Emanuel Heads To Africa As Blagojevich Report Drops

With the Obama transition team set to release an internal report regarding the extent of its interactions with embattled governor Rod Blagojevich, one of the key figures in the mix is heading out of the country.

Incoming White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel left on Tuesday for a "long planned family vacation in Africa," a transition official confirmed to the Huffington Post.

The internal review by the Obama team is expected to clear Emanuel of any impropriety regarding the Blagojevich scandal, and Emanuel's departure suggests he feels comfortable enough to be out of the country (and not doing damage control) on the day the report drops. Obama, meanwhile, is vacationing in Hawaii -- another indication that the president-elect's team is not exactly sweating out the matter.

Already reports have surfaced that Emanuel talked only a handful of times to the Illinois governor and his chief of staff, mostly about who would replace Emanuel in the House of Representatives. Never, these reports suggest, did the two have a conservation that could implicate Obama in the pay-to-play scheme that Blagojevich was allegedly pursuing to choose Obama's Senate replacement.

The Obama transition's internal report is set to be released Tuesday at 4:30 pm.

Emanuel's choice of destination is also noteworthy. Transition officials did not specify where in Africa he went, though another source said the family would be going on a safari. Nevertheless, it's an interesting choice for a holiday vacation. Certainly it is not beyond the realm of reason to see this trip having minor geopolitical ripples given Obama's renowned status on the continent.

Comments

[SammyGone]

Rahm is the BEST! This is late, but needed to be said. He is so so Chicago.

[BannedInBoston]

If only Emanuel didn't look like such a ringer for George Clooney!

[zjr909]

There's a reason stories like this have legs: the pathelogical corruption of our political class. Not that there's anything new about corruption, only that now we have blogs to present the unadulterated version of news events. And without the media filters, it's a truly raunchy thing to behold. The simple truth is, corruption is the everyday MO of politicians, so commonplace that it seems like a cheap shot to point it out. Is Emanuel corrupt? He's a politician; politicians don't see what they do as "corrupt" because corruption has become their new work ethic. Ergo, Emanuel cannot be corrupt simply because one cannot be what no long exists. There is no corruption; there is only the unfettered business of carrying out the ruling class's wishes. And, damn it, it's just a coincidence that so many of Obama's choices (like Emanuel and Arne Duncan) happen to be from greater Chicago. He's bringing CHANGE we can believe in. If you can't see that, you must be a troll.

[robertjames]

Nice.

[LMPE]

Presumably Emanuel knows that Africa is a continent.

[bby328]

. . . and 'The African Queen' was just a steamboat.

[BannedInBoston]

As opposed to Obama's Isl.amic extremist grandmother....

[DubiousAtBest]

test

[hortonhearsawho2]

Palin damn sure won't find.

[NewRiver]

Interesting timing for a vacation.

[hortonhearsawho2]

Kick republican butt all over the place and yeah, you take a break.

[Tropiholic]

You own him? If he isn't allowed to vacation with his family then neither are you.

[MAXIE19]

Let this poor man be.

[fflambeau]

Maxie, here's some info on "this poor man".
1) Emanuel succeeded Blagojevich in the lll 5th district;
2) He boasted a while back that he and Obama put together the playbook for Blagojevich's governor run;
3) He was named to the Board of Directors at Freddie Mac in 2000 and paid $231,655 p.a. During the time Emanuel spent on the board, Freddie Mac was plagued with scandals involving campaign contributions and accounting irregularities.
4) Open Secrets reported that Emanuel "was the top House recipient in the 2008 election cycle of contributions from hedge funds, private equity firms and the larger securities­/investmen­t industry".
5) He made $16.2 million in his two-and-a-half-year stint as an investment banker.
6) Illinois Rep. R LaHood who said "He (Emanuel) legitimately can be called the golden boy of the Democratic Party today. He recruited the right candidates, found the money and funded them, and provided issues for them." This is the same LaHood who has just been appointed Secretary of Transportation in the Obama administration. Wonder why that happened?
7) Emanuel has been a staunch supporter of Bush's war in Iraq.
8) Emanuel has only been a congressman since 2003 and is already the 4th ranking Dem in the house. How did that happen ? Answer: $ & sleeze. This is Obama's right hand man. That is why both of them are dodging questions on who said what to Gov. Blago. Poor Rahm, indeed!

