When the FBI showed up at Krozel's home in the early morning of Dec. 9, 2008, Goldstein noted, Krozel told them he did not feel pressured and that there was no connection between the fund-raising request and the tollway project.
"You are telling your story, but it's a different story than you told on Dec. 9, 2008," Goldstein said, as the witness grew increasingly flustered. "You lied."
Krozel rubbed his forehead and asked to have questions "rephrased" before delving into an emotional explanation: When the FBI showed up, he had been dressing his handicapped wife and was "terrified" that he was going to be arrested and taken away.
"She cannot talk, she cannot write, she loses her balance," the 70-year-old exclaimed from the stand. "I just wanted to get the FBI out of my house."
Jesse Jackson Jr. and his insistence that he had never contacted nor been involved in a pay-to-play for Obama’s vacant Senate Seat has been debunked.
Federal prosecutors said Wednesday for the first time that U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. attended a meeting in 2008 at which $1 million in fund-raising for Rod Blagojevich was discussed in exchange for Jackson's own Senate seat appointment.
The meeting described by prosecutors was not previously disclosed by Jackson.
Over at Politico the Headline Blares “Rod Blagojevich trial could singe White House” The piece goes on to detail some of the finer points of the trial so far, specifically as regards Obama sending his Union lackey, Tom Balanoff, to discuss the Senate Seat appointment with Blagojevich. Defense lawyers are about to roll out witnesses, and have successfully subpoenaed Rham Emmanuel and Valerie Jarret, however, a judge ruled that Obama did not have to appear.
That said damage, according to Politico, has been minimal due to the multitude of issues catching the nation’s attention at the movement. From the Oil Spill in the Gulf, Judicial Appointments, ET al, have kept the national limelight off the case, but for how long? With Blagojevich’s Defense Team readying for several weeks of testimony and witnesses who have long ties to the Obama administration and Chicago Politics, chief among them, David Axelrod, who engineered both Deval Patrick, Governor of Massachusetts and Barak Obama’s elections.
Is the White House Concerned? According to Politico – yes:
Said one aide to a top Illinois elected official: “People may be breathing easier, ‘cause there’s been no major revelations really connecting Obama or Rahm to this guy. But you never know what the long-term damage will be. The Obama people may be playing it cool, but trust me, they’re plenty worried.”
A few things to consider coming out of the trail in the next few weeks: Should the trial turn national (and it has begun) especially in August, with only 3 months until the general election in November, the impact of the aspersions cast on the administration, regardless of merit, will stick. Additionally, should Obama be tied to the pay-to-play scheme in his home state of Illinois, with allegations of the same in Congressional district races in both Pennsylvania and Colorado (and at this point, there may be others yet to come forward), Congressional Investigations cannot be far behind. Although Impeachment proceedings appear unlikely, but not improbable, the collective damage to the Administration to date, coupled with an aura of Politics gone dirty, will put whoever runs for the White House (be it Hillary Clinton, Palin, Romney, or, more likely the candidate we have not met) in the driver’s seat for 2012. If Obama, who expertly channels Jimmy Carter, was doomed to be a one-term President, then this trial will, in all likelihood, play a part in ensuring that he faces early retirement.
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