Obama camp releases Blago report

The long-awaited internal report from the office of President-elect Barack Obama was released this afternoon. What was released isn't damaging at all to Obama, but the Rod Blagoejevich scandals could drag for a couple of years. Keep in mind that the governor hasn't even been indicted yet, and the alleged plot to sell Barack Obama's Senate seat is bound to have a lot of tentacles.

The Wall Street Journal has some good analysis of the report:

The memo released Tuesday said Mr. Obama's incoming White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, contacted Mr. Blagojevich and his staff at least five times after Election Day, and produced a slate of suggested replacements for Mr. Obama's vacated Senate seat. Mr. Emanuel spoke about four times to Blagojevich chief of staff John Harris to discuss the Senate seat.

Neither Mr. Emanuel nor other Obama aides and confidants heard of Mr. Blagojevich's alleged efforts to auction the Senate appointment to the highest bidder, the report said.

More...

Messrs. Obama and Emanuel, as well as top Obama aide Valerie Jarrett, were interviewed by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald on Dec. 18, 19 and 20 -- an extraordinary outreach from law enforcement during a presidential transition. The interviews lasted two hours, and their lawyers were present.

The Obama audit of contacts between aides and Mr. Blagojevich's staff revealed considerably more discussions between the two camps than previously divulged, and it described an apparently concerted effort by the governor to crack the Obama circle.

Read the full report here.

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