that if he was appointed as Secretary of Health and Human Services by the President-elect, then ROD BLAGOJEVICH would appoint Senate Candidate 1 to the open Senate seat.

Then, on November 10, Blago appeared to have gotten his first rebuff from the Obama team. On that day, Blago and his aides (and his wife), including Advisor B, had a two hour conference call with advisors in DC, brainstorming ways they could "monetize" the Senate seat. At one point, Blago said that he would appoint Jarrett,"but if they feel like they can do this and not fucking give me anything . . . then I’ll fucking go [Senate Candidate 5].” At that point, Blago’s already incensed at Obama, saying, "“motherfucker [Obama] his senator. Fuck him. For nothing? Fuck him.” On November 10, By November 11, when Blago said, Blago said, “they’re not willing to give me anything except appreciation. Fuck them," it seems Obama has clearly already rebuffed Blago’s efforts.  And by the 12th, public reports had Jarrett announcing she didn’t want the seat. In other words, it seems that Obama’s team gave Blago a soft "no" around November 10 (perhaps in response to Advisor B’s efforts), and gave him a hard no by the 11th, and had Jarrett withdraw from consideration by the 12th.

In other words, if Rahm did get contacted by Blago’s team about quid pro quos for the Senate seat, it appears to have been after any wiretap.

Now it’s possible that Advisor B is someone with close ties to both Obama and Blago. But there appears to be a specific discussion that may pertain to Rahm himself.

On November 13, 2008, ROD BLAGOJEVICH talked with JOHN HARRIS. ROD BLAGOJEVICH said he wanted to be able to call “[President-elect Advisor]” and tell President-elect Advisor that “this has nothing to do with anything else we’re working on but the Governor wants to put together a 501(c)(4)” and “can you guys help him. . . raise 10, 15 million.” ROD BLAGOJEVICH said he wanted “[President-elect Advisor] to get the word today,” and that when “he asks me for the Fifth CD thing I want it to be in his head.” (The reference to the “Fifth CD thing” is believed to relate to a seat in the United States House of Representatives from Illinois’ Fifth Congressional District. Prior intercepted phone conversations indicate that ROD BLAGOJEVICH and others were determining whether ROD BLAGOJEVICH has the power to appoint an interim replacement until a special election for the seat can be held.).

[snip]

Also on November 13, 2008, ROD BLAGOJEVICH talked with Advisor A. ROD BLAGOJEVICH said he wants the idea of the 501(c)(4) in President-elect Advisor’s head, but not in connection with the Senate appointment or the congressional seat. Advisor A asked whether the conversation about the 501(c)(4) with President-elect Advisor is connected with anything else. ROD BLAGOJEVICH replied that “it’s unsaid. It’s unsaid.”

Rahm could qualify as President-elect Advisor (and would certainly be someone Blago could get to directly). And Rahm’s district was the distict in question: Illinois’ 5th CD. Though if Blago honestly thought that Rahm–or anyone close to Obama–was not already clear about how Rahm would be replaced by November 13, a week after Rahm was named Chief of Staff, he’s even more of an idiot than this Complaint suggests. 

The takeaway from all of this is that Rahm almost certainly didn’t bust Blago on the first wiretaps. And he probably didn’t trigger the second, landline tape, either.

Now the quote actually says that "it may have been Rahm Emanuel who tipped the scale and made this move as quickly as it did," suggesting that Rahm simply contact Fitz more recently, and Fitz thought that Rahm’s involvement necessitated he arrest Blago immediately. But I don’t buy that either. Fitz provided several reasons why he triggered the arrest today: The Trib story on Friday, a pending bill Blago is about to sign, and the Senate appointment. But Rahm’s involvement in the Senate appointment appears like it would have ended several weeks ago.

What it comes down to, I suspect, is Rahm’s almost pathological love of leaks–and his determination to use leaks to his advantage. Someone spread that leak this morning. And someone now–recognizing that there’s almost no way Rahm had a critical role in the taps–has denied any involvement.

