FOX News Baselessly Suggests Obama Implicated In Blagojevich Scandal
Reported by Ellen - December 15, 2008 -
In their desperation to tie Barack Obama to the Rod Blagojevich scandal, FOX News is currently trumpeting the following headline, in bigger letters than anything else on the page, at the top of FOXNews.com: "AIDES DISCUSSED SEAT. Obama chief of staff Rahm Emanuel was reportedly dispatched days after the election to contact aides of Blagojevich to begin talking up Senate candidates."
You have to click through to the article fo discover that there is absolutely no evidence of any wrongdoing, that it was natural for Emanuel to have contact with Blagojevich over the years and that there is no indication that the contact involved any kind of deal or quid pro quo regarding Obama's senate seat.
To quote from the FOXNews.com article, which they picked up from their sister company, the Wall Street Journal:
There is no evidence that (contact between Emanuel and Blagojevich) was part of a deal or quid pro quo...The discussions themselves don't suggest anything improper, legal experts say. Obama advisers say it was natural for the president-elect to take an interest in his successor...
Obama advisers also said they assumed that some of Mr. Emanuel's conversations with Blagojevich aides were caught on tape, since it was widely known Mr. Blagojevich was under federal investigation and that likely meant his communications were being monitored...
It was natural that (Emanuel and Blagojevich) would have contact over the years...
Mr. Blagojevich won the governor's race that year and Mr. Emanuel ascended to Congress. After that, by all accounts, their interaction was relatively limited.
That's quite a different picture than the front page implies, as seen in the screen grab below:
