Holder's Dept. of Justice 'Aware of' ATF Gunrunning

From Anthony Martin, Conservative Examiner

Breaking--CBS News: ATF whistleblower indicates high level approval of scheme

March 25th, 2011 5:35 pm ET

In a new development in the continuing scandal at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives--a division of the Department of Justice--CBS News is reporting today that Barack Obama is denying all knowledge of the illegal scheme but that an ATF whistleblower insists that someone in the highest levels of the Administration not only knew about it but gave their approval.

The ATF's lead official in Mexico, Darren Gill, reported in an exclusive interview with CBS News today that his Washington Bureau supervisor told him point-blank that the person who approved the scheme is higher up in the Administration than ATF director Kenneth Melson.

That would mean at the very least the Justice Department, which has oversight of the agency.

A video of the interview can be found in the top left column. A second portion of the interview can be found at the CBS News site.

The key portion of the interview is in this exchange:

"Is the director aware of this," Gil asked the supervisor. Gil says his supervisor answered "Yes, the director's aware of it. Not only is the director aware of it, D.O.J.'s aware of it... Department of Justice was aware of it."

Gil goes on to say senior Justice official Lanny Breuer and several of his deputies visited Mexico amid the controversy last summer, and spoke to ATF staff generally about a big trafficking case that they claimed was "getting good results." Gil says Melson, ATF's Acting Director, also visited Mexico City. Gil's Deputy Attache and his Analyst questioned Melson about the case that surrounding all the weapons showing up in Mexico. "His response was 'it's a good case, it's still going on,'" recalls Gil, "and we'll close it down as soon as we possibly can."

Thus, not only is the ATF's acting director implicated in illegal activity, but so is someone yet unnamed at the Department of Justice.

continues

CBS News video:

Republicans Plan to Hire Dozens of Investigators to Target Obama - Western Jounalism

Also, for the record...

Republicans Plan to Hire Dozens of Investigators to Target Obama
Posted by Caleb on June 18, 2010 · Comments (48) [I.O. Ed: comments at W.J.]

Rep. Darrell Issa, the conservative firebrand whose specialty is lobbing corruption allegations at the Obama White House, is making plans to hire dozens of subpoena-wielding investigators if Republicans win the House this fall.

if the Republicans win the majority Rep. Issa is going after Obama’s corruption

The California Republican’s daily denunciations draw cheers from partisans and bookings from cable TV producers. He even bought his own earphone for live shots. But his bombastic style and attention-seeking investigations draw eye rolls from other quarters. Now, he’s making clear he won’t be so easy to shrug off if he becomes chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in 2011.

Issa has told Republican leadership that if he becomes chairman, he wants to roughly double his staff from 40 to between 70 and 80. And he is not subtle about what that means for President Barack Obama.

At a recent speech to Pennsylvania Republicans here, he boasted about what would happen if the GOP wins 39 seats, and he gets the power to subpoena.

“That will make all the difference in the world,” he told 400 applauding party members during a dinner at the chocolate-themed Hershey Lodge. “I won’t use it to have corporate America live in fear that we’re going to subpoena everything. I will use it to get the very information that today the White House is either shredding or not producing.”

Read More: By JAMES HOHMANN & JAKE SHERMAN, Politico

...and I encourage you to see this and other matters of policy and politics, also perhaps to scan the comments, at Western Journalism.

h/t: CJ

RICO Investigation Needed NOW about Gulf, Energy & CCX

A letter prompted by the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster, written and suggested by CJ of Patriot's Heart Network

Re: RICO Investigation Needed NOW about Gulf, Energy, and CCX

Dear Elected Official,

I am an average everyday American. Until this past election cycle, I was not very political. I am now an awake and aware American. Please take the time to read the information I am sending to you. I know it is extensive, but the continued existence of our free country, The United State of America, is at stake and I believe this with every fiber of my being. There is fear in the pit of my belly all of the time, fear that we are loosing America, and I do not mean “as we know it.”

I about fell out of my chair when Obama approved some offshore drilling, I was waiting for the other shoe to fall. Then all of a sudden, we have an unprecedented “gusher” in the Gulf, with rumors of sabotage I refused to believe. No one could be that evil. I did however find the timing very fortunate for the agenda of Cap and Trade and waited for those next pieces to fall into place as we knew they would. Please follow what I am seeing. There is something very smelly going on.

