Obama Team Circling the Wagons
When even Associated Press partisan hack Nedra Pickler is grousing about the stonewalling, you have a problem: Obama aides won’t discuss Ill. governor probe.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Barack Obama is refusing to answer any questions about the internal review he has ordered into Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s alleged efforts to sell his former Senate seat, saying he will do so when the examination is finished.
Obama’s staff has declined to respond to even basic questions, like who is conducting the probe, how long it will take, what issues are being explored and whether they are working with federal investigators. Obama has promised transparency throughout his service and to divulge contacts his staff has had with Blagojevich’s office in the coming days. But his staff has locked down on inquiries in the meantime.
The Obama transition team’s refusal to talk has contributed to a maelstrom around Obama’s incoming White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, a Chicago congressman likely to have been in contact with the governor, who was arrested this week in a corruption scandal. But Emanuel is not a target of the probe, according to people who have been briefed on the investigation.
The two people spoke on a condition of anonymity because the criminal investigation is ongoing. One is a person close to Emanuel, who said he has been told by investigators that he’s not a subject of their probe.
Asked if any conversations between Emanuel and Blagojevich were captured on government wiretaps, Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said, “I honestly don’t know.” Other transition officials refused to respond to inquiries.
Frank says: