Two Democratic officials tell CNN that the "long-awaited report about aides to President-elect Barack Obama alleged contact with the office of embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich will largely exonerate Obama's transition team."
"You're going to see this is a lot about nothing," one official predicted.
The report's release, expected Tuesday, comes as Obama is vacationing in Hawaii. Obama said last week he wants to answer questions about conversations his aides had over filling his Senate seat because nothing inappropriate took place. But he kept the details private at U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald's request.
"We have a report," Obama spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said Monday. "It's been ready for release for a week. We've held off at the request of the U.S. Attorney's office and that continues to be the case, though we expect to be able to release the report shortly."
On Sunday, ABC's George Stephanopolous reported that, according to his sources, the internal probe would exonerate Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. According to the report, Emanuel had only one "pro-forma" courtesy call with the embattled Illinois governor. Emanuel is also on tape telling Blagojevich's chief of staff that Obama would not offer any favors to induce the governor to choose Obama's favored candidate.
Three sources also tell the New York Times the review found that Obama's advisers "were not involved in any inappropriate talks about the Senate seat."