FBI Took "Copious Notes." 
Patrick Fitzgerald's pursuit of Rod Blagojevich and the "golden effing thing" corruption of the State of Illinois now includes the unfriendly and lengthy interrogations of President-Elect Barack Obama (PEBO) and at least two of his closest aides, Rahm Emanual and Valerie Jarrett. Buried in websites on Christmas Day, the most non-news day of the year,
we find that the FBI took "copious notes" during a two-hour interview that was also an interrogation of PEBO at his transition office on Thursday December 18. Two Assistant U.S. attorneys, two FBI agents, PEBO and two of his attorneys, Robert Bauer and one other, but not the designated White House Counsel Greg Craig. This is a crowded room. There was no recording, no transcript, however those "copious notes" will be useful to historians if not to prosecutors and defense attorneys such as Ed "Devil's Advocate" Genson. And we do not have many details of the interrogations of Rahm Emanuel and Valerie Jarrett on Friday December 19 and Saturday December 20. Emanuel was with his attorney, a Clinton vet, W. Neil Eggleston; Valerie Jarrett was with her Chicago attorney and ex-U.S. Attorney Vincent Connelly. We do not know how long the Emanuel and Jarrett sessions lasted. The detail that PEBO was not placed under oath is moot, because answering an FBI agent falsely is a crime. In all, the investigation looks to be efficient, comprehensive and in an opening round. Patrick Fitzgerald's opinion on December 9 that PEBO and his advisers are not suspects may or may not continue as the evidence accumulates. Recall that Governor Blagojevich and John Harris were arrested in the midst of their alleged "crime spree." There are loose ends everywhere. And now we know that some of the possible loose ends are all lawyered up. Does anything that begins this noisily soon find a quiet ending?
Devil's Advocate on the Battlefield.
Jesse Jackson Junior is another of the loose end mysteries, and in his case the mystery now has the peculiar fact of a fire in his chimney on Christmas Eve. We do not know yet if JJJ has
had the meeting with the U.S. Attorney that he promised the first week of the investigation. We do know that Ed "Devil's Advocate" Genson aims to subpoena Emanuel, Jarrett and Jackson for the impeachment hearings now underway at the Springfield State House. Ed Genson is a sideshow that can become the main event on any given day, and we can look forward to the battles between Mr. Genson and the U.S. Attorney over evidence, witnesses, discovery. Does Mr. Genson get access to those "copious notes" taken by the FBI agents? And why not? Mr. Obama is a private citizen of Illinois. Mr. Blagojevich is the governor of the state. Whose rights prevail? We observe the most investigated presidential transition in history and still with twenty-six days to go.
Abraham Lincoln and Blago.
I am speaking on Sunday 28 with Harold Holzer for his new magisterial work, "Lincoln President-Elect: Abraham Lincoln and the Great Secession Winter 1860-1861." Mr.
Lincoln's transition was four months long (six weeks longer than Mr. Obama's), and still holds the record for pontificating, bribe-seeking, influence-peddling, chest-thunping and double-crossing. The Blago affair is a tawdry miniature of the gleeful corruption tales of Keystone boss Simon Cameron (right) and the Pennsylvania mob. Eventually Mr. Lincoln was obliged to hand the giant prize of the War Department to Mr. Cameron, who so misbehaved that he was shipped to the Russian ambassadorship in less than a year. It is too late for PEBO to ship Blago to Russia, do you agree?
Blago knew he was being investigated and everyone knew that Rezko was talking. So who is more arrogant or cunning, Blago for turning the tables now with Jensen so he comes out looking like crazy as a fox or team Obama who had teflon treatment by the media throughout the campaign and thought they could negotiate with Blago without any impunity.
Obama was able to control the narrative during the campaign but as potus events and not the candidate shape the narrative.
Chicago to Moscow? Nah, we want him here... making news. Besides, he might sell some secrets.
I guess PEBHO and his lawyers negotiated no recording devices. Fitz had a hard deadline before Hawaii and inauguration day.
I'm certain with two lawyers in the room PEBHO did not lie to Federal Investigators. Looks like this dark cloud hanging over the great "city of wind" will not go away.
Prediction; Rod Blagojevich has a girl-friend who will be dug up shortly...This will bleeping piss-off his wife Patti, who will repay Rod by waving spoucal privilege...this will force Gov. Hair to cut a deal. It will take the fight, fight, fight right out of him.
The recurring analogy equating Obama with Lincoln is getting to be tiresome. First and foremost, Lincoln was not an empty-suit media creation. True, Lincoln presided over a divided nation. But Lincoln’s main focus was to preserve the Union, not to tear it asunder. In the process, it is now universally acknowledged that he was instrumental in freeing the slaves. His detractors would argue that he freed the slaves primarily to be (economically) enslaved once again in the unforgiving factories of the industrial north. But this view is mostly heard overseas and would hardly serve rabid Obama supporters who would be hard pressed to name the names of more than two American presidents who served before the dawn of the 20th Century.
Today, too, the nation stands divided. Lincoln’s rallying cry would hardly have been “CHANGE!” “Change” would have split the country in two – as now. What we need now is for someone to stand up and say, “Senator, you’re no Abraham Lincoln.”
John, did you see the latest Gallup numbers? Obama coming into inaugural with the highest marks from the American People in the modern era. Beating both Reagan and Clinton. I think Newt Gingrich was right - attacking Obama now is risky endeavor. The young president-elect is a political and cultural colossus astride the stage right now. GOP looks like Somali pirates challenging the Nimitz.
Why alsways allowing intimidation by the Left or in connection with PEBO (I like that term, sounds like placebo). Why continue with the coverup of that Chicago machine, which also produced PEBO. Why should he be different than his comrades?! Can't even ask for proof of birth location? Scary, indeed, when people, who fled dictatorships, find themselves here in a similar environment .... John Batchelor, do you have the guts to assure us, it ain't so ...
John - Please disregard my last submission re: Pakistan. (You may already have done so.) My source tells me tonight that it is India that is spoiling for war. This has nothing to do with Kashmir. The outrage over what happened in Mumbai is still building. Both the Congress and the BJP (India's major political parties) are of the same mind. Everybody feels that Pakistan must finally be taught a lesson; let the chips fall where they may. Even the majority of the Muslim population of India seems to be on board. The generals on both sides are running the show. Pakistan's president is irrelevant. The fireworks, many feel, are immanent.
You know, if it were a choice between capitalists and socialists running for office, I'd pick the capitalists every time, but the fact is that it's come down to the Red Socialists versus the Blue Socialists. It kind of reminds me of the Blues and the Greens taking over Byzantium ... but finally they all left their bones in the stadium.....where's Justinian when you need him? Where's Julius Caesar for that matter?
I was telling my wife yesterday that we haven't had a true capitalist running the government since Alexander Hamilton. That seemed at first like an exaggeration, but I was hard-pressed to think of a more recent one worthy of mention. Ronald Reagan talked a good game but when push came to shove, didn't have the guts to say "No" to pork.
Obama would love to send Blago to Russia, but I for one would like to hear what blago has to say. Do you think he'll hang Obama if there is anything to say? It's interesting with all the drama's around Obama. The man walks on cesspools and gets nary the slightest stench. He makes Bill Clinton look incompetent.