Then we find out that Goldman Sachs sold 4,680,822 shares of BP in the first quarter of 2010:

According to regulatory filings, RawStory.com has found that Goldman Sachs sold 4,680,822 shares of BP in the first quarter of 2010. Goldman's sales were the largest of any firm during that time. Goldman would have pocketed slightly more than $266 million if their holdings were sold at the average price of BP's stock during the quarter.
http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0602/month-oil-spill-goldman-sachs-sold-250-million-bp-stock/

And the chief executive of BP sold £1.4 million of his shares:

The chief executive of BP sold £1.4 million of his shares in the fuel giant weeks before the Gulf of Mexico oil spill caused its value to collapse.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/7804922/BP-chief-Tony-Hayward-sold-shares-weeks-before-oil-spill.html

There is a boot on the throat of the press:

Conservative Examiner has also learned that the few authorized journalists and photographers that are allowed in the area have been instructed by the Feds not to write anything critical of the Obama Administration's response--or shall we say the lack thereof--to the crisis. Photographers have also been instructed to limit photographs of the devastation
http://www.examiner.com/x-37620-Conservative-Examiner~y2010m6d6-More-on-fallout-from-ObamaBP-Gulf-oil-disaster

Withholding information from the public:

But inside the unified command center, where BP and federal agencies were orchestrating the spill response, video monitors had already displayed hours of footage they did not make public. The images showed a far more dire situation unfolding underwater. The footage filmed by submarines showed three separate leaks, including one that was unleashing a torrent of oil into the Gulf.
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/bp-feds-withheld-videos-showing-massive-scope-oil/story?id=10819367

And more cover-ups:

New videos show more clearly than ever how BP, with little resistance from the Coast Guard or other federal agencies, kept the public in the dark about just how bad things were beneath the surface of the Gulf of Mexico.
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/bp-feds-withheld-videos-showing-massive-scope-oil/story?id=10819367

Also, BP knew weeks in advance there were major problems with this well:

However, evidence shows that BP executives were aware of the looming disaster before March 17.

According to the May 31 Bloomberg article 'BP Lacked Well Control Six Weeks Before Gulf Rig Disaster, E-Mails Show':
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/6/5/15749/79934

The White House is right in the middle of the cover-up:

Contrary to early reports from the Obama Administration that it was not aware of the catastrophic nature of the Gulf oil spill, newly-released Coast Guard logs show that the government knew within hours that the spill would be devastating.
http://www.examiner.com/x-37620-Conservative-Examiner~y2010m6d4-Breaking-Coast-guard-logs-show-govt-knew-oil-spill-was-devastating-within-hours

Reports indicate Obama is to use the Oil Spill Disaster to renew a push for Cap & Trade. This is made more suspicious by his apparent delay and even obstruction of solutions:

Almost as if it had been created for him, it seems that the BP oil spill couldn’t have come at a better time for Obama. Just when [he] was cogitating over how to reintroduce the Energy Cap & Tax bill—which will skyrocket energy rates so that many of us will not be able to afford basic electricity—the BP oil spill occurred. This was most convenient for Obama and his plans to continue gutting the USA and its citizens.
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/23949

If all of this is not enough to rouse suspicion, then we get reports of the dispersant being ineffective and unsafe, and of people getting sick as a result. The Obama Administration reported they asked BP to use something less toxic as a Dispersant. BP says “no” and Obama lets BP continue using Corexit, a Nalco product.

BP Won't Change Dispersants in Oil Spill Despite EPA:

BP has told the Environmental Protection Agency that it cannot find a safe, effective and available dispersant to use instead of Corexit, and will continue to use that chemical application to help break up the growing spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/5/23/869241/-BP-Wont-Change-Dispersants-In-Oil-Spill-Despite-EPA

Eight Fishing boat crews downwind of dispersant get sick:

Venice, Louisiana (CNN) -- Kindra Arnesen's husband often calls while he's out on a shrimping trip, so she wasn't surprised to hear her cell phone ring the night of April 29 while he was on an overnight fishing expedition.

