Hugo Floriani, Investigative Reporter

Jesse Jackson Jr. was not the only one saved when John Chase called the Blagojevich camp and warned them that the feds were listening.
Remember, it was Robert Blagojevich that would have been caught on surveillance tapes, meeting with Jackson's money man, Raguveer Nayak. Chase not only saved Jesse Jackson, Jr. from prison, he also saved Robert Blagojevich.
Hold that thought. We'll come back to it later.
November 21, 2012: Within hours of Jesse Jr's resignation from Congress, Robert Blagojevich expressed his disappointment. He felt he likely would never be able to clear his own name.
Why is that? you ask.
Well, R. Blagojevich assumed there'd be no ethics committee investigation of Jesse Jackson Jr's attempt to buy the U.S. Senate seat his brother, then Governor Rod Blagojevich, was selling.
Robert was right. The DC pols didn't want to investigate that attempted transaction.
However, there's nothing to stop Robert Blagojevich from making his case to the public.
That is, if Robert truly believes his name could be cleared.
Robert Blagojevich has all the FBI wiretap tapes that brother Rod and his attorneys have.
Robert has listened to all the government's wiretaps, and, as of today, he hasn't expressed any disagreement with Chase and Coen's assertion that the contents of the tapes show his brother is guilty.
Furthermore, Robert, Rod, and their respective attorneys have remained silent, while Chicago Tribune reporters Chase and Coen assert that the Blagojevich defense was built on a house of lies.
Remember, the entire Blagojevich entourage was screaming that "the tapes would set them free," if only everyone could hear them.
In their book "Golden," Chase and Coen claim they listened to all the wiretap tapes, and that there is nothing there that suggest Rod or Robert are innocent of attempting to sell a U.S. Senate seat.
So, in a nutshell:
In the past.
The Blagojevich brothers and their attorney's repeatedly professed that proof of their innocence is captured on the government's tapes. And that, if the public were allowed to hear the tapes, the brothers would be found innocent.
Present day.
(1) John Chase and Jeff Coen claim that the Blago's and their attorney's were lying.
(2) The Blago brothers and their attorneys are not disputing Chase and Coen's claims.
Conclusion:
The Blago's and their attorney's lied about what's on the tapes.

So, what will the Brothers and their attorney's want you to believe next? (coming soon)
Questions:
(1) What was captured on roughly 400 hours of recorded Blago wiretap conversations?
(2) Why can't we hear them?
(3) Why are the Blagojevich's and the U.S. Attorney's Office hiding behind a phony protective order?
Developing story......
Thomas Barton, Investigative Reporter

All indications are that the former governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich will be set free mid 2013.
This is being done in the usual Chicago Way - smoke and mirrors narrative put out by the Chicago media to deceive the public, while deals are made in the back-room.
The deafening silence you hear from Rod Blagojevich's legal team in the midst of John Chase and Jeff Coen running around town saying that they have listened to the never made public wiretap tapes, and that there is nothing on them, says it all, the deal is done.
This is the same legal team that consumed Blago's $3,000,000. campaign fund in his first trial, running around town screaming the tapes will prove Blago's innocent if only the people could hear them all.
Listen to what Sam Adam Jr. had to say on Dec 8, 2011, no doubt before the back-room negotiations were concluded.
Did Sam Adam, Jr. mean, if only John Chase and Jeff Coen could hear them his client would be exonerated?
And Mr. Sheldon Sorosky - aren't you in the process of an appeal for Blago?
How does John Chase and Jeff Coen, running around town claiming there is nothing on any of the government wiretap recordings of Blago that exonerates him, not concern you as his attorney?
Sheldon aren't you the least bit curious how John Chase and Jeff Coen got their hands on the non-public tapes and transcripts?
And then there's Rod's loving partner in crime and Dick Mell's daughter Patti, why is she silent on the matter?
Could it be because recently her husband has publicly asked her out on a date next August, and that she has stated she believes this will be the last holiday season he spends in prison?
So, Patti believes her husband is going to serve approximately 1 year of a 14 year sentence, at a time when Chase and Coen are claiming the tapes do not point to anything other than Blago's guilt.
There will be time for us to address how the "Blagojevich Show" got to this point, and what can be done to stop this back-room deal and insure that justice is served by Blago paying his debt to society behind bars.
However, what should be most concerning to honest law-abiding citizens at the moment is, why is the government involved in this back-room deal with Blago?
