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.
"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.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/25/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
and Gore is a sex crazed wag the dog on the very same Drudge oage too!! Whod'a thunk it? The Clintons would be so proud!
#2
Rahm will soon be "spending more time with the family." Val will be heading to Paris, Moscow, or somewhere overseas on a new assignment. Barry will find a NEW crisis, international visits and numerous golf vacations. You're on your own Blago. It's the Chicago way.
#6
Call me cynical but I would expect that an empty Senate seat to be traded like a hot commodity. And I would expect the person departing said seat for higher office would give input as to who should get the seat. I have no problem with this, really I don't. To think things run differently for those with an 'R' after their name is naive.
Queens Rep. Gregory Meeks dodged reporters Wednesday when they tried to question him about the timing and source of $55,000 in personal loans he neglected to make public.
As an NY1 camera rolled at the House's Rayburn office building, Meeks tried to duck into an elevator, saying he had to get to a committee meeting.
The door closed on him, so he pivoted for another elevator while ignoring questions about who loaned him the money.
Asked if he was going to file new disclosure statements, he said, "Everything that I am required to do, I will do."
Later in the day, his chief of staff, Sophia King, called the Daily News to say Meeks plans to file a "clarification" to his amendment spelling out where he got the money.
The News first revealed Sunday that Meeks hid from public view two "personal loans" totaling $55,000, one he received in 2007 and another in 2008. Meeks was legally required to report the loans in the year he received them, but he did not list them on his financial disclosure reports for those years.
He did finally come clean on 2009 reports, made public just last week.
He refused to tell The News the source or terms of the loans.
King said Wednesday one loan for $40,000 came from a Queens businessman, Ed Ahmad, in 2007. It grew to $50,000 by 2009, but she refused to say why. The second, for $15,000, came from the Congressional Federal Credit Union in 2008.
King declined to detail the loans or say why Meeks needed the money.
Sources familiar with the matter say the loans are related to an $830,000 home Meeks bought in 2006 in Jamaica.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/25/2010 00:00 ||
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"It grew to $50,000 by 2009, but she refused to say why."
$10,000 in 2 years is awfully cheap vig.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/25/2010 11:01 Comments ||
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Well he is a US Representative, one of a half dozen or so in the Black Congressional Caucus to be the subject of ethics violations.
His wikipedia site was put up by an acolyte and has nothing about the ethics probe.
Posted by: lord garth ||
06/25/2010 11:33 Comments ||
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A federal judge today gave former Detroit Councilwoman Monica Conyers a 2½-month extension in beginning to serve her bribery sentence.
U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn issued an order allowing Conyers to report to prison on Sept. 10 rather than July 1. She has asked for the delay to be present for the surgery of a close family member. Federal prosecutors didn't oppose her request.
But she wanted to remain free until Sept. 26. Cohn offered no explanation for requiring her to begin serving the sentence on Sept. 10.
Conyers was sentenced in March to 37 months in prison after pleading guilty to accepting at least $6,000 in bribes for her vote on a $1.2-billion sewage disposal contract for Synagro Technologies on 2007.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/25/2010 00:00 ||
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Perhaps they'd better keep watch on the Detroit-Windsor tunnel.
Follow-up from earlier story
MILWAUKEE - Arizona Senator Jon Kyl has confirmed, Arizona is, in fact, on the border with Mexico. Knowing this is a requirement for graduation from 4th grade in many of the 57 states.
Kyl sent Milwaukee County Supervisor Peggy West a letter in which he says, "You will be interested to learn that Arizona does indeed share a border with Mexico. I have enclosed a map for your convenience." An official Arizona map though, probably fabricated by Republicans and other Eurocentric white guys.
Kyl goes on to urge West to, "actually read the Arizona law before forming an opinion about it." Assumptions, assumptions. Should have added, "or have some lackey read it to you."
West appeared confused about Arizona's location during debate about a measure that would have had the county boycott the state over its controversial new immigration law. She said, "If this was Texas, which is a state that is directly on the border with Mexico, and they were calling for a measure like this saying that they had a major issue with undocumented people flooding their borders, I would have to look twice at this. But this is a state that is a ways removed from the border." Well, Texas is where the astronauts who went to Mars lived, so naturally they would know more about this alien stuff.