I gotta disagree, politely, with Ian’s statement that the SEIU statement is "rather uninformative." Here’s the statement again, from Communications Director Ramona Oliver:

We have no reason to believe that SEIU or any SEIU official was involved in any wrongdoing.

In keeping with the U.S. Attorney’s request, we are not sharing information with the media at this time.

That statement tells us two very important things:

1. Fitzgerald (or someone at his office) spoke with the SEIU, having made requests to the union that it not share information with the media
2. After having spoken to the SEIU, the union believes that "no SEIU official was involved in any wrongdoing" 

Particularly given Fitz’s description of people coming forward to tell their sides of the story (and the damned familiarity of that "US Attorney’s request about not sharing information" from seeing it so often in the CIA Leak Case) I would imagine that Fitzgerald has heard SEIU’s side of any conversations with Blago, and found nothing much there to be interested in.

So, to answer Ian’s question:

Is any of this criminally corrupt?  Was Harris reading in that SEIU was willing to do the 3 way deal?  Was the request for a job effectively politely brushed off "gee, we’d love to, but ummm, other people are doing the work" or was it being seriously considered.  It’s hard to tell from the what’s in Fitzgerald’s document.

I’d say that my experience with Fitz’s detailed indictments/complaints, coupled with the SEIU statement, leads me to believe that Fitz doesn’t believe any of the SEIU’s involvement was criminally corrupt. At least not as far as Fitz knows about thus far. 

In addition to attempting to put Obama’s senate seat on e-bay, Governor Blagojovich has also allegedly been trying to leverage assistance for the sale of the Chicago Cubs for better coverage in the Chicago Tribune.

Sam Zell was trying to stave off putting the Tribune Company in bankruptcy by selling Wrigley Field. Zell wanted the help of the Illinois Finance Authority; Blago attempted to trade that help for more favorable coverage in the Trib.

Fitz’s team apparently picked up this attempt in the taps they placed to track Blago’s other schemes, including the selling of the senate seat. The chronology started on November 3, when Blago was discussing whether or not the Trib will be the one leading the call for impeachment. While listening to a discussion about that, Blago’s wife Patricia suggested that Blago “hold up that fucking Cubs shit. . . fuck them," later saying that Zell could just fire the Trib editorial board. Blago followed up by putting a stack of negative Trib articles together, and suggested that John Harris (the Chief of Staff who was also arrested today) take those articles to Zell and say, “We’ve got some decisions to make now … get rid of those people …. maybe we can’t do this now. Fire those fuckers.”

Two days later, Blago instructed Harris to inform Zell and his team that “everything is lined up, but before we go to the next level we need to have a discussion about what you guys are going to do about that newspaper” (the argument being that to get the IFA help, Blago would have to go around the legislature, precisely the same kind of thing the Trib was calling for impeachment over. Blago spoke specifically in terms of the value of IFA support for the Tribune Company: $100 million. 

On November 11, according to John Harris’s version picked up by the wiretaps, the Tribune Company talked about, “certain corporate reorganizations and budget cuts coming … before the end of the month." Harris took that to mean the Trib would go after anti-Blago editors during the reorganization: "reading between the lines, he’s going after that section." On November 21, Blago and Harris specifically talked about Trib Deputy Editorial Page Editor John McCormick "getting bounced." Blago reiterated to Harris that he wanted to make sure Tribune company understood that,“we are not in a position where we can afford to [have IFA taking on Wrigley Field] if . . . the Tribune is pushing impeachment.” Harris affirmed that the "Tribune Financial Advisor" "got the message" that help on Wrigley Park was contingent on editorial changes at the Trib.

