Posted on 12/11/2008 10:56:30 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Once he assumes office, President-elect Barack Obama will face a severe “trial by fire” over whether to fire U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald and other U.S. attorneys, following Democratic Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s arrest Tuesday for allegedly offering to sell Obama’s vacated Senate seat to the highest bidder.
Ordinarily, legal and political experts say, an incoming president has broad authority to change both the Cabinet and the U.S. attorneys who serve at his request. But with unanswered questions swirling over the degree of interaction Obama's team has had with Blagojevich, and the alarming level of Illinois corruption exposed by the probe, any move to fire Fitzgerald would be highly controversial as a possible conflict of interest.
“There are enough connections between the worlds of Blagojevich and Obama that the whole thing has the potential to grow beyond a colorful Chicago tale of corruption to entangle members of the presidential transition team, to test Obama’s carefully cultivated reformist image, and to distract the president-elect just as he is preparing to take office,” Time.com reported Wednesday.
Many of the concerns revolve around a statement Obama made Tuesday afternoon, which ultimately raised more questions than it answered.
"I had no contact with the governor or his office, and so we were not -- I was not aware of what was happening," Obama said, leaving open the possibility that his staff did have contact with Blagojevich. "And as I said, it's a sad day for Illinois. Beyond that, I don't think it's appropriate to comment."
Obama’s statement evoked concern among the mainstream media that it was too tepid to quell the rising hubbub. “I think it was a very passive statement by Obama yesterday. I don’t think it was enough,” NBC political director Chuck Todd told MSNBC viewers on Wednesday morning.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
Gee. The suspense is UNBEARABLE... /S
Do polar bears defecate on the ice?...............
Let the chips fall where they may.
And if I were Blago, I'd wear a bullet-proof vest and helmet.
He won’t dare after all that has gone down.
Fitzi’s covering 0bama’s ass. He’ll keep him on for the duration of his term.
First he delays the investigation so that there was no deleterious effects on 0bama’s election,
then he quickly wraps it up before any “bigger fish” can get ensnared in with Blago.
Clear coverup.
Couldn’t Bush appoint Fitz as a SPECIAL prosecutor?
If he does, his credibility will pretty much be shot before he's even settled in.
or would Fitz soft-pedal in exchange for keeping his job....
“Pray we’re that fortunate. Pray they’re that stupid.”
Fitzgerald’s job is on the line ... if he can insulate Obama from Rezko and Blago he’ll keep it. Otherwise, he’s out with the rest. Hmmmmm ... seems like this is a preplay of when Clinton took office. Fired all US Attorneys and some were, coincidentally, investing people who could have implicated Bubba.
Promote him. He stopped the investigation before the whole State of Illinois became indictable.
Yes.
And the media (who wanted Bush impeached for firing 8 lawyers) will cheer Obama on....
He doesn’t have to fire him. He can promote him to a higher position in the Justice Dept.
That way, he removes him from the investigation while appearing to reward him for his conscientious service to the nation. The media will fawn as usual.
But, Fritz might have known that this investigation of Blog might have never seen the light of day if Obama had taken office.
By coming out early now every MSM news agency will be on it. And it saves Fritz's job and allows an investigation.
I’d say Obama will fire Fitz first thing.
Fitz has a chance to make a big name for himself. If he does have something big on Obama, he'll be in the history books as the man who brought down Chicago corruption AND the "president elect".
He may as well hang up a sign saying “I’m a one-term President” if he does.
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