Most of all. Why are we expected to take John Chase and Jeff Coen's word for anything?
Didn't the USAO just call them liars?
Time for the public to hear the tapes and read the transcripts that everyone keeps talking about.
Time for some honest answers.
Ernie Souchak, Editor-in-Chief, Illinois PayToPlay
The communications posted below are just one example of how Patrick Fitzgerald and the Chicago Tribune worked together to insure that Barack Hussein Obama, aka "The Chosen One" would win the 2008 Presidential election. Illinois PayToPlay will have more on this soon.
All questions and or information related to this criminal activity should be directed to :
Congressman Darrell Issa ca49interndo@mail.house.gov
Dale Neugebauer Dale.Neubebauer@mail.house.gov
Chief-of-Staff
Washington, DC (202) 225-3906
California (760) 599-5000
From: (redacted)
To: "David Young" <david_young@grassley.senate.gov>
Sent: Friday, June 3, 2011 8:58:46 AM
Subject: Fwd: My Source (TIP)
Mr David Young
Please see that Senator Charles Grassley receives a copy of this.
(name redacted)
----- Forwarded Message -----
From: (redacted)
To: "Glenn Selig" <glenn@thepublicityagency.com>
Sent: Thursday, June 2, 2011 9:17:04 PM
Subject: Fwd: My Source (TIP)
Glenn,
As we discussed, The fact that Rod Blagojevich is not making John Chase and the Chicago Tribune an issue in this case is very telling. What will be most interesting is. To what extent is Darrell Issa going to ignore what is happening before he is forced to step up ?
http://media.apps.chicagotribune.com/blago/5231-session-1423-blagojevich-home.html
----- Forwarded Message -----
From: (redacted)
To:
Sent: Thursday, June 2, 2011 12:59:49 PM
Subject: Fwd: My Source (TIP)
----- Forwarded Message -----
From: (redacted)
To: "Glenn Selig" <glenn@thepublicityagency.com>
Sent: Wednesday, June 1, 2011 10:43:11 PM
Subject: My Source
Glenn,
I think this speaks for itself.
----- Forwarded Message -----
From:
To:
Sent: Wednesday, May 25, 2011 8:07:17 AM
Subject: Fwd: Or maybe
----- Forwarded Message -----
From:
To: "Rod Blagojevich" <Rod@seligmultimedia.com>
Cc: "Sheldon Sorosky" <kapsor@aol.com>, "Aaron Goldstein" <aaron@notguiltyinchicago.com>, "Randall Samborn" <Randall.Samborn@usdoj.gov>, "Kimberly Nerheim" <Kimberly.Nerheim@usdoj.gov>, "ca49interndo" <ca49interndo@mail.house.gov>, "Dale Neugebauer" <Dale.Neugebauer@mail.house.gov>, "Justin Roth" <justin.roth@mail.house.gov>, "Gerould Kern" <gkern@tribune.com>, "John Kass" <jskass@tribune.com>, "Jeff Coen" <JCoen@tribune.com>, "Donald Hayner" <dhayner@suntimes.com>, "Chris Fusco" <cfusco@suntimes.com>, "Tim Novak" <tnovak@suntimes.com>, "Dave McKinney" <dmckinney@suntimes.com>
Sent: Tuesday, May 24, 2011 9:15:23 AM
Subject: Fwd: Or maybe
Ladies and gentleman,
My source at the Chicago Tribune (referred to below) is John Chase. The same John Chase that warned Rod Blagojevich that the feds had a wiretap on him.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Concerned citizen
----- Forwarded Message -----
From:
To: "Chris Fusco" <cfusco@suntimes.com>, "Tim Novak" <tnovak@suntimes.com>, "Carol Marin" <cmarin@suntimes.com>, "Dave McKinney" <dmckinney@suntimes.com>
Cc: "Donald Hayner" <dhayner@suntimes.com>
Sent: Friday, April 29, 2011 7:52:38 AM
Subject: Fwd: Or maybe
What about the folks at the Sun-Times ?
----- Forwarded Message -----
From:
To: "Rod Blagojevich" <Rod@seligmultimedia.com>
Cc: "Sheldon Sorosky" <kapsor@aol.com>, "Aaron Goldstein" <aaron@notguiltyinchicago.com>, "Glenn Selig" <glenn@thepublicityagency.com>, "Dale Neugebauer" <Dale.Neugebauer@mail.house.gov>, "Justin Roth" <justin.roth@mail.house.gov>, "ca49interndo" <ca49interndo@mail.house.gov>, "Cheyenne steel" <cheyenne.steel@mail.house.gov>
Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2011 9:12:10 PM
Subject: Or maybe
Or maybe, no one wants the truth to get out ?
