Rahm Emanuel's Involvement in Illinois Senate Scandal Deeper Than Disclosed

President-elect Barack Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, engaged in direct conversations with disgraced Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich over the appointment of a successor to fill Obama's vacated Senate seat, a source with knowledge of the investigation tells the Chicago Sun-Times. Emanuel spoke with Blagojevich in the days immediately following Obama election victory, and pushed for the appointment of Obama friend and confidant Valerie Jarrett. The source says that Emanuel wanted Jarrett appointed to the post by a date certain. The Obama transition team denies that Emanuel and Blagojevich spoke about the Senate appointment, and claims that the two spoke only once and recently during which Emanuel informed Blagojevich that he was taking the position as Obama's chief of staff.

The source, however, says that Blagojevich told aides about the conversations with Emanuel, and sometimes gave them directions afterwards. It remains unclear whether those directions were related to the conversations. Emanuel is not accused of any wrongdoing. However, his refusal to speak to reporters about his alleged role in the scandal is fueling speculation that his involvement may have been deeper than the Obama transition team has thus far disclosed.

President-elect Obama has said that no one on the transition staff participated with Blagojevich in the conspiracy to sell the appointment to the Senate. But since then, it has been revealed that Emanuel had provided the governor a list of candidates acceptable to Obama, which in itself suggest nothing illegal. But Emanuel is also reported to have been taped in 21 separate phone conversations with Blagojevich. The sheer number of contacts between the transition and the governor suggests that there was some kind of negotiation or deal-making taking place. And the president-elect has not been entirely forthcoming on the issue. He has not answered very many questions about the press reports, and will be on vacation next week when the transition team's internal review of staff contacts wit Blagojevich is released. Unless and until Obama faces the press for a wide-ranging question and answer session covering all aspects of the scandal and his previous relationship with Blagojevich, questions about how deep inside the transition the scandal goes will persist.