On November 30 and December 3, Blago took steps to push through the IFA deal and provide science and technology funds to the Cubs. It became clear on November 4 and 5 that their scheme had not worked (at least not thus far). One the 4th, the Trib announced layoffs, but did not include McCormick among those laid off. Then, on the 5th (Friday), the Trib reported that Blago had been taped:

Federal investigators recently made covert tape recordings of Gov. Rod Blagojevich in the most dramatic step yet in their corruption investigation of him and his administration, the Tribune has learned.

As part of this undercover effort, one of the governor’s closest confidants and former aides cooperated with investigators, and that assistance helped lead to recordings of the governor and others, sources said. 

The cooperation of John Wyma, 42, one of the state’s most influential lobbyists, is the most stunning evidence yet that Blagojevich’s once-tight inner circle appears to be collapsing under the pressure of myriad pay-to-play inquiries.

Then, yesterday (that is, one business day after the Trib broke the news of the wiretaps), the Tribune Company declared bankruptcy.

The mini-timeline looks like this:

November 3-5: Blago’s crafting the quid pro quo for the Trib

November 21: Harris reports that the Trib "gets it"

November 30, December 3: Blago makes moves to deliver favors to the Trib on Wrigley Field

December 4: Trib does not lay off Blago’s targeted editor

December 5: Trib reveals that Blago was tapped

December 8: Trib Corporation declares bankruptcy

Here’s what I find interesting about this. 

One of the reporters at Fitz’s press conference asked whether the Trib’s story on Friday was related to the decision to Blago’s arrest today–that is, whether the story made the wiretap ineffective. Fitz responded that the Trib had held that story for some time before breaking it.

Journalist: Did the Tribune report interrupt the call?

Fitz: Trib called us to confirm story, we asked the Trib to hold on that story, "I have to take my hat off that the Tribune withheld that story for a substantial time." Later that story did run, and we were recording after that story. Days before Blago was intercepted telling his fundraiser to talk as if the whole world is listening. After the story ran, we got a different conversation that was "undo what you just did." We ought to credit the Chicago Trib. They didn’t agree to all our request. I respect what they did.

And in a statement, the Trib said much the same thing: they had held back on some–but not all–of the story.

The Chicago Tribune investigated allegations of misconduct involving Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich independent of the U.S. attorney’s criminal probe.

As a standard practice, our reporters contact individuals involved in these stories for confirmation and comment prior to publication. Consequently, we contacted the U.S. attorney’s office in the course of our reporting.

On occasion, prosecutors asked us to delay publication of stories, asserting that disclosure would jeopardize the criminal investigation. In isolated instances, we granted the requests, but other requests were refused.

The Chicago Tribune’s interest in reporting the news flows from its larger obligation of citizenship in a democracy. In each case, we strive to make the right decision as reporters and as citizens. That’s what we did in this case.

The Trib has been hot on the story of John Wyma’s cooperation since October 22, apparently having learned from sources of a subpoena related to him served earlier in October.

Wyma, Blagojevich’s chief of staff when he was in Congress, has long been one of the few advisers trusted by Blagojevich and kept in the loop on matters of policy and politics. As the federal probe intensified, Wyma met privately with the governor and his former chief of staff at the governor’s campaign headquarters on the North Side for 90 minutes on Oct. 22.

Confronted outside that meeting, Wyma declined to talk to Tribune reporters about what the meeting was about before jumping into his car. The next day, the Tribune was the first to report that Wyma’s name appeared in a federal subpoena delivered to Provena Health, a former client of his.

The FBI first installed the wiretap on Blago’s campaign headquarters that very same day–that is, the day of the meeting between Wyma and Blago at campaign headquarters.

On October 21, 2008, Chief Judge James F. Holderman signed an order authorizing the interception of oral communications for a 30-day period in two rooms at the Friends of Blagojevich office: the personal office of ROD BLAGOJEVICH and the conference room. On the morning of October 22, 2008, the FBI began intercepting oral communications in those rooms.

Now, it appears that what the Trib was reporting from–and potentially what Fitz asked them to hold off on–was sources’ descriptions of the subpoena to Wyma. 