Does anyone want to know who in the Chicago Tribune organization informed me that the Tribune was sitting on the John Thomas (FBI mole) story to protect Barack Obama, at the behest of Patrick Fitzgerald ? Surely Rod Blagojevich and his lawyers will want to know or will they ? Why wouldn't they want to know ?
----- Forwarded Message -----
From:
To: "Glenn Selig" <glenn@thepublicityagency.com>
Cc: "Sheldon Sorosky" <kapsor@aol.com>, "Aaron Goldstein" <aaron@notguiltyinchicago.com>, "Rod Blagojevich" <Rod@seligmultimedia.com>
Sent: Monday, April 25, 2011 8:42:04 PM
Subject: Maybe everyone is inept ?
Glenn
To date, not a single person that has received this string of emails has asked me the simple and obvious question, who is your source at the Chicago Tribune. Remember what we discussed.
xxxxxxxxxxxx
Concerned citizen
----- Forwarded Message -----
From:
To: "Glenn Selig" <glenn@thepublicityagency.com>
Sent: Monday, April 18, 2011 8:23:27 AM
Subject: Fwd: FBI director Fitzgerald ?
Glenn
I appreciate that you are talking to Rod Blagojevich about what we have discussed, however in the mean time, has Sheldon shared this email with you ?
xxxxxxx
----- Forwarded Message -----
From:
To: "John Kass" <jskass@tribune.com>
Cc: "Chris Fusco" <cfusco@suntimes.com>, "Eric Zorn" <ericzorn@gmail.com>, "Gerould Kern" <gkern@tribune.com>, "Donald Hayner" <dhayner@suntimes.com>, "Dale Neugebauer" <Dale.Neugebauer@mail.house.gov>
Sent: Saturday, March 19, 2011 9:44:29 AM
Subject: Fwd: FBI director Fitzgerald ?
John
You continue to be an outspoken fan of U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald despite the fact you have been given evidence that should concern you deeply.
Perhaps since you and the Chicago Tribune feel so strongly about the virtues of Patrick Fitzgerald you can ask him a few questions that need answering.
1 Who leaked sealed information about the wire tap on Rod Blagojevich to John Chase, and have they been charged for that crime ?
2 Who leaked the information to John Chase that John Wyma was cooperating with the U.S Attorneys office ?
3 Why are the John Thomas files sealed ?
4 Etc.,
5 Etc.,
6 Etc.,
Get answers to these and you will be on your way to recovery.
FBI director Patrick Fitzgerald ? Pay-to-Play on steroids, he should know. You should talk to John Chase about this, as you know I have !
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
----- Forwarded Message -----
From:
To: "jskass" <jskass@tribune.com>
Sent: Friday, December 18, 2009 6:42:03 PM
Subject: Chicago Tribune - John Thomas
To whom it may concern
John Thomas was a mole for the FBI in the case in Illinois against Tony Rezko and others. The Chicago Tribune was aware of the fact and chose not to write a story about him at the behest of Patrick Fitzgerald (U.S Attorney Northern Dist IL). The Tribune eventually wrote a story about John Thomas, however the story they wrote was not accurate. My source at the Chicago Tribune claims that when Patrick Fiztgerald asked the Chicago Tribune to sit on the Thomas story, claiming it could put his life in danger, the Chicago Tribune refused. The Chicago Tribune told Mr Fitzgerald that they were going to run the story anyway. It was only when Patrick Fitzgerald told the Chicago Tribune that if they ran the story that it would affect the Presidential election did the Chicago Tribune agree not to run the story. My source at the Chicago Tribune confirmed this meant Obama. My source also informed me of other information that would be of interest to the people of Illinois that was not being reported in the Chicago Tribune.
----- Forwarded Message -----
From:
To:
Sent: Thursday, March 17, 2011 8:03:33 AM
Subject: FBI director Fitzgerald ?
I have known about this for a while, however I do find the timing of this interesting?
Could make for interesting confirmation hearings.
www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/ct-met-kass-0317-20110317,0,5332476.column
chicagotribune.com
If Fitzgerald goes to Washington, will political cockroaches like Blagojevich multiply?