However, this time, her husband, David, wasn't calling to tell her about the day's catch or to wish their children Aleena and David Jr. a good night. He was calling to tell her he was sick, and the strange thing about it, so were men on the seven other shrimping boats working near his.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/06/03/gulf.fishermans.wife/index.html

Corexit a Nalco product may be just masking the problem:

Cousteau was investigating whether Corexit, the environmentally-tenuous chemical dispersant that BP has been spraying into the Atlantic since the spill began is "breaking down the oil or if the byproduct they are forming is causing more damage to sea life." ABC Good Morning America reporter Sam Champion, who was along for the ride, was shocked and appalled at what he found.
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/05/27/jacques-cousteaus-son-takes-nightmare-dive-into-oil-spill/

And more evidence of Corexit being ineffective and unsafe:

When we got into the water our worst fears were realized. One of the concerns has been what is happening in the Gulf with the application of these chemical dispersants into the oil and indeed, the oil was not confined to the surface, which was the original goal of applying chemical dispersants. It had permeated the water column down 15, 20 feet and would wash over us in these billowing waves, clouds of this red toxic soup in which we found dead fish and we could see dead jellyfish floating through it. It was really a terrible sight. You know, often times it’s out of sight, out of mind and no one had done this before. No one had seen what this looks like and what the condition of the water would be. And while we know very little about the effects of these chemicals and the oil in the water, what we do know is that we have put 800,000 gallons of a very toxic chemical into the water column and that it’s likely these plumes of dispersed oil and this toxic soup is now distributed from the surface to the bottom and will be spread throughout the Gulf of Mexico and potentially through the Gulf Stream, down the Florida Keys and all the way into the Atlantic.
http://www.theworld.org/2010/05/27/philippe-cousteau-dives-into-the-gulf-oil-spill/

Why do Obama and BP refuse to use most effective and safer method of oil cleanup?

As the Gulf oil disaster closes in on the 50-day mark, the Obama Administration and BP refuse to use the most effective method of oil cleanup. The top oil barons of the world--the Saudis--have used this method to avoid a mammoth oil disaster. And the result was swift, effective, and conclusive.
http://www.examiner.com/x-37620-Conservative-Examiner~y2010m6d5-Why-do-Obama-BP-refuse-to-use-most-effective-method-of-oil-cleanup

Nearly 50 Supertankers Are Waiting for BP for clean-up and collection (on the Cheap):

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/bp-oil-spill-cleanup-costs060410#ixzz0q1RBS2Fg

John Hofmeister, the former president of Shell Oil, and Nick Pozzi, a former pipeline engineering and operations project manager for Saudi Aramco say: "Supertankers Could Save the Gulf, So Why Won't BP Listen?":

Pozzi saw the technique used in the Middle East, where it recovered 85% of the oil from the Saudi spill. And he thinks it could work in the Gulf of Mexico. "The only downside is that you tie up oil tankers. That's why we think that BP won't listen to us. They don't want to spend that extra money.
http://www.fastcompany.com/1646820/could-the-gulf-oil-spill-could-cleaned-up-by-supertankers

Now a very industrious group of Citizen Journalists has uncovered what may be the real reason why BP is allowed to use unsafe, toxic, ineffective chemicals. Now please read this all very carefully. This is so EVIL I am sick to my stomach.

The real reason the oil still flows into the Gulf of Mexico:

Nalco is associated with UChicago Argonne program. UChicago Argonne received $164 million dollars in stimulus funds this past year. UChicago Argonne just added two new executives to their roster. One from Nalco. The other from the Ill. Dept of Educaution.

If you dig a little deeper you will find Nalco is also associated with Warren Buffett, Maurice Strong, Al Gore, Soros, Apollo, Blackstone, Goldman Sachs, Berkshire Hathaway.

Warren Buffet / Berkshire Hathaway increased their holdings in Nalco just last November. (Timing is everything).

The dispersant chemical is known as Corexit. What it does is hold the oil below the water's surface. It is supposed to break up the spill into smaller pools. It is toxic and banned in Europe.

Nalco says they are using older and newer versions of Corexit in the Gulf... (Why would you need a newer version, if the old one was fine?)

There is big money and even bigger players in this scam. While they are letting the oil blow wide open into the Gulf, the stakes and profit rise.

The Dolphins, Whales, Manatees, Sea Turtles and fish suffocate and die. The coastal regions, salt marshes, tourist attractions and the shore front properties are being destroyed, possibly permanently. The air quality is diminished. The Gulf of Mexico fishing industry is decimated.

