What Fitzgerald Is Hiding in His Blagojevich Complaint?

[Are_grits_groceries]

Two days after Fitz indicted Scooter Libby, I did a post showing how details Fitz left unstated in the indictment pointed directly at Dick Cheney.

Tricky Fitzgerald!! He's been hiding Dick right in the middle of his Libby indictment.

Fifteen months later, the press finally noticed Fitz pointing to the cloud over the Vice President.

Yesterday's complaint against Blagojevich has similar silences worthy of note. We know this, partly, because Fitz tells us. He makes it clear that he has not included everything he's got in this case, generally.

"Because this affidavit is submitted for the limited purpose of securing a criminal complaint and corresponding arrest warrants, I have not included each and every fact known to me concerning this investigation."

That is, Fitz has only laid out what he needs to make the case on the two charges described here--the conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud to deprive Illinois of his honest services (this includes attempts to get campaign contributions, favorable coverage from the Trib, and money or a job for the Senate seat), and the attempt to demand a bribe from the Tribune Company (the firing of editorial staff in exchange for help on Wrigley Field). Note already how this shifts the focus onto recent events--particularly the Trib bribery attempt--and away from his larger investigation into corruption; this allows him to keep much of the latter investigation (which undoubtedly relies on more cooperating witnesses than he has named) hidden for now. Indeed, note how the general corruption investigation generally jumps from evidence from the 2004 timeframe presented at Rezko's trial to stuff collected from the wiretaps. Fitz doesn't want to tell us everything about how he got from Rezko to the taps (except insofar as revealing some details of Rezko's cooperation, which I'll get to in a later post).

Similarly, Fitz tells us that he hasn't revealed everything pertaining to Blago's attempt to sell Obama's Senate seat.

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/12/10/what-fitzgerald-is-hiding-in-his-blagojevich-complaint/#more-34819

Long article, but it's interesting!

[annabanana]

1. Clearly Fitzgerald is an artist of a prosecutor, and Marcy helps us

read his methods. I LOVE reading her legal blogs (I guess I'm happy among the weeds)

That said- I hope anyone else involved with these shenanigans don't think they've "dodged a bullet" because they aren't at the front in the allegations...

This could get ugly.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

2. Speculation, fictionalizing, and hope

There's nothing anyone knows unless they're involved in the case on Fitzgerald's staff. This kind of stuff is a fun exercise for some, I guess, but it's meaningless.

The comment that Fitzgerald only revealed what he needed in order "to make his case" is misleading. They revealed a lot more to get the complaint and information than they would have had to do in a grand jury proceeding. There's a reason for that, and it will become apparent in the days, weeks to come.

But, really, the attempts to tie anyone to anyone or anything else right now is mindless and uninformed speculation. I remember how frantic DU was when people were going on and on about how Fitzgerald was going to indict Rove. And the few voices of reason who said it probably wouldn't happened were very badly treated.

This is the same kind of thing. I just hope it stays low-key and obscure. The reality is a whole lot more fun.

[trollybob]

3. Come on, how sharp can Fitzgerald be?

He calls Wrigley Field a baseball "stadium".

[girl gone mad]

5. lol..

when I saw him speak at Millenium Park last year he related a story which involved setting out to make several lasagnas then forgetting all about them, only to have a girlfriend discover them, still in the oven, months later. Talk about a one-track mind..

[maddezmom]

4. anyone know anything about John Wyma?

December 9, 2008

~snip~
Blagojevich, like his imprisoned predecessor George Ryan, has way too often mixed campaign fundraising with government policy, and Wyma was one of the people who appeared to be at the center of that strategy.

Convicted felon Antoin "Tony" Rezko also was a part of that game, but Wyma has been known to hang out at Blagojevich's house for hours, playing chess and swapping stories. Rezko was never Wyma-style close to Blagojevich.

Chris Kelly was a much closer Blagojevich friend than Wyma, and Kelly and Wyma reportedly were at odds throughout the years about who really had the governor's ear. But it was Wyma who truly put all the pieces together with the fundraising and the lobbying.

Rezko is in prison, Kelly is awaiting trial on a tax beef, and now Wyma apparently is cooperating with the G.

Usually folks just don't volunteer to help the U.S. attorney bug their buddies. And even if the occasional altruistic citizen might, very few will do something like that out of the goodness of their heart to a close friend and a guy who has made them millions of dollars.

more:http://www.southtownstar.com/news/miller/1320476,120908miller.article