John Kass
March 17, 2011
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Rod Blagojevich awoke after a night of uneasy dreams to find that he had been transformed:
Not into just another Illinois political cockroach — one more former governor awaiting a federal criminal trial — but as a WLS-AM morning radio talk show host shamelessly sucking up to his potential jury pool.
So as WLS invited former Gov. Dead Meat to use the federally licensed airwaves to politic to the jury and claim his innocence, he dropped the name of famed writer Franz Kafka.
And his co-host, wife Patti, chimed in, saying those federal prosecutors in Chicago were really unfair.
"The whole thing, it's a story out of Kafka," said Dead Meat. "You know he wrote this novel 'The Trial,' which is just an unbelievable thing about how somebody can be falsely accused of things, and then they just drop a big thing on you, and create a firestorm and before you have a chance to catch your breath, you've been defined a certain way."
Dead Meat was referring Kafka's story of Josef K., a young bank official who is arrested by federal agents and tried, though neither he nor the reader ever learn the exact nature of the crime.
It's a crazy reference, because Dead Meat knows the charges against him — like trying to sell that "(bleeping) golden" U.S. Senate seat once held by President Barack Obama.
And both he and Patti know the names of all the prosecutors and FBI agents, including U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald.
"My point is, it's a selective prosecution," Patti told the audience.
And she mentioned the story of her husband's replacement, Gov. Patrick Quinn, and his appointment of former state Rep. Careen Gordon, a Democrat from Morris.
During her campaign, Gordon opposed a tax increase but lost anyway. Then in January, Quinn needed her vote to pass his 67 percent income tax hike. He offered her an $86,000-a-year job on the state prison review board. As a potentially interesting confirmation hearing neared, Gordon withdrew her name from consideration Wednesday.
Quinn and Gordon insisted there was no quid pro quo, but anyone who believed that is a chumbolone.
"Why is it OK for Quinn and Careen Gordon to act this way?" whined Patti. "But we're sitting in a situation where you're going to go to trial again for the second time, for something far less concrete, than what they actually did."
What Quinn did is contemptible, but at least Quinn didn't have his fingerprints all over Obama's Senate seat.
On Wednesday, Patti was less (bleeping) Lady Macbeth and more like a 5-year-old, wondering why she and Rod got caught when everybody else gets to do it.
The last time I'd heard her speak was on a TV reality show, "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!"
She'd just eaten a plateful of live jungle bugs, perhaps Costa Rican cockroaches, and she was using the tip of her tongue to work them out of her teeth, the way you work celery out of your molars, when she began blubbering about Rod's innocence.
It was difficult to watch back then, but she got through it, and enough potential jurors must have seen it, too, because Dead Meat was convicted on only one federal count — lying to the FBI.
The retrial is scheduled to start April 20, and Fitzgerald has his prosecution team streamlining the case.
And now Fitzgerald might be making a move, to Washington. He's on the short list to replace Robert Muller as director of the FBI.
Whether he gets the job or not is something else again. I think Fitzgerald would like the post. Friends of his have been talking about it for years. He's obviously qualified, and he has hunted crooked Democrats and crooked Republicans with equal gusto.
But would the Chicago Way White House — with mayoral brother Billy Daley as chief of staff to the president — want an uncontrollable Fitzgerald running the FBI for the next 10 years?
Who knows? Billy Daley is approving the short list being leaked out to the media, with Fitz's name on it.
"He's clearly the best qualified candidate for the FBI director's post in the country, bar none," said former U.S. Sen. Peter Fitzgerald, no relation, who defied the Illinois Combine by installing the independent Fitzgerald in the job.
It made them so angry that Sen. Fitzgerald was run out of Illinois politics as a result.
"It would be Chicago's loss if Patrick Fitzgerald became director of the FBI," the former senator said. "All sorts of characters in Chicago would be delighted if Patrick were promoted out of town. As FBI director, his responsibilities would be focused on a broad spectrum and he wouldn't have time to focus just on Chicago."
Blagojevich was consistent throughout his shameless morning talk show rant.
He was the wronged man. His enemies wanted his hide. He was the one who fought on behalf of the people against all those schemers, liars and knaves.
But he got the Kafka reference wrong. It wasn't "The Trial" he should have been thinking of, but "The Metamorphosis," which Kafka would have begun this way, if he were covering the trial.
"As Rod Blagojevich awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect. … His numerous legs, which were pitifully thin compared to the rest of his bulk, waved helplessly before his eyes."
If the best exterminator leaves town, what will happen to all those political cockroaches?
They'll multiply. As in the old days.