28Nov/12

When will the Chicago Sun Times get their copies of the Blagojevich tapes and transcripts?

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Thomas Barton, Investigative Reporter

When is the Department of Justice going to give other news outlets access to the Blago tapes and transcripts-startng with the Chicago Sun Times? They deserve a copy, don't they?

After all, the feds gave copies to John Chase and Jeff Coen of the Chicago Tribune.

 

In-fact, according to an article published by the Indiana University School of Journalism, Jeff Coen revealed that the Tribune had access to wiretap tapes and transcripts before Blagojevich's second trial in 2011.  Quoting from that journal:

 

"Even though they were working on the book outside their day jobs, the two said the Tribune required that if any information surfaced that could be considered breaking news, they had an obligation to bring it before the newspaper first. For example, as current Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel was running for office, the pair’s editors wanted to know the two had turned up anything about Emanuel as they researched their book.

 

'We got all the tapes for this project now, but even before that, I had to go get Rahm-specific tapes to try to make sure we wouldn’t get beat on something, Coen said. We were kind of working both jobs at the same time.' "

 

So far, ILP2P has not succeeded in securing our copies. But it’s is only a matter of time; the feds wouldn't just give them to only the Trib - would they?

 

We wonder – are other news outlets around the country, and in Chicago, experiencing trouble getting their copies, too?

 

They must be, or we’d be reading the transcripts in their newspapers, or be hearing the tapes on their local or national TV and radio programs.

 

There’s nothing stopping the Chicago Tribune from making the tapes, and transcripts, available to the public. At least, nothing legally preventing that from happening.

 

So why is the Trib stashing the Blago tapes in a vault like the Tribune owned LATimes did with the Rashid Khalidi tape?

 

Why don’t you ask Tribune Editor Gerould Kern:  Email  ctc-editor@tribune.com  Tel  312-222-5555

                                                              

Those concerned about preserving the fourth estate should demand the same access to the Blago files that the feds granted Chase and Coen.  

 

If you believe that, tell it to the spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago:  Samborn contact info here:  Email  randall.samborn@usdoj.gov Tel 312-353-5318   Cell  312 613-6700

 

And, ask Congressman Darrell Issa’s office if it’s even legal for the feds to only give access to the tapes & transcripts to the Trib:

                                      Email   ca49interndo@mail.house.gov

                                      Ca        760-599-5000

                                      Wash    202-225-3906 

All they can say is…nothing.  And that alone will tell you something.

 


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30Sep/12

Nadhmi Auchi’s London law firm targets American Thinker website

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Hugo Floriani, Investigative Reporter

Illinois PaytoPlay has learned that Nadhmi Auchi’s London-based law firm, Carter-Ruck, recently demanded that the American Thinker website remove the piece below that refers to their client and his association with Antoin “Tony” Rezko.

Until US law changed in 2010, making the US press no longer subject to British libel law, Carter-Ruck was able to successfully intimidate US websites into compliance with its demands.  

AT pulled the piece briefly while it verified the accuracy of the information concerning Auchiand then reposted the original, unchanged.

Meanwhile, the two big Chicago daily papers continue to ignore the Auchi-Rezko-Obama connections.

Here is the American Thinker piece in its entirety:

-

September 20, 2012

Obama's Chicago Arab-American network comes into focus

Lee Cary

 

The linkage between Illinois and U.S. Senator Obama's network of Arab-American supporters in Chicago is cracking open.

On September 19, 2012, the Washington Examiner, as part of a series entitled "The Obama You Don't Know," reports that,

"President Obama's controversial relationships with radical figures like Columbia University professor Rashid Khalidi have been well-publicized in recent years...

Less well-known is a cluster of Chicago businessmen who formed an Arab-American network at the heart of Obama's political apparatus. Ray Hanania, a Chicago-based Arab-American journalist and activist, described the network in a 2007 interview with Chicago magazine as "a small cluster of activists" in the business community who were politically involved.

Chief among them was Obama mentor Tony Rezko. Born in Aleppo, Syria, home of strongman Bashar al-Assad, Rezko migrated to the U.S. in the late 1970s andbuilt a political and financial empire in Chicago and Springfield, the Illinois capital."

The Washington Examiner article also mentions Rezko's close association with "Nadhmi Auchi, an Iraqi-British businessman and former Iraqi Baathist who was on a terror watch list and thus barred from entering the United States."

John A. Shaw, former senior official of US Defense, State, and Commerce departments, who has called Nadhmi Auchi "Rezko's bag man in Chicago," was responsible for Auchi being put on the terrorist watch list. His description of Auchi can be read here.

Shaw had this to say about the Washington Examiner piece:

"This is interesting, and gives a sense of how wide the Arab net was cast over the Chicago scene. Auchi was the money man for the whole network. His visa was revoked, as you know, not because he was a Baathist once upon a time and was listed as a terrorist; it was specifically because of our report in May, 2004. That prevented his planned return to Chicago in the fall to build on the Rezko land deal to become the Olympic village and God knows what other plans. His feting of Jesse Jackson in London shows that he has continuing involvement in Chicago and expects his visa to be restored by Obama when he pardons Rezko and Blago in January. The game is not over; it has only begun...(Would be interesting to look at Auchi investments in the Detroit area and his role in the Arab spy ring operating out of Detroit).

