Blagojevich Retrial: Obama Pushed Jarrett To Fill His Senate Seat
Judicial Watch
Chicago—Rod Blagojevich’s onetime chief of staff, John Harris, testified about negotiations between his former boss and President Barack Obama to fill the U.S. Senate seat once held by the commander-in-chief.
Obama’s top aide, Rahm Emanuel, called Harris in 2008 to suggest the then-governor appoint Obama’s close friend Valerie Jarrett, according to Harris’s testimony. Harris was the second witness to take the stand in Blagojevich’s corruption retrial, which is taking place in the same Chicago federal court where he was tried last year. In that eight-week circus the impeached two-term governor got convicted of only one count (lying to the FBI) and the jury deadlocked on all others.
The government dropped a couple of charges the second time around, but Blagojevich is still facing 20 counts, among them attempting to sell Obama’s old Senate seat. Shortly upon taking the stand Tuesday, Harris testified that he and Blagojevich discussed the Senate appointment in October 2008 and Blagojevich asked him “What do you think I can get for this?”
In the first trial Harris testified that Obama sent Blagojevich a list of “acceptable” Senate candidates to fill his old seat. The list included then Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs Director Tammy Duckworth, Illinois State Comptroller Dan Hynes, Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., and Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky.
Obama Makes “Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians” List
Judicial Watch
Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, today released its 2010 list of Washington’s “Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians.” The list, in alphabetical order, includes: Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Rahm Emanuel, Former Obama White House Chief of Staff, Senator John Ensign (R-NV), Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL), President Barack Obama, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY), Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY), and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA)…
President Barack Obama: Remember the promise President Obama made just after his inauguration in 2009? “Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency.”
Instead, Americans have suffered through lies, stonewalling, cover-ups, corruption, secrecy, scandal and blatant disregard for the rule of law…this has been the Obama legacy in its first two years.
In 2010, Obama was caught in a lie over what he knew about Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich’s scheme to sell the president’s vacated Senate seat. Blagojevich’s former Chief of Staff John Harris testified that Obama had personal knowledge of Blago’s plot to obtain a presidential cabinet position in exchange for appointing a candidate handpicked by the President. In fact, according to Harris’s court testimony, Obama sent Blagojevich a list of “acceptable” Senate candidates to fill his old seat. Obama was interviewed by the FBI even before he was sworn into office. He claimed he and his staff had no contact with Blagojevich’s office. Unfortunately federal prosecutors never called the President or his staff to testify under oath.
The President also broke his famous pledge to televise healthcare negotiations. And in 2010, we learned why he broke his pledge. In what is now known as the “Cornhusker Kickback” scheme, Obama and the Democrats in the Senate “purchased” the vote of one of the last Democrat hold-outs, Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson, who opposed Obamacare over the issue of covering abortions with taxpayer funds. Nelson abandoned his opposition to Obamacare after receiving millions of dollars in federal aid for his home-state, helping to give the Democrats the 60 votes they needed to overcome a Republican filibuster. Same goes for Louisiana Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu, who received a $100 million payoff in what has been called “The Louisiana Purchase.” (The Kickback was so corrupt that Democrats stripped it out at the last minute. The Louisiana Purchase, on the other hand, became law of the land.)
Obama lied about his White House’s involvement in this legislative bribery that helped lead to the passage of the signature policy achievement of his presidency….
Will Clinton’s Sestak Denial Re-Open Calls for Impeachment?
Ben Johnson, Floyd Reports
The last impeached president has denied he helped another president commit an impeachable offense.
While stumping for Joe Sestak in Pennsylvania, Bill Clinton denied offering Sestak an unpaid government position as an enticement to suspend his successful primary challenge against Arlen Specter.
Clinton can be seen on a recent video stating three times that he made no such efforts. (See below.) “I didn’t try to get him out of the race,” Clinton said. “In fact, I wasn’t even accused of that.”
The ex-president had previously dodged the question altogether.
His comments contradict a memo the White House released in May to quell Republican charges the Obama administration had bribed Read more
Rep. Charlie Rangel is charged with Ethics Violations
Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) will stand trial on ethics charges after a House panel accused him Thursday of multiple violations.
The veteran lawmaker will challenge the findings in an open hearing.
The news of Rangel’s trial comes at a bad time for Democrats, who are hoping to retain control of Congress this fall.
The House ethics committee stated it has launched a Read more
Cited: ‘Prima facie’ evidence of White House violations
By Bob Unruh, WND
Rahm and Obama most likely broke some law
White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and one of his top aides, Jim Messina, have been referred to the government’s Office of Special Counsel for an investigation into whether they violated the Hatch Act by offering administration jobs to two political candidates in exchange for dropping out of their races.