Pushing further into Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s inner circle, federal investigators have subpoenaed records involving a lobbyist friend who represented a hospital company that won a favorable state ruling.

The company’s for-profit affiliate donated $25,000 to Blagojevich’s campaign a month after the state’s action.

John Wyma, a top fundraiser and former Blagojevich aide, was named in a federal subpoena delivered two weeks ago to Provena Health, according to sources. It sought records about Provena’s lobbying relationship with Wyma, the donation and the company’s efforts to win approval for a new heart program.

[snip]

On Wednesday, Wyma met for about 90 minutes with the governor and another fundraiser and state lobbyist, Lon Monk, at Blagojevich’s political offices on the North Side. When asked after the meeting about the subpoena, Wyma said, "I have no comment."

Monk, who was Blagojevich’s chief of staff during his first term, also declined to comment.

[snip]

Lagger acknowledged that Provena Health, based in Mokena, received the hand-delivered subpoena. She declined to discuss specifically what it sought, saying only that it asked about a single contribution to the governor and matters related to the state hospital planning board.

There’s no reason to believe that the Trib’s reporters knew that the FBI had just started tapping the Friends of Blago headquarters on the same day–October 22–when they staked it out waiting to ask Wyma about his meeting with Blago. But both Fitz’s answer and the Trib’s suggests they knew "a substantial time" before they published it last Friday. Presumably, "a substantial time" precedes the announcement of layoffs last week.

The question is, did Zell learn of it from his reporters?

Frankly, from Zell’s statement yesterday, Zell may have been proceeding with bankruptcy assuming the Wrigley Field deal was still going through. The Cubbies were apparently not included in the bankruptcy filing.

We just announced that Tribune is restructuring its debt under Chapter 11 protection. I’m sure you saw the speculative coverage last night and this morning. I would have preferred everyone get the news from me first, but since our debt is publicly traded, we had to keep this decision confidential until we had a formal board decision. The Cubs franchise is not part of the filing.

At the same time, as Fitz repeatedly implored today, there’s no reason to believe that either Zell or his financial advisor intended to play along with Blago’s demands, even back on November 21 when Harris believed that the financial advisor "got it." We’ve only seen Harris’ side of the conversations. And hell, maybe Zell was the guy who had a long conversation with Fitz’s office today to explain his side of those conversations. 

But given the coincidence of timing: the lay-offs, the scoop on the wiretaps, the bankruptcy, it sure does raise questions about whether or not the business side of the Trib knew about what the editorial side was about to break?

Ah. Liveblogging Pat Fitz again. (Though it’ll be weird to liveblog watching his face, rather than the bald spot on the back of his head, which is what we got to see in the Libby trial.)

The press conference will start 7 minutes late. 

In the meantime, here’s my question for Fitz (not like he’ll answer it). Local Chicago press is reporting that Rahm Emanuel reported Blago after someone approached the Obama folks about who he wanted for the Senate seat. In other words, yes, Rahm may well be the good guy here, and Obama couldn’t be cleaner. Is that true?

Fitz up, introducing the guys involved. He’s not wearing his lucky blue tie.

Sad day for government. Blago taken us to a new low. Political corruption crime spree. Most appalling conduct is attempt to sell the Senate seat he had the sole right to appoint to replace Pres-Elect Obama. 

Back 8 weeks ago we had the following environment. A known investigation, recent trial.

Blago working feverishly working with contractors. $8 M project announced. Trying to get someone raise $100,000 in contributions. After being aware that pay-to-play scheme, decision made to use more extraordinary means. Bug placed in campaign office and home telephone. 

In addition to pay-to-play, we were surprised to learn of extortionist attempt against the Trib.  Blago and COS schemed to send a message to the Tribune company that the price of doing so was to fire certain editors. "Get them the bleep out of there, get us some editorial support."