West did continue to talk about troops on Arizona's border. She later explained that she meant to say Texas had a longer border. "Had Texas come out with the legislation, having the largest border, I think that I would be more receptive to the fact that there was a problem. But having it be Arizona, having it be the second largest boarder (sic) and knowing there are troops on the border in Arizona, it didn't seem to me that this legislation was particularly necessary at this moment in time," West told Newsradio 620 WTMJ. She also assured us that she is knowledgeable about geography, having been to every state but Toronto and Japan.
The county sent the measure back to a committee.
#2
Her Royal @ssholiness, Peggy, is the poster child for outcomes based edumication.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
06/25/2010 16:18 Comments ||
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Arizona currently borders Mexico: consider the demographics recently released in the Arizona Daily Star: for each Anglo who dies, one is born; for each Hispanic who dies, nine are born. If demography rules - "one man, one vote" Democracy - or are we a Republic as envisioned by the Founding Fathers?
#4
Maybe she had the recent passage of the Fremont, Nebraska law in her mind when she said that. That is the only way I can see her weaseling out of that one.
#7
I made a comment to Peggy (or her unfortunate staff) on her website last night. It was in proper English, so she may be looking for a translation as I have had no response yet. Perhaps it was my tone and comments?
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/25/2010 19:25 Comments ||
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#8
To straighten the confusion Arizona does not border with Mexico. It is Mexico that borders with Arizona. There Fixed.
The Milwaukee County Board spent part of the day debating a measure that would call for the county to boycott doing business with companies in Arizona....
There was an odd moment during the debate when Supervisor Peggy West stood up and seemed to be confused about her geography. "If this was Texas, which is a state that is directly on the border with Mexico, and they were calling for a measure like this saying that they had a major issue with undocumented people flooding their borders, I would have to look twice at this. But this is a state that is a ways removed from the border," West said during debate.
Her colleague, Joe Rice, quickly corrected her, "I just want to assure my colleague that Arizona does in fact share a border with the country of Mexico."...
West claims that the point she was trying to make is that because Texas has a much larger border with Mexico, she might feel differently about such a law in that state. "Had Texas come out with the legislation, having the largest border, I think that I would be more receptive to the fact that there was a problem. But having it be Arizona, having it be the second largest boarder and knowing there are troops on the border in Arizona, it didn't seem to me that this legislation was particularly necessary at this moment in time," West said.
The board sent the measure back to a committee, taking no action on it today.
Posted by: Mike ||
06/25/2010 11:26 ||
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And why are numb-skulls like this in our government?
Oh yeah, they are too stupid to make it in the private sector.
#4
"I did get a passing grade in Geography in high school and in college and I do obviously know that Arizona is on the border," West said in an interview after today's meeting.
I bet if you check her college transcripts she never took a course in geography in college.
#5
Can anyone get an email address for this MORON???
They are going to boycott doing business w/ Arizona??? They're too freakin' STUPID to do business with anyone!!
Her degree in 'Human Services' from the local technical college has done her well.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
06/25/2010 13:35 Comments ||
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Notice the USA on the state license plate, because America's school system dropped learning what are the 57 50 states. Too many of our constabulary are unaware there is a state between Texas and Arizona on this side of the border. Sigh.
#10
I have always suspected that basic ignorance is a factor in many left-liberal positions.
A few years ago, I ran across a college student, a junior in pre-med, who did not know that there is more than one national military force in the world. She thought that all military everywhere was US and taking orders from the Pentagon. I asked her if she had seen video of the Israeli army fighting in Lebanon. She had but she thought the IDF was the Israeli branch of the US armed forces, kind of like a national guard unit since Israel is sort of a state doncha know.
I asked about her knowledge of World War 2 and who she thought our guys were fighting in that conflict. She acknowledged that fascist countries did have armed forces at one time, but they were defeated and we are the only ones left.
Naturally, she was a lib and a supporter of the Palestinian cause.
Lest anyone think I am picking on (dumb) girls, I encountered a young man recently who did not know what inflation was. When I told him my first civilian job in the US, in 1973, had paid $4.50/hour, he declared proudly that he would never work for that amount and that my employers should have been arrested for violating the minimum wage laws. When I pointed out that $4.50 was actually a very good wage then, he had no idea what I was talking about. He was sure I was pulling his leg when I told him a new Camaro cost less than $4K in those days. He, too, was a lib and could hold forth at length on the similarities between Bush and Hitler.