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, wrote in letters to William Reukauf, the acting U.S. special counsel, that the statements by the White House and the two candidates involved – Rep. Joe Sestak, D-Pa., and former Colorado House Speaker Andrew Romanoff – are "prima facie" evidence of violations.
The act prohibits "the use of official authority or influence by federal employees for the purpose of interfering with or affecting the result of an election," Issa’s letters dated yesterday – one referring Emanuel and one referring Messina – explained.
"In the White House’s June 3, 2010, public statement, Mr. [Robert] Gibbs claimed that clearing the field for a candidate preferred by the White House was not problematic because ‘there was no offer of a job.’ There is evidence to the contrary," wrote Issa.
Misdemeanors – or crimes?
By Patrick Buchanan, WND
On this matter of offering federal jobs to potential candidates to induce them not to run against Senate Democratic incumbents, this White House is drifting dangerously close to the falls.
Colorado’s Andrew Romanoff has now confirmed that White House Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina trolled three federal jobs in front of him, if he would desist and not run against incumbent Sen. Michael Bennet.
And Romanoff has produced an e-mail where Messina presents the three-job menu, one of which might be his if he passed up the Senate run. Two were with the Agency for International Development. The third was director of the U.S. Trade and Development Agency.
All three are juicy plums.
Romanoff and Messina both say no hard offer was made. And Robert Gibbs has assured the press the president had no idea Messina was talking to Romanoff about federal jobs that only Obama can fill.
But if Obama knew nothing of the Messina-Romanoff talks, who did? For Messina cannot appoint anyone to anything. Has Messina’s boss, Rahm Emanuel, been given the franchise to offer a dessert tray of federal jobs to people he wants to keep out of Democratic primaries?
An independent investigation needs to be conducted to determine whether Chicago-style politics has been introduced into the West Wing.
White House Memo Creates More Questions
By Floyd and Mary Beth Brown
Obama’s memo raises more questions than it answers
The news media, intimidated until now, have finally started challenging Obama and his stonewalling administration. The issue is the bribe Rep. Joe Sestak alleges the White House offered in exchange for exiting the U.S. Senate primary in Pennsylvania. In response to tough questioning, the Obama administration issued a report they promised would answer all. It has failed to stop the queries.
On the Friday evening of Memorial Day weekend, Obama’s team released their memo exonerating themselves from all wrongdoing in the bribery affair. Team Obama would like us all to believe that this self-generated report closes the file and the case. The problem is the memo raises more questions than it answers.
Representatives Darrell Issa, R-Calif.; Lamar Smith, R-Texas; and James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis. wrote in a response letter to the White House: "Rather than definitively resolve this matter, the memorandum had precisely the opposite effect: it appears to catalog a violation of the federal criminal code, the tampering of evidence, witness tampering and evasion of the legal process."
The report is riddled with inconsistencies and differs greatly from what previously has been alleged publicly. Let’s review the facts.
Rep. Joe Sestak first stated in February that someone within the Obama administration offered him a Federal job in exchange for him dropping out of the race. The Congressman has stood by that contention under follow-up questioning. Sestak had this conversation with TV host Larry Kane.
Kane: "Were you ever offered a federal job to get out of this race?" Sestak: "Yes."
Kane again asks, "Was there a job offered to you by the White House?" to which Sestak nods and replies "yes, someone offered it." Kane asks "It was big right?" Sestak replies "Let me ‘no comment’ on it."
"Was it high-ranking?" Kane questioned. Sestak replied yes.
Clearly Joe Sestak, a Democratic Congressman, originally alleged that a “high ranking job” was offered to him by the White House.
The cover-up memo released by White House Counsel Bob Bauer states that “Efforts were made in June and July of 2009 to determine whether Congressman Sestak would be interested in service on a Presidential or other Senior Executive Branch Advisory Board… The advisory positions discussed with Congressman Sestak, while important to the work of the Administration, would have been uncompensated… White House staff did not discuss these options with Congressman Sestak. The White House Chief of Staff enlisted the support of former President Clinton…”
While the position offered migrated from being a job to some unnamed unpaid advisory role, the actual board discussed remains a mystery. Originally it was widely believed that Sestak was offered a spot on the Presidential Intelligence Advisory Board. This is highly unlikely given that as a sitting Congressman Sestak is ineligible to sit on that board. No government employees are allowed to sit on the Presidential Intelligence Advisory Board
Another disparity in the two stories surrounds how many times contact was made between Sestak and Clinton or was some other official from the administration also involved. The memo states that “efforts were made in June and July” to persuade Sestak to avoid the primary. Sestak claims that he only spoke with Clinton once and promptly informed him he would be staying in the race. This question was raised at a White House Press briefing and Robert Gibbs defaulted back to stonewalling and claiming that all the details are in the memo, when they clearly are not. One contact cannot happen in two different months.