Most appalling behavior that Blago tried to sell the seat vacated by Pres-elect Obama. Lincoln would roll over in his grave. "It’s a bleeping valuable thing. You just don’t give it away for nothing." Tapes reveal that Blago wanted a number of things: HHS, Ambassadorship, higher paying job for his wife, union job. He thought union might get benes from Pres-elect. 

Complaint makes no allegations about Pres-elect.

This lost when Pres-elect’s candidate took herself out of the running.

In another event, somebody else approached the governor. In government’s view, they were approached by intermediaries. Blago was worried that the contributions would actually be paid.  He wanted the money "up front." "Some of this stuff’s gotta start happening now, right now." "You gotta be careful how to express that, assume the whole world is listening." That’s the governor of Illinois. Finally, the governor talked about appointing himself to the Senate seat. He wanted to do it to avoid impeachment.

We need to do the investigation now that it is overt.  

[Basically going to try to figure out who was playing in the pay to play for the Senate. He’s not done–not at all.]

In all seriousness, we have times when people decry corruption. Wide ranging schemes. If the people felt uncomfortable they ought to come forward. We’re already quite heartened by the number of people who have come forward today. There’s a lot we don’t know and need to know. We ask that the press, in particular, recognize that we’re not casting aspersion on the other people mentioned on this. 

FBI guy: A new low for Illinois. I did not answer whether Illinois is the most corrupt state in the US. If it isn’t the most corrupt state in the US, it is certainly one hell of a competitor. The FBI agents were thoroughly disgusted by what they heard. 

Fitz: There were a lot of things imminent. There’s a bill waiting to be signed, based on whether a hospital’s CEO coughed up a campaign contribution. An editor waiting to get fired. When there were layoffs, conversations about whether that editor was fired. A governor, the only one looking for more layoffs. Add it to the fact that we have a Senate seat auctioned off to the highest bidder. Blago’s own words talked about selling this like a sport’s agent. We stepped in for a number of reasons. In the middle of a corruption crime spree, and stepped in to stop it.

Journalist: You said not to cast aspersions. Does that mean they’re beyond blame?

Fitz: We never give clean bills of health. What I’m trying to do is explain caution about what’s on the tapes. We’re going to do an investigation about what was said about other people on the tapes. There may be people who had no idea what was going on. Some things will be black and white, some things will be shades of gray. What they understand when they’re scheming. We’d like to see what schemes were carried out, who made contributions, we’d like people to take what we say with a grain of salt. If other people did wrong, we’ll deal with that. 

Journalist: Blago will walk out today, he will still have the power to appoint the Senate seat.

Fitz: We make no allegations about what the Pres-elect is aware of or not.

Journalist: You intervened bc of something that was going to happen. He still has the power to do it.

Fitz: If I were someone who wanted to pay to play, I think this would be about the worst time to engage in this kind of action. I was not going to wait until March or April and say, btw, all this bad stuff happened in December. We will expose criminal conduct to let people know we’re on to it. 

Journalist: Should the gov step aside?

Fitz: We’re not entitled to any view. What happens in the legislation is not for us. 

Fitz: If the charges are true, it’s an appalling thing. We need people in the public to stand up and say "enough." We’re not going to end corruption in Illinois by arrests and corruption alone. What’s going to make a difference is when people are approached to pay to play, they come forward.

Journalist: It’s conceivable that Trib was considering–or forced to consider–what Blago had in mind?

Fitz: Not making claim about Trib.  We’re not describing about mindset of Zell’s mind.

Journalist: What does this say about Durbin’s request for commutation for Ryan?

Fitz: To extent office has a view in Ryan pardon, we’ll express that privately. Power of pardon and commutation rests with president, don’t make a practice of commenting.

Fitz: we cite a statute, sole discretion of governor of Illinois. Constitution leaves it to states to replace Senators. Illinois puts it in sole hands of governor. 

Journalist: When pols get together and cut deals, where is the line between cutting a political deal and selling a US Senate seat?

