Posted by Jim Lindgren:
Indictment Suggests Rahm Emanuel Was Extortion Victim.
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_03_29-2009_04_04.shtml#1238736448
Ben Smith at [1]Politico is reporting that Congressman A in the
[2]Blagojevich indictment
is Rahm Emanuel. In 2006, he and his brother were allegedly victims of
an extortion scheme:
Patrick Fitzgerald's indictment refers to two incidents involving
"Congressman A": In one, Blagojevich discusses approaching the
unnamed congressman to broker a deal for Obama's Senate seat.
In another, unrelated, charge, Blagojevich in 2006 allegedly
demanded that the congressman or his brother -- Emanuel's
high-profile sibling is super-agent Ari Emanuel -- hold a
fundraiser for the governor in exchange for releasing $2 million to
support a publicly funded school.
Blagojevich "wanted it communicated to United States Congressman A
that United States Congressman A's brother needed to have a
fundraiser" for Blago, the indictment says.
The grant, the indictment says, had already been approved, and the
school had begun to incur expenses.
That description, a source in the Chicago education world told me
this evening, closely matches the Chicago Academy's 2006 battle for
the release of a $2 million grant to improve athletic facilities,
which was unaccountably held up by the governor even as the project
was underway. The school is in Emanuel's district, and Emanuel was
among the elected officials fighting for its approval.
I wonder if this 2006 alleged extortion attempt was brought to
Fitzgerald by Emanuel after the larger scandal broke last December.
The more recent extortion attempt against Emanuel (and Obama) was to
be made through intermediaries (as was the approach to Jarrett), so
the Obama report, limited as it was only to direct contacts with
Blagojevich, failed to mention whether these attempted shakedowns
occurred.
Perhaps someday the press will get around to asking Obama about the
shakedown attempts specifically alleged by the US Attorney. After all,
it's already April.
References
1.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0409/Indictment_suggests_Rahm_brother_were_victims_of_extortion_attempt.html
2. file://localhost/files/blago.indictment.pdf
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