Posted by Jim Lindgren:
The Blagojevich Timeline: Everything Fits Easily Except Obama's Monday Denial.
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2008_12_07-2008_12_13.shtml#1228903890
Most people have misunderstood the timeline of the Blagojevich Senate
scandal. Pretty much everything fits except Barack Obama's statement
yesterday that he knew nothing about it.
If we didn't have Obama's denial to contend with, the actions of all
the parties, including those purporting to speak for Obama, are
consistent with Obama and his staff learning about Blagojevich's
corrupt plans on Monday, Nov. 10.
Consider the timeline, as revealed in the complaint and press reports:
1. On the weekend of Nov. 8-9, Obama lets it be known that his choice
for Senate is Valerie Jarrett. Aides tell WLS-TV in Chicago and CNN,
which [1]announces Obama�s choice on Sunday. Nov. 9.
2. On Monday, Nov. 10, Blagojevich holds an incredible 2-hour
conference call with multiple consultants: �ROD BLAGOJEVICH, his wife,
JOHN HARRIS, Governor General Counsel, and various Washington-D.C.
based advisors, including Advisor B,� discussing his corrupt schemes.
He follows this with two calls with Advisor A.
3. That very night, Monday, Nov. 10, at 7:56pm, [2]CNN reported:
Two Democratic sources close to President-elect Barack Obama tell
CNN that top adviser Valerie Jarrett will not be appointed to
replace him in the U.S. Senate.
"While he (Obama) thinks she would be a good senator, he wants her
in the White House," one top Obama advisor told CNN Monday.
Over the weekend, Democratic sources had told CNN as well as
Chicago television station WLS-TV that Jarrett was Obama's choice
to fill his Senate seat.
So what happened? The likeliest scenario is that one of the many
participants in Blagojevich�s Monday phone calls either floated his
plans to the Obama transition team to assess their response or tipped
off the Obama camp about the reckless ideas that Blagojevich had
planned.
In any event, within hours of Blagojevich substantially expanding his
circle of confidants, the Obama camp withdrew Jarrett�s name from
consideration and attributed that withdrawal to the President's
wanting Jarrett in the White House. And the Obama staffers went out of
their way to depict this as Obama's choice, rather than Jarrett's,
which would have been more common. The report claims Obama's
involvement in the decision and suggests a direct effort to undercut
the idea that Obama was pressuring Blagojevich to appoint Jarrett.
4. Moreover, by the next day, Tuesday, Nov. 11, Blagojevich already
had received his answer from the Obama camp that no quid pro quo would
be forthcoming: �ROD BLAGOJEVICH said he knows that the
President-elect wants Senate Candidate 1 for the Senate seat but
�they�re not willing to give me anything except appreciation. F**k
them.��
5. On Wednesday, Nov. 12, Blagojevich pitched his corrupt bargain idea
to an SEIU Official who, [3]according to Ben Smith, is President Andy
Stern. Stern agreed to convey the offer to the relevant actors.
Blagojevich understood Stern to be contacting Jarrett herself, the
co-chairwoman of the Obama transition team:
109. On November 12, 2008, ROD BLAGOJEVICH spoke with SEIU
Official, who was in Washington, D.C. Prior intercepted phone
conversations indicate that approximately a week before this call,
ROD BLAGOJEVICH met with SEIU Official to discuss the vacant Senate
seat, and ROD BLAGOJEVICH understood that SEIU Official was an
emissary to discuss Senate Candidate 1�s interest in the Senate
seat.
During the conversation with SEIU Official on November 12, 2008,
ROD BLAGOJEVICH informed SEIU Official that he had heard the
President-elect wanted persons other than Senate Candidate 1 to be
considered for the Senate seat.
SEIU Official stated that he would find out if Senate Candidate 1
wanted SEIU Official to keep pushing her for Senator with ROD
BLAGOJEVICH. ROD BLAGOJEVICH said that �one thing I�d be interested
in� is a 501(c)(4) organization.
ROD BLAGOJEVICH explained the 501(c)(4) idea to SEIU Official and
said that the 501(c)(4) could help �our new Senator [Senate
Candidate 1].� SEIU Official agreed to �put that flag up and see
where it goes.�
110. On November 12, 2008, ROD BLAGOJEVICH talked with Advisor B.
ROD BLAGOJEVICH told Advisor B that he told SEIU Official, �I said
go back to [Senate Candidate 1], and, and say hey, look, if you
still want to be a Senator don�t rule this out and then broach the
idea of this 501(c)(4) with her.�
6. The complaint doesn�t say whether Stern contacted Jarrett or other
members of the Obama transition team, but it is likely that he did.
