Posted on 12/09/2008 6:14:19 AM PST by KeyLargo
Edited on 12/09/2008 6:17:49 AM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
A source said today that Gov. Rod Blagojevich was taken into federal custody at his North Side home this morning. The U.S. attorney's office would not confirm the information, and a spokesman for the governor did not immediately return a phone call for comment.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
I don’t think it played that way at THIS time. This was an easy bust for Fitz. I don’t think he’s the type that looks too far down the road concerning his job.
He’s done bidding for both sides now. I think he’s all about getting an indictment under any circumstances.
The governor was arrested at his home Tuesday on charges he conspired to sell or trade President-elect Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat to the highest bidder.
U.S. District Judge Nan Nolan said "Good afternoon, governor" in greeting Blagojevich at the afternoon bond hearing. The governor was wearing sweat pants, gym shoes and an athletic shirt.
He was released on a signature bond that specifies that he'll forfeit $4,500 bond if he doesn't appear in court. Blagojevich also was ordered to relinquish his passport and his firearm owner's identification car.
$4500?? That's all? But ok to passport surrendered ...firearm owners ID card is a headscratcher, but this is Illinois we're talking about.
No doubt. Perhaps Fitzgerald felt it would be to much a political brouhaha should he wait until whatever arrangements were made to sell the seat came to fruition. I don't know. But it just seems funny to me that he'd jump on it this quickly when there were further transactions in the pipeline that could bring in more fish.
Excellent point. And he may have "saved his job" in more ways than one...
I suspect Zero owes him BIG TIME.
“further transactions in the pipeline that could bring in more fish”
That’s why I think he’s goal oriented. The evidence presented against Blafgo is a sure fire conviction. Libby’s wasn’t that sure fire but Fitz thought it was a slam dunk. He could have waited and found someone higher up to commit “criminal forgetfulness” but he didn’t.
He’s a hired gun looking for an indictment...much in the mold of Elliot Spitzer.
We tried really hard to keep the venal scum on THEIR side of the Mississippi River, but after all they did show up accompanied by big, unsmiling dudes with sunglasses and gun-shaped lumps under their suitcoats.
Read the transcript, they use the term “deputy governor”. That’s why Quinn was served.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2145689/posts
His sole (stated) reason for acting when he did was his seeing the Senate seat up for sale, and he wanted to prevent such a terrible thing from happening. And with what he already had on Blago it was a no-brainer. Get it done! That’s fine.
But there’s also the implication of person of interest #5 who apparently discussed a quid-pro-quo with Blago. And perhaps even one more individual who also mentioned $ for the seat. It will make it harder for Fitzgerald to prosecute them without the completion of the deal. So that makes me wonder about the timing of all this.
The two alternative explanations out there are Obama’s camp pushing the arrest for political purposes, and Fitzgerald’s pushing the arrest for job retention purposes. These aren’t necessarily mutually. But, they are simply conjecture with no evidence of fact (at least that’s known at this time).
“#5 who apparently discussed a quid-pro-quo with Blago. And perhaps even one more individual”
Maybe Rahm caught wind of it and contacted Fitz? That would protect Opossum. The other 2 might be brought in to testify under threat of a conspiracy charge.
When did we ever hear somebody say "that's all I'm going to say" when there wasn't something else to say?
Exactly.
David Freddoso reports that Blagojevich was released on $4,500 bond.
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=OTRjOGQwN2M5OTFiMTEwZDE3OWUzOTY3Yjk2YzVkOGM=
Deputy Govenor is separate office from the constitutional office of Lt. Govenor. My guess is Quinn is clean on this. I respect him as a straight shooter, who isn’t in league with the whole combine. Of course he is totally wrong in his viewpoints.
The key to the O connection will come from his beloved BBerry. We know it’s with him everywhere and could hold the personal contact evidence of knowing. IMHO.
Deputy Govenor, a member of Blago’s staff, not the LT. Govenor.
Ya’ think Kern tipped of team 0?
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-blagojevich-maindec09,0,7734677.story
Fitzgerald thanked the Chicago Tribune, which had been reporting on the investigation, for honoring a rare request about eight weeks ago not to report on certain aspects of the investigation that he said could have been jeopardized.
Tribune Editor Gerould Kern said today that the newspaper delayed publishing some stories at the request of the U.S. attorney’s office during the course of reporting on the accelerating investigation of Blagojevich.
“On occasion, prosecutors asked us to delay publication of stories, asserting that disclosure would jeopardize the criminal investigation,” Kern said. “In isolated instances, we granted the requests, but other requests were refused.”
Video? Audio?
He also said it sarcastically.
If this is all Blago's charged with, then I think Limbaugh may want to rethink the sarcasm.
artist's rendering
Harris leaving after his arraignment
(Republic Windows)
Simply brilliant, potlatch.
I understand Blago’s wife, the infamous Patti Blagojevich, was once employed by Tony Rezco. Since Patti is a real estate agent, one has to wonder if she was involved in the Rezco/Obama land deal. Rezco and Patti, together with the corrupt Blago, would make a nice pic in a future potlatch production.
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