"Now that we know Auchi was involved with Rezko in a cross section of Iraqi contract schemes, with 22 trips to Damascus and Baghdad between 2003 and 2005, the dimensions of what was in prospect in Chicago becomes clearer. The focus on health and medical schemes and scams in Chicago was paralleled in Iraq, with Auchi getting the British-Iraqi Hospital. The ministry of Health was the fountainhead of corruption for all of Iraq reconstruction, and the ties in Chicago and Illinois were calculated to be a similar bonanza.

"Valerie Jarrett hired Michelle Obama as part of her hospital management company at a salary of over $300,000, and Jarrett was a key player in the quest for the 2016 Olympics. It was peculiar that Obama did not pull out all the stops when he and Michelle went to Copenhagen to press the International Olympic Committee. I would bet that with Rezko convicted and Blago on the way, and the revelations about Auchi involvement and support in Chicago, the bid had become problematic and a real danger. He may have passed the word to the committee that his trip was only pro forma. I wouldn't be surprised."

The Chicago media ignored, or only made superficial inquiries into, Obama's association with persons of interest in the Arab-American community, like Rezko and Auchi.

Meanwhile, the former U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of Illinois, Patrick Fitzgerald, used delayed sentencing tactics to keep those who could shed light on Obama's connections with Rezko and Auchi quiet.

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1Sep/12

Is President Barack Obama being blackmailed ?

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Ernie Souchak, Editor-in-Chief, Illinois PayToPlay

 

It appears that Mr Jerome Corsi is one person who can speak to the very real possibility that Barack Hussein Obama ,The President Of The United States Of America, is being blackmailed

 

Update:  Daniel T Frawley's date to report to prison has now been pushed back to after the presidential election , and Frawley's attorney Thomas M Durkin will likely be made a federal judge within days. Barack Obama nominated Mr Durkin to be a federal judge and Sen. Dick Durbin has given his strong support to Durkin's nomination.

 

 

-----Original Message-----

From: (redacted)

To: Jerome Corsi

Cc: (redacted)

Sent: 2012-08-29 13:49:55 +0000

Subject: Re: Nahdmi Auchi's secret meetings with Barack Obama

 

Jerry,

 

So that we're clear, are you seriously telling me that you have changed your reason for not releasing the information about Obama's secret meetings with Auchi from the one you stated below ? Now the reason you will not release the information is because you gave total control of what you do with that information to Daniel T Frawley, a convicted felon.  Really ?  Are you serious ?

 

(name redacted)

 

-----Original Message-----

From: Jerome Corsi

To:(redacted)  

Sent: 2012-08-29 12:32:14 +0000

Subject: Re: Nahdmi Auchi's secret meetings with Barack Obama

 

(name redacted)

You can beg, I couldn't care less.  I gave my word to Dan that I only did

the tape on the condition Dan had to OK its broadcast.  I will keep my

word to Dan.  Besides, Auchi may be important to you, but he is truly

yesterday's news.

I don't plan to answer you emails again if you merely repeat what you have

already sent me.

 

Regards

J.Corsi

 

 

On 8/29/12 8:09 AM, (redacted) wrote:

 

 

Jerry,

 

Nahdmi Auchi's ability to deploy his pitbull lawyers against American

authors has been greatly diminished, if not altogether eliminated by new

laws passed here in the last two years. American authors no long have to

adhere to the libel laws of the U.K.

 

Auchi's role in helping Barack Obama obtain the most powerful position in

the free world must be exposed. You, sir, are in a position to help do just that.

 

Jerry, there is very little difference between you refusing to release

the information you have pertaining to Nahdmi Auchi's secret meetings with

Barack Obama, and what the LATimes is doing in their refusal to release

the tape of Obama toasting Rashid Khalidi.

 

Many of us never expected that the LATimes would do the right thing. But

your readers, sir, do expect you to do the right thing. And so did (name withheld)

and I when we sent Bob Cooley and Dan Frawley to you.

So Jerry, it's time you tell what you learned in that Chicago interview,

for the good of the nation. After the election, no one will care what you know.

 

(name redacted)

 

 

----- Forwarded message -----

From: (Name and address withheld)

To: "Jerome Corsi"

Subject: Re: Frawley

Date: Fri, Feb 24, 2012 3:19 pm

 

Jerry I understand, however the play we are making is about U.S. Attorney

Patrick Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald is the focus here.

 

 

----- Reply message -----

From: "Jerome Corsi"

To: (redacted)

Subject: Frawley

Date: Fri, Feb 24, 2012 2:29 pm

 

(Name redacted)

I went back over my video with Frawley ‹ much of it was about Auchi.   I

understand how Auchi fits in, but it has to be really critical to go after

him.  He is a billionaire and he hires a battery of lawyers every time he is

mentioned in print.  I've already been through that with THE OBAMA NATION.

I will do it again, but only when I know the article will make a big impact.

 

Regards,

Jerry Corsi

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