[HatingTheGame]

Unfortunately all of this is true. The "Enforcer" has made me uncomfortable from day one. It always seemed odd how all these politicians kept licking his boots. I always thought it was because he could rain down AIPAC or the Mossad on you if you crossed him or his people. Obviously its that, and a lot more.

[postman606]

Typical Rethuglican wish list. Sounded like a Oliver Stone conspiracy theory on crack. At the end of the day no one will remember any of it, because there will be no empirical evidence that means crap.

[walk0nwalls]

Dave Chapelle?

[LadyMing]

LOL! :)

[calipublican]

get ready rahm when obama feels the need under the bus you must go

[sanang]

Obama doesn't have to throw anyone under the bus, he seems to be very confident in who he picks...will be good honest people, something Bush didn't have a clue about......

[Tropiholic]

Sanang, well said!

[berrycooda]

I wish I could take a vacation.....

[hortonhearsawho2]

ask your parole officer if you can leave the county...

[partyofone]

It does not look good now for Rahm Emanuel. The tapes evidently show he discuss a with the Governon's offive about a deal specifically regarding an Senate appointment for Jarret, contradicting for the second time what Obama has said his staff did. Emanuel does not seem to have been truthful with Obama (Liddy, Rove?) and now has taken off to Africa until the dust seltles.

Emanuel is essentially a Clinton loyalist, and shares their lack of values. He is doing damage to Obama's credibility and should go. If Obama is SERIOUS ABOUT CHANGE, he cannot surround himself with former Clinton lack of ethics.

[LadyMing]

Nothing wrong or illegal about bringing up Jarret. Obama said that none of his team were involved in deal-making. The FBI and Fitz back that up. This is a non-story.

[fflambeau]

Lady Ming, why such an emphasis on getting Jarrett a high position? What exactly are/were her qualifications to be a Senator and when that fell through, to be a personal advisor to Obama? It seems her only background is in Chicago real estate and in getting Obama's wife a high paying job at UChicago. Is this the fairness and transparency in government that Obama promised? While Rahm is hiding out in Africa, Obama is conveniently on vacation in Hawaii. It is NOT a valid excuse to say that the report was released a week late at "the request" of the prosecutor. A request is just that and has there is nothing legally binding by such a request, either on a normal citizen, or especially on the president elect.

[hortonhearsawho2]

still ticked about not getting that free button from moveon.org huh...

[DubiousAtBest]

I would just ASSUME that Obama or his staff would have a few discussions about possible replacements for his senate seat. Obama would want to make sure that his replacement had similar views so that the voters would be happy with the choice. Simple as that. Nothing suspicious, illegal or unethical about that.

If Blago wanted some crazy pay-off that doesn't mean Obama went along with it. If there is some tape recording, let's hear it. Otherwise, ENOUGH already with the smear attempts and guilt by association.
How did Kevin Bacon get involved in this?

[postman606]

Do you normally post your total lack of knowledge regarding politics? Partyon

[grateful4thedead]

reports have it that Rahm will bring back exotic species of fish in order to upgrade his dead fish act.

[hortonhearsawho2]

plenty of republican carp here...

[bby328]

Reports have it that Rahm will bring back a picture of him standing in front of a herd of kneeling packeeederms. . . just to rub it in, my guess.

[tx xplant]

I heard he was bringing back Obama's hut-ridden brother.

[vjoseph]

BWAHAHAHAH­AHAHAHAHAH­AHAHAH, the jokesters are out today. I swear, i didn't know there was so much talents on HuffPo. All those comedians should go for the King of Tro//s tour, I will definitely pay for this! Chris Rock, watch out, tro//s are going to steal your job

[indypete]

Wait till they get their teeth into this one...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/22/rush-limbaughs-conspiracy_n_152979.html?page=4&show_comment_id=19066566#comment_19066566

[perk]

Just to know they can relax on vacation gives me the feeling that things in this country are not as bad as they seem. If they can go on vacation three weeks before taking office, they have a plan in place and are ready to go. Right?

As far as the report. There is nothing here. Hey, they talked, big deal.
"Nothing to see here, move along everybody". Right?

[indypete]

Run down the thread..... The sparks are flying!

[hortonhearsawho2]

any word on that fox application yet?