So he tries to sell Obama’s senate seat?  Feds taped hm.  They take both he and  his admin assistant to FBI headquarters.  OUCH!

If you want some good ole speculation on who’s who in the dirty details, RBO has it all.

On the day before  his birthday no less, from RBO

Tom Mannis at The Bench informs us today is Blago’s birthday!

The editor of the Illinois Review comments “Guess Tony Rezko sang a pretty tune to prosecutors.”

The ChiTrib has already posted a timeline of the Blagojevich investigation. Here’s the full federal criminal complaint.

A 76-page FBI affidavit alleges that Blagojevich, a Democrat,got caught with his hands in the cookie jar.

…was intercepted on court-authorized wiretaps during the last month conspiring to sell or trade Illinois’ U.S. Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama for financial and other personal benefits for himself and his wife. At various times, in exchange for the Senate appointment, Blagojevich discussed obtaining:

A substantial salary for himself at a either a non-profit foundation or an organization affiliated with labor unions;

Placing his wife on paid corporate boards where he speculated she might garner as much as $150,000 a year;

That foul mouthed thug wife?

Meet Patty Blagojevich, hardball political thug, via the criminal complaint in her hubby’s massive corruption scandal, page 44 (language warning), involving a deal the Tribune newspaper company wanted on behalf of the Cubs baseball team:

73. In another call between ROD BLAGOJEVICH and Deputy Governor A that occurred a short time later on November 3, 2008, ROD BLAGOJEVICH and Deputy Governor A discussed an editorial from the Chicago Tribune regarding the endorsement of Michael Madigan and calling for a committee to consider impeaching ROD BLAGOJEVICH.

During the call, ROD BLAGOJEVICH’s wife can be heard in the background telling ROD BLAGOJEVICH to tell Deputy Governor A “to hold up that fucking Cubs shit. . . fuck them.”

ROD BLAGOJEVICH asked Deputy Governor A what he thinks of his wife’s idea. Deputy Governor A stated that there is a part of what ROD BLAGOJEVICH’s wife said that he “agree[s] with.” Deputy Governor A told ROD BLAGOJEVICH that Tribune Owner will say that he does not have anything to do with the editorials, “but I would tell him, look, if you want to get your Cubs thing done get rid of this Tribune.” Later, ROD BLAGOJEVICH’s wife got on the phone and, during the continuing discussion of the critical Tribune editorials, stated that Tribune Owner can “just fire” the writers because Tribune Owner owns the Tribune. ROD BLAGOJEVICH’s wife stated that if Tribune Owner’s papers were hurting his business, Tribune Owner would do something about the editorial board. ROD BLAGOJEVICH then got back on the phone. ROD BLAGOJEVICH told Deputy Governor A to put together the articles in the Tribune that are on the topic of removing ROD BLAGOJEVICH from office and they will then have someone, like JOHN HARRIS, go to Tribune Owner and say, “We’ve got some decisions to make now.” ROD BLAGOJEVICH said that “someone should say, ‘get rid of those people.’”

Not the first time the Mrs. has been mentioned in problems either.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s wife received the real estate commission in a $650,000 condominium sale from a businessman who since has won $10 million in no-bid state contracts.

Forgot to mention these other details.  Minor, huh?

Promises of campaign funds – including cash up front; and

A cabinet post or ambassadorship for himself.

Appetizing Chicago politics. No wonder Obama did so well.

Throughout the intercepted conversations, Blagojevich also allegedly spent significant time weighing the option of appointing himself to the open Senate seat and expressed a variety of reasons for doing so, including: frustration at being “stuck” as governor; a belief that he will be able to obtain greater resources if he is indicted as a sitting Senator as opposed to a sitting governor; a desire to remake his image in consideration of a possible run for President in 2016; avoiding impeachment by the Illinois legislature; making corporate contacts that would be of value to him after leaving public office; facilitating his wife’s employment as a lobbyist; and generating speaking fees should he decide to leave public office…

Greed at the infinity level.

In a conversation with Harris on November 11, the charges state, Blagojevich said he knew that the President-elect wanted Senate Candidate 1 for the open seat [This is certainly Valerie Jarrett. -- AP] but “they’re not willing to give me anything except appreciation. [Expletive] them.”…

What did he think he would get out of Obama?  He should have watched the Rezko saga a little more closely to determine how far he was going to get.  Hm, I think this is a form of extortion.

As recently as December 4, in separate conversations with Advisor B and Fundraiser A, Blagojevich said that he was “elevating” Senate Candidate 5 on the list of candidates because, among other reasons, if Blagojevich ran for re-election, Senate Candidate 5 would “raise[] money” for him. Blagojevich said that he might be able to cut a deal with Senate Candidate 5 that provided Blagojevich with something “tangible up front.”

Friends…they are all just mot*@r f$*king friends and nothing more.  Juicy!

Told by two other advisers he has to “suck it up” for two years, the FBI says it heard Blagojevich complain he has to give this “motherf***er [the President-elect] his Senator. F*** him. For nothing? F*** him.”

The Governor is heard saying he will pick another candidate “before I just give f***ing [Senate Candidate l] a f***ing Senate seat and I don’t get anything.”

Update: An intriguing theory from Ben Smith: Did Team Barry yank Jarrett out of contention for the Senate seat because Blago approached them with an improper offer? CNN reported on November 9 that she was The One’s choice to replace him; just a day later, he’d suddenly decided that he wanted her with him in the White House after all.

Update: Ambinder speculates that Senate Candidate 5 is Jesse Jackson Jr.

Things are looking great today.   Looks like Illinois Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn will likely make the choice now on who fills Obama’s seat.  As of Inauguration Day this will all disappear….POOF!

U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald better work fast and hard on this while he can.  Anything that ties Obama to the Chicago way of doing things should be dealt with swiftly.  The clock is ticking before it all gets swept under the bus

The US Attorney’s Office released a statement on the charges.
Here’s the 12 page USDOJ pdf on the case.

Did Rahmbo sell out the Gov? Rahmbo short circuited something that could have damaged his Boss – that is his job description afterall.