All to create a need for their expensive and extremely profitable poison.
http://www.blogster.com/joannemor/bombshell-expose-the-real-reason-the-oil-still-flows-into-the-gulf-of-mexico

I am beyond livid at the Administration’s and it cohorts in crime covering-up and partying all the way to the bank. There is a lady with a little known oil company who writes this:

1. BP is one of the largest investors of alternative energy in the world and Cap & Trade gets voted on/passed this month so, it won’t hurt their pockets.

2. BP is one of the largest campaign contributors to Barack Hussein Obama.

3. Since early last year, it’s been speculated that gas prices would be over $4/ga by June, 2010 and $7/ga by Jan, 2011. When rumors were circulating there was no justification. Only way gas prices would jump like that is with a major oil shortage. Low & behold 1.5 months before rumors come true, we have an enormous oil spill.

4. I own a small oil company (www.strategic-oil.com) and we specialize in on and off shore cleanup. My CFO wrote all the checks for the Valdez spill.

5. I sat at an 1.5hr seminar by BP in 2008 at the OTC (offshore technology conference, the largest in the world) and witnessed first hand the technology aboard that ship particularly.

There is absolutely NO WAY possible for this to happen without it being sabotage (emphasis mine). There were way too many tiers aboard that ship and it could have been stopped at any facet. And, even if ever man aboard was knocked out with toxic gases and the oil somehow managed to make it to water, their have huge blowup looking mats that surround the ship for miles to prevent (93%?) the oil from mixing in open waters.

It could be stopped now. Cleanup easily within 72 hrs, and the oil salvageable and able to still be refined and produced IF they wanted to. I believe it’s intentional to drive up oil and gas prices and push cap & trade. It’s only speculation as to motives but, the events of this and my synopsis are based upon facts.
http://dancingczars.wordpress.com/2010/06/03/you-want-the-truth-ask-an-intelligent-woman/

What I have laid out is just one facet of a very inter-connected web of deceit. As an elected official you swore an oath as follows:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.

We have had health care reform pass in the ugliest arm twisting, middle of the night, back door dealing scheme ever. All against the will of the people, using fuzzy math and omissions to get the CBO to come up with acceptable (to them) numbers. They put a $940 billion price tag on what’s actually a multitrillion-dollar bill. It is also the single biggest assault on liberty in our history.

We have a president and congress who think they can spend the money of generations to come. What is this census costing us again? Didn’t we just pass the “Doctor fix” that was omitted from the cost of the heath care reform bill so it would pass?

We have at least two illegal “quid pro quos” in our election process directed from the White House, Anyone who can read can see that the Obama administration has broken the law. It does not matter if this is how politics are played. Illegal is illegal even if you are questioning the definition of “is.”

We have a media who refuses to cover the issues. If they do they are attacked by the White House as in Fox News and talk radio. We have a media outlet that is owned by GE who stands to gain incalculable riches from this president’s Cap and Trade scam. Cap and Trade is a SCAM and all of this and many of the players have been well documented by Glenn Beck and is what he now calls CRIME Inc.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,591790,00.html

Once again, of course, Barack Obama is front and center, along with the Chicago Climate Exchange, the Joyce Foundation, George Soros, Maurice Strong, Edmund de Rothschild, the Federal Reserve, Goldman Sachs, George W. Bush's Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, even Fannie Mae, and many others. It entails global Marxofascism / global kleptocracy, with Americans being the chief victims, while a few overlords rule at, and their financiers skim off, the top. If any "mainstream" reporters cared to cover this thoroughly (and could) they could be much bigger characters in U.S. and world history than Woodward and Bernstein. And as for Americans willingly instigating this, it is treason.
http://investigatingobama.blogspot.com/2010/04/greatest-scandal-in-modern-history.html

We have a country being overrun with illegal aliens and when a state takes action in the most legal way possible to protect their citizens, they are demonized. Unemployment is skyrocketing yet illegal aliens are allowed to come here and work. We have a federal government who will not protect our borders. This should be their first priority, and is their first duty, to keep America safe.

Now Barack Hussein Obama has put a moratorium on all drilling. This is going to devastate the Gulf Coast even further. This will bring our economy to its knees. There are thousands and thousands of jobs related to drilling that will leave and not come back. There are people in the food industry that specialize in offshore supply, crew boats, helicopter companies, drilling equipment and supplies, and cleaning services, to name a few. This will make us even more dependent on foreign oil and further weaken our national security. I believe now that this is the exact intention of this administration, to weaken us. I am not at all sure now that this “gusher” was not an accident.

