After Obama's team released an internal review showing that they had little contact with Blagojevich and no awareness of his play-for-pay schemes, Blagojevich's attorney, Ed Genson, sensed an opportunity. Despite the sensational nature of the accusation that Blagojevich was attempting to sell Obama's former Senate seat, it is probably the weakest element of the case against Blagojevich. If Obama's aides say that they were unaware of Blagojevich's schemes, Genson can argue that no solicitation of bribery ever took place.
But it looks like, at Patrick Fitzgerald's request, the Illinois House panel that is looking into impeachment procedures against Blagojevich will not subpeona Obama's aides for testimony:
The chairman of the House impeachment committee, state Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie (D-Chicago), will respect Fitzgerald's request and not issue the subpoenas for incoming White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and close Obama friend and adviser Valerie Jarrett, panel spokesman Steve Brown said Saturday. Ed Genson, Blagojevich's attorney, sought their testimony before the impeachment panel.
Brown said Currie, who holds the power to subpoena witnesses before the 21-member panel deciding whether to impeach Blagojevich, also will not call two other witnesses Genson sought: Democratic U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., whose emissaries allegedly offered to raise cash for the governor in exchange for the seat, according to federal prosecutors, and Nils Larsen, a Tribune Co. executive vice president who helped engineer Sam Zell's purchase of the company.
Blagojevich can now argue he's not getting a fair hearing in impeachment proceedings because witnesses that could testify he never offered them anything won't be a part of the process, making his removal from office before he goes to trial unlikely. It's also a reminder that Fitzgerald is in something of an uphill battle trying to make the part of his case that leads nightly newscasts stick.
-- A. Serwer
