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Obama report due on Senate seat scandal
AFP - 52 minutes ago
CHICAGO (AFP) - - A report requested by president-elect Barack Obama due out Tuesday was expected to publicly clear his staff of any improper role in an alleged bid by the Illinois governor to sell off his US Senate seat.
The internal report probes contacts between Obama's transition team and the office of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, who is facing corruption charges. Its release was delayed a week at the request of prosecutors.
Obama, who was in Hawaii on vacation Tuesday, is not expected to make on-camera comments on the scandal, following his previous calls for the governor to step down.
However, the president-elect said last week that the review would show that no-one from his staff had "inappropriate" dealings with Blagojevich.
Media reports suggested Monday that the probe would personally clear Obama's incoming White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel of any wrongdoing in contacts with the governor's staff.
Meanwhile, federal prosecutors are pressing ahead with a criminal case alleging that Blagojevich tried to cash in on his power to grant state contracts, sign laws and even auction off to the highest bidder the replacement to the US Senate seat vacated by Obama.
Blagojevich last week vowed to fight to clear his name and brushed aside calls for him to resign over a scandal that has focused attention on the bearpit politics of Illinois where Obama made his name.
"I am not going to quit a job the people hired me to do because of false accusations and a political lynch mob," Blagojevich said.
Federal prosecutors accuse the Democratic governor of engaging in "a political corruption crime spree" they say was exposed by wiretaps of the governor's home phone and bugs at his campaign office.
Speaking to CNN television Monday, Vice President-elect Joe Biden suggested that Blagojevich had overstayed his welcome as Illinois' governor.
"From where I sit, he looks like a guy who is not capable of governing," Biden said.
"I know in our system you are innocent until proven guilty, but those tapes that were released by the... (US federal prosecutor) seem incredibly, incredibly incriminating," he said, referring to wiretap recordings by law enforcement officials, in which Blagojevich appeared to solicit bribes or political favors in exchange for Obama's former Senate seat.
Biden noted that even while under investigation, Blagojevich has the authority to name Obama's Senate successor -- much to the chagrin of Illinois officials, although Blagojevich's lawyers have said he does not intend to exercise his right to appoint a successor.
"He has got to understand that if he were to pick any nominee at this point that that person would be so tainted that it would really make it virtually impossible for them to represent the state of Illinois, whether or not they are good, bad or indifferent," the future vice-president said. "I hope to God he wouldn't do that."
A 76-page FBI affidavit accuses the governor of a staggering pattern of corruption, including refusing to free up funds for a children's hospital until he received a 50,000-dollar campaign contribution and trying to get editors who were critical of his administration fired from the Chicago Tribune.
Blagojevich's lawyers have dismissed partial transcripts as "jabbering" that didn't go anywhere.
A battle is also being fought over whether a special election should be called to fill the seat Obama won in 2004 and relinquished after winning the November 4 presidential election.
The scandal has been an unwelcome distraction for Obama as he prepares to take office on January 20.
Blagojevich is also facing impeachment proceedings in Illinois' state capital, Springfield, related to how his administration handled state contracting.
The head of a citizens' group, Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, told a committee mulling impeachment Monday that Blagojevich's fundraising practices were "questionable, even alarming."
But his lawyer Ed Genson last week called the impeachment inquiry a "witch hunt" that "deprives the governor of any sort of rights."
The panel adjourned late Monday and plans to resume its work December 29.
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Enlarge Photo
US President-elect Barack Obama and daughter Sasha arrive in Honolulu, Hawaii, on December 20. A report requested by Obama due out Tuesday was expected to publicly clear his staff of any improper role in an alleged bid by the Illinois governor to sell off his US Senate seat.
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