The Oil Spill - Round Up the Usual Suspects:

In closing, an article that appeared in FrontPage about a year ago, noted that “CCX’s members include Ford, DuPont, Dow Corning and the states of Illinois and New Mexico. CCX also owns 50 percent of the European Climate Exchange (ECX), which features such members as Shell, British Petroleum, Barclays—and Goldman Sachs.” British Petroleum—better known as BP.
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/22810

Enough! We The People demand that a RICO investigation and criminal charges be initiated to uncover the criminal actions of this administration and all of its radical cohorts in crime, like GE, BP, Goldman Sachs, the labor unions, Fannie and Freddie, ACORN, Organizing for America, George Soros, Maurice Strong, Warren Buffett, Al Gore, The Progressive Caucus, anyone who has close ties to this administration.

This is a cabal of crooks. All legislation should be halted until this is done. We, The People will not stop. We will know justice. We demand that you do your duty and uphold the oath you took to defend the Constitution. Our Country is depending on you like at no other time in history.

With respect,

(Your name here)

(Your address here)

CJ a proud member of PatriotsHeart.US

______________________________________________________________________


Deepwater Horizon & Crime Inc. (a.k.a., the Greatest Scandal in Modern History) May 5th
bird photo by AP, Charlie Riedel

Massive Fascist Collusion Between Obama/Pelosi Democrats & General Electric, Uncovered by Bill O'Reilly

I.O. may update about this posting later, but as for now, suggests you tune into The O'Reilly Factor, on Fox News.

Then, link in to The Mark S. McGrew Show, tonight...

Thursday April 23, 2009, 9pm ET,,, 6pm PST

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Sentinel_Radio

Join the discussion by calling: (646) 727-2652

FBI Investigating 38+ Cases Related to Financial Crisis (ABC News)

Will these investigators be motivated to get to the depths of the financial crisis -- including Congress -- including the Cloward-Piven organization behind the revised Community Reinvestment Act? Keep in mind that naysayers of the CRA's impact ignore how this condoned the practice of giving out bad mortgages, overall. After all, what goes for Fannie-Mae "backed" mortgages to poor people in the inner city also goes in principle for unregulated mortgagers and their loans to others. "Fairness," after all....

That, not to mention the large mortgagers being sued (by Barack Obama and other ACORN lawyers) to make unjustified loans. I.O. is looking for the video of the man who said he was in a board meeting at a bank, when ACORN people broke into the room and encircled all at the table, standing silently behind them for awhile, then departing -- one of them being Barack Obama.

Initial excerpt from the recommended ABC News article:

Fraud 'Directly Related' to Financial Crisis Probed
FBI Agents Could be Reassigned from National Security Due to Booming Caseload
By Jason Ryan, Feb. 11, 2009

The FBI has opened investigations into more than 500 cases of alleged corporate fraud, including 38 that involve major firms and are "directly related" to the national economic crisis, FBI Deputy Director John Pistole told Congress today.

FBI Says 38 Firms Directly Involved in Current Financial Crisis Could Expand to Over 100 firms Currently Over 500 Ongoing Corporate Fraud Investigations; TARP IG Warns of Fraud (ABC News Photo Illustration)

The surge in white-collar investigations is putting such a strain on the FBI that Pistole said the bureau is considering reassigning agents from national security, which has been the bureau's priority since the 9/11 attacks.

"The FBI has more than 530 open corporate fraud investigations, including 38 corporate fraud and financial institution matters directly related to the current financial crisis," Pistole told the Senate Judiciary Committee today.

The 38 companies, he said, "are significantly large companies, businesses everyone knows about but I cannot comment publicly."

Pistole's comments suggested widespread criminal activity among many of the nation's corporate giants.

"These are significantly large, similar to Enron," Pistole said. The number of firms under scrutiny could eventually top 100, as the investigations widen, he said.

Will this federal investigation flesh out all the criminals and scoundrels on and behind the scene, or will it be used to focus the spotlights away from Congress and the friends of Barack? Clue-1: just look for the words, "Congress" and "oversight." Clue-2: who is being targeted, but private enterprises, a.k.a., capitalists, a.k.a., bourgeosie?

One must believe there was oversight -- just not moral, ethical oversight. Then, what kind of oversight?

hat tip: Carmen the Journalist

Fitzgerald Finally Makes a Move: Blagojevich - and what of Obama?

