Posted on 12/14/2008 5:53:36 PM PST by jimbo123
Conventional wisdom holds that U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald ordered the FBI to arrest Rod Blagojevich before sunrise Tuesday in order to stop a crime from being committed. That would have been the sale of the Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.
But the opposite is true: Members of Fitzgerald’s team are livid the scheme didn’t advance, at least for a little longer, according to some people close to Fitzgerald’s office. Why? Because had the plot unfolded, they might have had an opportunity most feds can only dream of: A chance to catch the sale of a Senate seat on tape, including the sellers and the buyers.
The precise timing of Tuesday’s dramatic, pre-dawn arrest was not dictated by Fitzgerald, nor was it dictated by the pace of Blagojevich’s alleged “crime spree.” It was dictated by the Chicago Tribune, according to people close to the investigation and a careful reading of the FBI’s affidavit in the case.
At Fitzgerald’s request, the paper had been holding back a story since October detailing how a confidante of Blagojevich was cooperating with his office.
Gerould Kern, the Tribune’s editor, said in a statement last week that these requests are granted in what he called isolated instances. “In each case, we strive to make the right decision as reporters and as citizens,” he said.
But editors decided to publish the story on Friday, Dec. 5, ending the Tribune’s own cooperation deal with the prosecutor.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.wsj.com ...
they didn’t do it to help blago, imo, they did it to help obama.
bump
If the Tribune has known about this investigation since October, who else have they leaked to over the last couple of months (Obama staff?). It is curious that JJJ and Blagojevich are the players that get caught when this story breaks. Who’s playing whom?
I disagree. Though newspapers should exercise some discretion when prosecutors/government officials ask them to hold off on publishing a story, they are (with some narrow, national-security-based exceptions) within their First Amendment rights to ignore such requests. Frankly, with an Obama administration coming in (and with all of the 'unofficial' DNC control over the media that comes with that), I don't want the government to have any more control over what the media does/does not publish than is absolutely necessary for national security.
It is a good thing Fitz went ahead bomba would have fired him anyway
I heard over the weekend(don’t remember where) that had the senator been appointed, it would have been very difficult to remove them from office. Surely if a person bribed there way into the senate and was caught, then they would be arrested and have to resign?
I think there will be many theories forwarded to confuse and divide the opposition(and drones). The little I’ve watched of the msm is all minimizing the issue.
Who does it hurt? (Blago and JJ., Jr.)
This sentence caught my eye?
In addition, the Dec. 4 conversation appears to have been the first substantive chat about allegedly selling the seat since Nov. 13.
The current complaint left us hanging with Blago sending messages via D.C. Adviser B that he was very anxious to talk to Jarrett and Pres.-Elect Adviser (RE) in the days up to and including Nov. 13.
The sentence I excerpted seems to imply that Blago's entreaties to be in touch with Jarrett and RE were not followed through on. Since D.C. Adviser B is frequently in contact with Blago as detailed in the complaint, it seems odd that contact via Adviser B would adruptly stop the contact.
I think the info in this article came either from the Obama team or someone at the Tribune sympathetic to Obama.
Also very interesting:
At that same moment, FBI agents also knocked on the doors of witnesses. These were just a few of the people agents wanted to interview before cellphones started ringing across the city and others who had been caught on tape had a chance to get their stories straight.
Someone leaked to the Tribune just before Dec. 5 to blow the cover off the investigation. Why did the Tribune suddenly decide to undo its cooperation with the Feds at that particular moment? Someone in the shadows is pulling strings, wrecking the Fed. investigation before everyone could get rolled up.
Many thanks to the Mediascum at the Chicago Tribune for trying to undermine this investigation before it was complete. Cannot imagine an investigation of Republicans being treated this way by the Mediascum.
Only one thing makes sense. bongo got wind of the investigation, had the Tribune publish the story to stop any further investigation. whathe didn’t know was they had been taping since october. he probably figured it was just for a few days.
Pigs, but they’ve obviously aided and abetted for decades or the people would be screaming for justice.
You wait until the offer is given and accepted and then they all go to jail. No one would have come close to "obtaining" the seat.
I’d like to see obstruction of justice charges, but it won’t happen...
I don’t know how they can be accused of obstruction if the prosecution agreed to it.
“shut down the whole operation before it got too close to Obama”
The most likely scenario.
What doesn’t make sense here is the Tribune was never any friend of Blaggo.
Against the Tribune or Fitz and the prosecution team?
They weren't trying to help Helmet Hair; they were trying to protect Hussein.
>>Subpeona the phone records of everyone involved in this at the Trib — smokin’ gun is probably in there.
Worth saying again. I like the way you think.
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