Blagojevich aide talking to Feds

Chicago Sun-Times:

John Harris -- the highest-ranking employee under Gov. Blagojevich to be hit with federal corruption charges -- has been providing information to federal prosecutors, the Sun-Times has learned.

Harris, the governor's former chief of staff, has been meeting with investigators since his Dec. 9 arrest, Harris' attorney Terry Ekl told the Sun-Times.

"There have been preliminary discussions with the U.S. Attorney's office and John Harris," Ekl said. "No decision has been made as to whether John Harris will be a witness for the government or will proceed to trial."

Ekl would not discuss details, but sources say that among the things Harris has discussed is how Blagojevich liked to talk big to his staff, but they didn't always do what he asked them to.

The Sun-Times has also learned that the government tapped cell phones belonging to Harris as well as Gov. Blagojevich's brother.

Sources with knowledge of the investigation of the governor say federal authorities late last year won court authorization to tap the cell phones of Harris and Robert Blagojevich, the governor's brother and campaign fund chairman. Harris was arrested along with the governor Dec. 9 on allegations that the governor conspired to sell the Senate seat of President-elect Barack Obama to the highest bidder.

The Sun-Times reported Wednesday that the feds tapped at least three members of the governor's inner circle, in addition to posting a camera outside the governor's campaign office.

The third phone is that of one-time top aide Lon Monk, which the Sun-Times previously reported was tapped.

...

I think they may be in what is called the "proffer" phase of a negotiated plea agreement. The defense counsel usually submits a summary of what evidence his client can provide if an agreement is reached on a plea. Fitzgerald may be waiting to get this deal nailed down before he submits his indictment.

It does appear that the wire covering the governor and his associates was pretty broad.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Should Republicans go ahead and add Supreme Court Justices to head off Democrats

Washington Post: Some Democrats eye adding more justices to the Supreme Court to change its ideological bent The once-remote idea has gained the attention of liberals angered by the GOP push to remake the federal courts. Probably the easy way to defeat this court-packing scheme is for Trump to propose doing the same thing now.  It would lead to Democrat denunciations and claims that it would be wrong, thereby blowing up any attempt by them in the unfortunate event of Democrats winning a presidential election.
Read more

29 % of companies say they are unlikely to keep insurance after Obamacare

Conn Carroll: A new survey of 368 midsize to large companies found that 29% of them are considering terminating their active employee health care plans when Obamacare is full implemented in 2014. Only 71% of employers surveyed said they did not expect to drop their health coverage, while 20% said they did not know and 9% said they were planning to exit. The latest survey, conducted by Towers Watson, echoes an ealier survey by McKinsey & Co. finding that 30% of private-sector employers were planning to drop their employee health insurance coverage by 2014. When the Congressional Budget Office crunched Obamacare's spending numbers, they estimated that only 7% of employees currently covered by employer-sponsored plans would lose their plans. ... This means the cost of the health care fiasco will be hundreds of billions more than estimated by the CBO and Congressional Democrat. It is also clear that Obama's pledge that you could keep your health care plan if you wanted t
Read more

Bin Laden's concern about Zarqawi's remains

James Robbins: ... Bin Laden suggests that President Bush should allow Zarqawi’s body to be returned to his family in Jordan, but this is a matter that is up to the Jordanian government, which so far has not shown much interest in facilitating a homecoming. Bin Laden mocks King Abdullah II, calling him a Coalition minion, and asking “w hat scares you about Abu Musab after he’s dead? You know that his funeral, if allowed to happen, would be a huge funeral showing the extent of sympathy with the mujahedin.” A large crowd would definitely turn out, though most people would be on hand to demonstrate their anger and disgust. Last November’s hotel bombings in Amman , masterminded by Zarqawi, are still fresh in people’s memory, and mentioning them to Jordanians has the same visceral impact as memory of the 9/11 attacks does here. Jordan has adopted a zero-tolerance policy towards those who choose to mourn the country’s least favorite son, and four opposition members of parliament who paid con
Read more