In addition to whatever was offered to Rep. Sestak, the media is returning to a story that we covered in March involving Andrew Romanoff. Romanoff who is in a contested Senate primary in Colorado has long alleged that he was offered a job to drop out of the Colorado U.S. Senate race. Romanoff, to confirm his claim, released an e-mail from White House Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina that described three jobs that could potentially be his. As in the Sestak case these questions deserve independent investigation.
Offering a federal job in exchange for valuable actions is a felony under federal law. The only way those questions will be answered is if an independent special prosecutor is appointed to investigate. Obama promised to run an open and transparent administration and his actions have failed once again to live up to his promises. It is time for them to stop stonewalling and let the truth come out.
AP Sources: Admin talked jobs with Romanoff
By PHILIP ELLIOTT, AP
the rabbit hole goes a little deeper…
Administration officials dangled the possibility of a job for former Colorado House Speaker Andrew Romanoff last year in hopes he would forgo a challenge to Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet, administration officials said Wednesday, just days after the White House admitted orchestrating a similar job offer in the Pennsylvania Senate race.
These officials declined to specify the job that was floated or the name of the administration official who approached Romanoff, and said no formal offer was ever made. They spoke on condition of anonymity, saying they were not cleared to discuss private conversations.
The episode follows a similar controversy in Pennsylvania, where the White House last year turned to former President Bill Clinton to suggest Rep. Joe Sestak back out of another primary in favor of an unpaid position on a federal advisory board.
Sestak declined the offer and defeated Sen. Arlen Specter late last month in the Democratic primary after disclosing the job discussions and highlighting it as evidence of his anti-establishment political credentials. He said last week he rejected Clinton’s feeler in less than a minute.
Impeach the stonewalling Obama
By Joseph Farah, WND
Obama needs to be impeached
I can think of many reasons to impeach Barack Obama.
Of course, this House of Representatives is never going to do that between now and January, when many of the members will be leaving office, most of them against their wishes.
But it’s actually time to start calling for impeachment.
There are dozens of crimes and misdemeanors to consider, with the dozens of brazen extra-constitutional actions of this White House – from health care to auto-company takeovers to bank bailouts.
And, of course, there is the ever-present controversy over his total failure even to prove his constitutional eligibility for office.
But Obama’s stonewalling over the allegations of Rep. Joe Sestak, D-Pa., is the most Nixonian reason of all.
Now the shoe is clearly on the other foot.
While Democrats were prepared to frog-march Richard Nixon out of the White House in the 1970s because of his refusal to allow an independent counsel to investigate Watergate, today’s Democrats expect the American people to take the administration’s word that Sestak, one of their own, is lying when he said he was offered a bribe to bow out of the U.S. Senate race against Sen. Arlen Specter.
Late last week, the White House finally released its explanation of the job offer. The claim is that Rahm Emanuel sent Bill Clinton to meet with Sestak to offer an unpaid advisory position – not the "high-ranking position" Sestak had claimed.
Stressed Out or Tone Deaf? Obama Chicago Vacation Raises Eyebrows
Fox News
Obama heads off to vacation in Chicago
Presidents are never really off the clock, even when they go on vacation. But President Obama’s decision to skip the traditional Memorial Day ceremony in Arlington while on his second vacation since the BP oil spill began has some wondering what the schedule says about his priorities.
On "vacation," Obama still holds staff meetings, occasionally attends local events and often gets his "relaxation" time swallowed up by pressing national and international business — his vacation to Hawaii in December coincided with the attempted Christmas Day airline bombing. The retreat this weekend is marked by a side-trip to Louisiana to inspect the damages from the oil spill.
But some conservatives, still smarting over the criticism George W. Bush fielded for his frequent trips to Crawford, Texas, say Obama’s trip to Chicago over Memorial Day weekend is conspicuously poor in its timing.
Obama, who was headed to Chicago Thursday night, will not be at Arlington National Cemetery for the Memorial Day ceremony — which he attended last year. Instead, the president plans to be at Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Elwood, Ill., while Vice President Biden takes his place in Arlington for the wreath-laying at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