Fitz: When you start having quid pro quo. If you tell someone, one conversation describes how gov wanted job at union, couldn’t just be given to him, bc union already has that job. When you want to work for half million dollars, we’re comfortable in the law that someone who schemes to do that is criminal. Doing it in way that is clearly criminal.

Fitz: No comment on whether we attempted to interview him.

Journalist; Describe arrest?

FBI Guy: 6AM morning, phone call to me and gov, advising we had warrant, 2 FBI agents outside the door, asked him to open the door to do without media, waking children. Handcuffed. I woke him up. First question was, "was this a joke." Children not awake, beginning to stir.

Journalist: Why decision to make the arrest.

FBI Guy: we learned a lot from this wiretap.  It wasn’t about tying this in a bow. Letting things be done to damage Ill. It was about what was good for the iJounvestigation. Goes beyond governor to people involved in this scheme. 

Journalist: Did the Tribune report interrupt the call?

Fitz: Trib called us to confirm story, we asked the Trib to hold on that story, "I have to take my hat off that the Tribune withheld that story for a substantial time." Later that story did run, and we were recording after that story. Days before Blago was intercepted telling his fundraiser to talk as if the whole world is listening. After the story ran, we got a different conversation that was "undo what you just did." We ought to credit the Chicago Trib. They didn’t agree to all our request. I respect what they did.

Journalist: You’re always careful to separate politics and law enforcement. Governor still has powers to appoint US Senator. Would people of IL be well-served for a quick session.

Fitz: Enough people here who can weigh in with their opinions.

Fitz: Investigation continues. 

Journalist: Is it safe to say Obama has not been briefed? Any calls to Obama or Emanuel?

Fitz: Never going to speak in voice of President or President-elect. No reference to any conversations involving Pres-elect or involving any awareness of it.

Fitz: No anticipation of contentiousness on bond. Judge Nolan should hear what our opinion is through telling directly, not your reporting. 

Fitz: Very disturbing that these pay to play allegations picked up steam after a conviction and ethics legislation.

Journalist: Candidate took herself out of consideration: Was that Schakowsky?

Fitz: Not going to confirm.

Journo: Did you have conversation with AG or someone close to him on wiretap?

Fitz: Wiretaps and bugs, procedure we follow is well-known. FBI boss in Chicago, my office, Washington to OEO. They are the people who review applications for wiretaps and bugs. They know how to say yes and no.  After approved goes up to high ranking officials in Crim, then to Chief judge in district. DAG, FBI Director are not going to drop their coffee finding out about this for the first time. We kept them in the loop.

Journo: Is discussing a quid pro quo different from carrying it out. How much is being a tough guy, and how much is carrying it out?

Fitz: Scheming versus carrying out crime. It is a crime to scheme to carry out a crime. Acting like a tough guy is a crime. We can sort through at a trial, but it is a crime to shake someone down. 

Journo: Would Obama have gotten briefed on this?

Fitz: It was a very close hold.

Journo: How many calls today?

Fitz: We already got one in–it was heartening.

Fitz: Union he discussed was Change to Win, SEIU.  That scheme never came to fruition. He later curses that it didn’t come to fruition.

Journo: Search warrant? Friends of Blago campaign HQ and Deputy Governor’s office.

Journo: If it’s against the law to trade a job, is it also illegal to buy one?

Fitz: we charged Blago and Harris, and that’s all we’re saying.

Fitz: Discussion of Rezko’s testimony in a footnote, that summarizes his status [footnote says Rezko’s testimony doesn’t always correlate with others’]

[Randy cutting it short] Hey Randy!

Journo: How far did the Tribune plot go?

Fitz: Not going to say, that person was not fired. We don’t go beyond that. Not going to opine what happened after the conversation left Blago and Harris.

Journo: Is it possible that anyone appointed by Blago without a cloud over their head?

Fitz: Not going to get into where things stand on senate seat. Public discourse will go forth without our guidance.