White House Blago strategy: "Duck and cover"

The Rod Blagojevich trial, as I've written before, is probably the most entertaining Chicago judicial proceeding since the 1969-70 Chicago Seven trial.

But the White House is not enjoying the frivolities.



Politico's Jonathan Allen on MSNBC: "The White House isn't saying anything right now and I think that's a strategy of sort of duck and cover… [They] exactly described the contacts that the transition team had with Blagojevich officials, but they omitted one very big one, according to testimony by a Chicago labor official. President Barack Obama spoke to Tom Balanoff, the head of SEIU Local Number One, a huge union in Chicago and tapped him to go talk to Blagojevich about the Senate seat ... So, the White House's timeline, while maybe accurate in what it had put out, according to Balanoff's testimony, it actually omitted the President's role, which I think a lot of people would think was sort of the headline relationship or contact that would have been had." (Jonathan Allen on MSNBC, 7/8/10)

More from Politico: "During his June 29 briefing, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, flatly refused to address any of the specifics in the case, saying 'I'm not going to get into commenting ... I'm just not going to get into commenting on an ongoing trial.’ E-mails to other officials were similarly rebuffed, despite apparent contradictions between trial testimony and some of the president’s own statements about his contact with Blagojevich over the Senate seat.” (Jonathan Allen and Glenn Thrush, "Rod Blagojevich trial could singe White House," Politico, 7/08/10)

Related post:

SEIU's Balanoff contradicts Obama's story on negotiations with Blago over Senate seat

Technorati tags: Illinois Democrats illinois politics Democrats politics SEIU labor unions organized labor Barack Obama Obama law legal crime cronyism Blagojevich corruption chicago tom balanoff