Whether Stern was horrified by Blagojevich�s corrupt idea and wanted
to warn Obama or intrigued by the deal and wanted to assess its
chances, I can�t think of a good reason why Stern wouldn�t have
conveyed the idea to the Obama camp.
7. On Thursday, Nov. 13:
ROD BLAGOJEVICH asked Advisor A to call Individual A and have
Individual A pitch the idea of the 501(c)(4) to �[President-elect
Advisor].� Advisor A said that, �while it�s not said this is a play
to put in play other things.� ROD BLAGOJEVICH responded, �correct.�
Advisor A asked if this is �because we think there�s still some
life in [Senate Candidate 1] potentially?� ROD BLAGOJEVICH said,
�not so much her, but possibly her. But others.�
8. If, as seems likely, Individual A then pitched Blagojevich�s
corrupt bargain to the �President-elect Advisor� and that advisor is
Rahm Emanuel, as has been suggested by others, then Emanuel would then
have known of the bribery attempt.
9. By 6:10pm on Friday, Nov. 14, [4]CNN is reporting:
Valerie Jarrett tells CNN contributor Roland Martin that
President-elect Barack Obama offered and she accepted a position in
the Obama administration � she will be the Senior Adviser to the
President and Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental
Affairs and Public Liaison.
10. Nov. 14 to early December: After regularly feeding speculation
about who might fill Obama�s seat, the Obama transition team suddenly
goes remarkably silent.
11. On Nov. 23, Obama�s �senior adviser David Axelrod [5]appeared on
Fox News Chicago,� answering a question about the Senate seat.
While insisting that the President-elect had not expressed a
favorite to replace him, and his inclination was to avoid being a
"kingmaker," Axelrod said, "I know he's talked to the governor and
there are a whole range of names many of which have surfaced, and I
think he has a fondness for a lot of them."
Note the language used. While on Nov. 9, Obama staffers were telling
multiple news outlets whom Obama wanted for his Senate seat, by Nov.
23, Axelrod was distancing Obama not only from any individual choice,
but he used the pejorative term �kingmaker� to emphasize Obama�s
avoidance of any even marginally corrupt influence. It is likely that
Axelrod had in mind the corrupt bargain that Obama�s camp had already
turned down.
12. On Tuesday, Dec. 8, Obama [6]denies personal knowledge of the
corrupt proposal.
"I had no contact with the governor or his office and so we were
not, I was not aware of what was happening."
As I�ve said before, as with Bill Clinton, Barack Obama�s words should
be read carefully to see what he is saying and not saying. Apparently,
Obama started to say that �we were not� �aware of what was happening,
but corrected himself by saying that �I was not aware of what was
happening."
That language leaves open the possibility that his staff was aware,
but he personally was not. But why would Obama�s staff withhold
information from him?
CONCLUSION:
From the evening of Nov. 10 until yesterday, Blagojevich, Obama, and
his transition team acted in ways that are consistent with a knowledge
of Blagojevich�s bribery attempt and a rejection of that attempt. What
doesn't fit easily with the timeline is Obama's statement yesterday.
It should be noted that it is not a crime to fail to report a bribery
attempt. The federal misprision of felony statute would seem to make
it a federal crime to fail to report a federal felony:
Whoever, having knowledge of the actual commission of a felony
cognizable by a court of the United States, conceals and does not as
soon as possible make known the same to some judge or other person in
civil or military authority under the United States, shall be fined
under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both. 18
USC s.4.
But case law has conclusively determined that mere non-reporting is
not enough. Active concealment or the acceptance of a benefit for
concealing is required.
Yet, looking at this timeline of Blagogate, it seems quite possible
that someone in the Obama Camp is either lying or at least not
revealing what they know. I also find it hard to believe that Obama�s
closest advisors were hiding such major corruption from him,
especially as he was making decisions about where to place Senate
candidates like Jarrett.
Something important is missing from this story.
Since by all accounts, the Obama camp refused Blagojevich�s bribery
attempt, it would be extremely unwise to lie about it. Remember, it�s
not the crime that trips you up; it�s [7]the cover-up.
References
1.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/11/09/source-obama-wants-valerie-jarrett-to-replace-him-in-senate/
2.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/11/10/sources-jarrett-headed-to-white-house-not-senate/#more-30061
3.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1208/Source_SEIU_official_was_Stern.html
4. http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/category/valerie-jarrett/
5. http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/12/questions-arise.html
6.
http://blogs.knoxnews.com/knx/granju/2008/12/note-to-presidentelect-obama-j.html
7.
http://blogs.knoxnews.com/knx/granju/2008/12/note-to-presidentelect-obama-j.html
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