#11
AC, that is sad. The result of the dumbing down of education. This young lady was a pre-med student? There is probably a place for her in the new health care system. I ran into a college student in my class once who did not know where the library on campus was located. I guess he never had occasion to use it. There are parts of Wisconsin that are somewhere to the left of Berkeley.
#14
AC, your comments make me sad. I hope those were outliers but I suspect not. However, I have noticed people specialize in their knowledge, doctors for example may no nothing about politics but be brilliant at the doctor stuff. Hopefully they have the sense not to opine on things they know nothing about as linguistics professors are known to do often.
#15
A friend of mine's girlfriend couldn't name who the US fought in Word War 2. She guessed Vietnam. Very sad. Others I knew named the Soviets (this was during the cold war). Very sad.
#16
Ms West, on behalf of my native state, rest assured that there are only two reasons a law enforcement officer from the Grand Canyon State would want to see your identification:
1) To reassure themselves that someone as freakin' stupid as you are is not a local, and
2) To find an address to ship you back. We already know the zip code is 53212, but the post office demands an actual house number and street name, dammit.....
#18
a college student in my class once who did not know where the library on campus was located.
Be fair, JohnQC. How many engineering students actually need the library? The information they need is in their well-written textbooks, and at least one person in their study group had a single room where they could study in peace. Mr. Wife was an engineering student once upon a time, and while he knew where the library was, he never had occasion to use it once he left his job at the oncology research center... and before that he probably used the research center's library, which was much better for the topics he needed to research.
#19
The problem is not the education system per se. Like teaching geography. It is its tendency to close up curious minds. There were a lot of things that I did not learn at my schooling age (6-24) and yet I do know them. I also know what I don't know, and if possible, rectify that. I did not come out from the edu system with an idea that my learning is done, just the opposite--it was only a priming. The more time passes by, the more I am aware how the proportion of what I learned shrinks in contrast what is to be yet learned.
That, I think, was the best gift the edu system could have given me. But yea, that was about half a century ago. Times changed. The post modern zombie society can't have any of that.
By bolting from the Republican Party, Gov. Charlie Crist has one place left to raise big money in his race for the U.S. Senate: Democrats.
A governor who once courted conservatives by calling himself a "Jeb Bush Republican" is getting help from liberal trial lawyers, union activists and even elected Democrats, who are shunning their party's Senate hopefuls, wealthy Palm Beach businessman Jeff Greene and U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek of Miami.
Crist is now an independent, with no party to pay campaign overhead or raise money.
Many Republicans had already given Crist the maximum $4,800 to help amass his $10-million campaign fund before he abandoned the GOP ship in April after polls showed him getting swamped by Marco Rubio in a Republican primary.
In Tallahassee two weeks ago, civil trial lawyer Lance Block hosted a Crist fund-raiser at his home that prominent Republicans also attended.
"We need more people like Charlie Crist in Washington to set aside the partisan bickering,'' said Block, a delegate to three Democratic presidential conventions who played a key role in helping Al Gore during the 2000 Florida vote recount.
Block's host committee included such Democratic stalwarts as former Florida State University president and ex-House Speaker T.K. Wetherell, teacher union lobbyist and lawyer Ron Meyer and Dexter Douglass, a top adviser to former Gov. Lawton Chiles.
"He has always been attuned to what he feels the people need," said Douglass, who donated the $4,800 maximum to Crist's campaign.
Adam Corey, a Republican oil and real estate executive from Fort Lauderdale, described Crist as fiscally conservative and socially moderate, and said he was pleased to see the governor's cross-party appeal.
In Orlando Tuesday, high-profile trial lawyer John Morgan, known for his "for the people" billboards, hosted a Crist fund-raiser along with Jim Pugh, a Winter Park businessman who has been a long-time Democratic fund-raiser.
In Siesta Key Monday, Rep. Darryl Rouson of St. Petersburg was among the Democrats at a Crist fundraiser at the home of chiropractor Gary Kompothecras, a long-time Crist supporter. Rouson says he has known Crist and his family much longer than he has known either Democratic Senate candidate.
"We're trying," Crist says, poor-mouthing his fund-raising, and calling it challenging and difficult, perhaps in hopes that the number he reports in mid-July will exceed expectations.
The $1.2-million Crist raised in the first quarter was a third of what Rubio raised in the same period.
Democrat Mark K. Logan, a Tallahassee lawyer and former lobbyist, said Crist will be able to compete financially with Rubio and Meek or Greene by reaching out to supporters across the aisle.
"He has to, to win," said Logan, who was once Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Graham's son-in-law.
About why he supports Crist, he said: "He is a lifelong friend. I have known Charlie for 30 years. I think our best leaders from Florida have led from the middle, and Charlie has shown he can do that."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/25/2010 00:00 ||
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another turncoat POS.....nice charlie....always knew you where an obummer kiss a$$
#3
Crist == opportunistic scum. No principals. Nothing. He has no chance by himself. So where does he turn? To the only "group" that would take him.
Democrats == a union of disparate caustic special interest groups with no principals as evidenced by the fact that they vote as one. They truly live by the motto "United we stand, divided we fall". And these folks would "fall" for a different reason than that little phrase was designed for.
#5
Imagine you're Kendrick Meek. You're a lifelong Democrat, a loyal party man, you've worked your way up through the ranks, you believe in all the big Democrat beliefs. You give up your safe seat to run for senate as the underdog at the urging of the party hierarchy and the big money boys, you do everything they ask of you--and how do they repay your loyalty? They toss you away like a live grenade in favor of an opportunistic turncoat weasel who was proclaiming himself a loyal Republican just 90 days ago.
That's gotta suck.
I feel sorry for Mr. Meek.
Posted by: Mike ||
06/25/2010 12:04 Comments ||
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"I feel sorry for Mr. Meek"
Maybe Mr. Meek should take a long hard look at his "friends" in the DemoncRat leadership, and rethink his positions regarding Dem "beliefs."
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/25/2010 12:48 Comments ||
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Two GOP lawmakers seemed to echo talking points from Fox News host Glenn Beck about a deal made by investor George Soros..
Reps. Dan Burton (R-Ind) and Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) questioned whether Soros, who backs a number of liberal causes and Democratic candidates for office, had invested in a Brazilian oil company, Petrobras, with the knowledge that President Barack Obama might temporarily ban deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.
"We don't need to be spending Mr. Soros's money in Brazil, so he can make more money by doing offshore drilling with our taxpayer's money," Burton said.
Burton's implication was that Soros, an investor with Petrobras and a major Obama campaign donor, profited from a loan made by the U.S. Export-Import bank to Petrobras.
Gohmert made a similar point later during a congressional special orders speech.
"This country, apparently standing for two billion dollars to help Brazil do deep exploration -- and that'll make hundreds of millions for Soros, happy dream, they make lots of money -- but sometimes people in this body are torn between their constituent service, or being a part of a powerful team," he said.
Their comments echoed several made by Glenn Beck the night before on Fox News.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/25/2010 00:00 ||
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Puppets of Beck?
Questioned by the puppets of The One.
Whose strings are pulled by Soros.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/25/2010 9:00 Comments ||
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#2
Its always prudent to remember that Beck fancies himself as a news-tainment guy and not a journalist. His entire schtick has a tendency of oblique associations followed by implied conclusions. With that said, his episode about the Soros/ Petrobras connection was intriguing given the influence John Podesta and CAP has had on this administration from the get go. So nobody should be a surprised if a couple of rattle-traps like Burton and Gomert would glom on and present it as original thought.
#3
Beck says you need to read the Road To Serfdom and it becomes #1. Beck exposes Van Jones and he is relocated by Obama. There are a lot of examples of the influence of Beck. I trust he has some ex blackwater guys covering his back because he is on dangerous ground.
#4
He does - I don't know if they are former Blackwater body-guards, but he does have 'em, and the visible ones are very hard-looking and efficient-appearing gentlemen. Saw them backstage with him at the April 09 Tax Day Tea Party rally at the Alamo.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Queens Rep. Gregory Meeks dodged reporters Wednesday when they tried to question him about the timing and source of $55,000 in personal loans he neglected to make public.
The Milwaukee County Board spent part of the day debating a measure that would call for the county to boycott doing business with companies in Arizona....
