Keepers of the Blagojevich Tapes Under Investigation

Thomas Barton, Investigative Reporter

Today, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Professional Responsibility and Office of the Inspector General are looking into the circumstances surrounding the Chicago Tribune's role in the Blagojevich case.

Here’s why.

The federal government granted Chicago Tribune employees John Chase and Jeff Coen the power to decide whether the public gets to hear the court-sealed Blagojevich wiretap tapes, or read any of the transcripts.

So far, they’ve decided that we can neither listen to the audio tapes, nor read the transcripts, of any of them.

Oh, they did refer to a couple of inane, innocuous conversations in their book. However, so far, they’ve decided that they, the Keepers of the Blago Tapes, and only they, should hear the tapes or read the transcripts.

They don’t want us to hear, for example, the conversation Blagojevich had with former Republican Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert on November 5, 2008.

They don’t want us to hear the conversation Blago had with former Obama Chief of Staff and current Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel on November 8, 2008.

They don’t want us to hear the conversation Blago had with Obama's political consultant Bill Knapp on November 12, 2008.

Rod Blagojevich’s lawyers consider these conversations important enough to be included in their Appellate Brief filed on behalf of their client. Curiously though, Blago's attorneys are not asking that those conversations be made public either.

If Appeals Attorney Len Goodman believes these conversations are important enough to include in an Appellate Brief for his client Rod Blagojevich, why wouldn’t the two fed-appointed Keepers of the Blago Tapes take advantage of the public’s interest in those conversations and increase the circulation of their employer’s newspaper by printing the transcripts?

Instead of digging for the truth, the “Keepers” have gone underground. Meanwhile, Blagojevich’s legal team has essentially endorsed the idea that the tapes should never be played for the public.

What’s up with that?

The DoJ investigators are on the case: Don't expect much from them.

However, IP2P has learned of a developing front that should concern those who have colluded to keep the truth from We the People.