Early in his Congressional Career, Blagojevich got into a bit of trouble because it looked as if Slobadan Milosevic was buying his services. He was all over the TV doing spin with the paid Serbian Lobbyists in DC during the period after the short NATO-Bosnian War, and during the Dayton Negotiations — and then again a few years later with respect to Kosovo. There were some who took a look at his donations at that point, finding quite a few from Serbian organizations with no past involvement in supporting candidates — and I believe there was an effort to take it to the Ethics Committee in the House, as to whether this was “foreign money” being passed through. Nothing came of it, but at the time Blagojevich was just a very junior member of the Illinois delegation, and taking the Serb position on matters was very much a way of attracting attention to himself, working toward the next goal as it were, the Illinois Governor’s Office.

Now I wonder if he got Milosevic’s money — and just how much? If I remember all this rightly, it was Blagojevich who engineered sending Jesse Jackson to Belgrade to see Milosevic just before the Kosovo War to get release of some American Soldiers who had been captured while on border patrol between Macedonia and Serbia, in fact I think he was a member of Jackson’s party that eventually brought the US Troopers home to great hurrahs.

Just something to keep in the back of one’s mind as this rolls out.

Surely! Stop calling me Shirley!

After Don Siegelman, why aren’t we more suspicious of targeting of progressive Democrats?

I AM. anybody else?

will it help?

hurt?

i would expect help, based on fitzgerald being competent and highly ethical,and leura canary being as politically corrupt as a u.s. attorney can be.

but one never knows. the bush judicial appointments do not turn into pumpkins on january 21.

will obama/holder choose to fight the bush doj corruption? or bury it?

While Rahm would be aware (either through briefings, reading the news, or Chicago area political gossip) of Fitz investigating Blago, he would not have been aware of the existence of the taps (unless the USA office (unlikely) or the Chief Judge’s chambers (only slightly less unlikely) had leaked). More likely, he recognized the trouble a loose cannon like Blago could cause and wanted to get out in front of anything because he also knows how relentless and ruthless Fitz can be.

Rahm also could have indicated some urgency for the USA to move, depending upon the content of the conversations, i.e., “he’s close to closing a deal on the Senate seat” or something like that.

So, while Rahm may not have been the causative actor in triggering this action moving forward now, he could have been a source of unwitting confirmation of what the taps were already telling Fitz. And, he might have unwittingly provided detail not available directly, b/c what Rahm garnered might not have been taking place on a tapped line.

ROD BLAGOJEVICH responded that the list “can’t be in writing.”

I believe RH was mentioning mens rea earlier?