Law enforcement never sleeps -- and in Chicago the Feds can hardly catch a nap

Illinois Governor, Rod Blagojevich is under arrest. It's the Rezko investigation, which led to much more, into a "political corruption crime spree." This includes trying to sell Barack Obama's seat on the U.S. Senate. And this, along with fresh evidence of attempted manipulation of the Chicago Tribune by Blagojevich, apparently triggered the arrest, in an otherwise long, arduous effort of collecting information, the kind for which Fitzgerald is famous. What I.O. has noted throughout the day follows.

On Illinois Review - "Source: Feds take Gov. Blagojevich into custody" (The FBI took him from home shortly after 6am CT.) This is also subject matter that HillBuzz covers. And let's give John Kass a day or two and see what he says. And, the I.O. sidebar should be interesting to watch.

On CBS-2 News Chicago, via Drudge - "CROOK COUNTY: GOVERNOR, YOU'RE UNDER ARREST"

11:30am CT, on TV - Patrick Fitzgerald is giving a press conference (C-SPAN link). He credits the Chicago Tribune, which found key information (in its face) held it from the public for awhile at the request of federal investigators, then published it Friday. This apparently led to even further evidence via bug or "wire," and wiretap. Instances of pay to play in state contracts are also in the complaint.

On Obama - Fitzgerald said that the complaint makes no allegations about him, "and that's all I can say," an interesting way to put it. See the exact quote, below.

Fitzgerald also stressed, "I encourage people to talk to us... to let us get to the bottom of what has happened here," and later reiterated, "...we need people, in the public, to stand up and say 'enough.'"

Later - Talking Democrat heads are starting to play Blago as a nutty oddball, while Obama tried to stay away from it all, yada, yada, "aloof," yada.

2:21pm CT. on TV - Obama: "saddened and sobered" about Blago, but since there is an ongoing investigation, he does not want to comment. (Instead, he focuses on spreading Al Gore's ploy for man-made global socialism, now inconveniently relabeled "climate change," as if this is news to the Earth.) Reporters lunge. Obama: "...sad day... ...won't comment..." Oh, but he hasn't spoken with the Illinois Governor lately, not even about the Senate seat he has just vacated. Even though he by some reports, had Valerie Jarrett in mind for it.

4:46 CT - The Patriot Room is requesting information about which of the Obama advisers were communicating to Blagojevich.

5:19 CT - A video of the entire federal investigator interview is on C-SPAN.org. In the video, the first question and answer I find, specifically about Obama occurs at about 18:07. He is asked if he would address whether or not "Obama was aware that any of these things were taking place." Fitzgerald replied, "I'm not gonna speak for what the president-elect [sic] was aware of. We make no allegations that he is aware of anything and that's i-as simply as I can put it."

The second Obama Q&A occurs at 32:19. Fitzgerald was asked a question in an interesting way:

"You spoke before about if senator - you didn't know the awareness that senator - president-elect Barack Obama knew about this [I.O., he did not say this. The reporter seems to be grappling for words to put in Fitzgerald's mouth, prone to clear Obama.] so is it safe to say he has not been briefed and can you also tell us if any phone calls were made to president-elect Obama that you intercepted or to Rahm Emanuel?

Fitzgerald responded:

I'm not going to go down anything that's not in the complaint and what I simply said before is I'm not gonna -- I have enough trouble speaking for myself -- I'm never gonna try and speak in the voice of a president or a president-elect. So, I simply pointed out that if you look at the complaint, there is no allegation that the president-elect -- there's no reference in the complaint to any conversations involving the president-elect, or indicating that the president-elect was aware of it and that's all I can say.

What does this mean for Barack Obama, regarding any matters such as: the Rezko land deal, the Broadway Bank loan, and the odd favor of anointing Alexi Giannoulias, his man for IL Treasury Secretary? Did Obama or his staff know of Blago's senatorial shakedown and come clean to the Feds? Have Obama and Blago been in touch, lately, as David Axelrod has stated, but Obama and staff later denied?

There are many allegations in the federal complaint and it has taken a great deal of time for the FBI to collect all the evidence gained so far, in its ongoing work. One does wonder how much they have learned about Obama during this time and why Fitzgerald continues to plea to citizens in the know, to come clean.


PS, 12/11 - I think I've seen Brando give that hug... or was it Pacino?