{"id":891,"date":"2026-09-19T18:22:23","date_gmt":"2026-09-19T18:22:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/capitalfeed.news\/?p=891"},"modified":"2026-09-19T18:22:23","modified_gmt":"2026-09-19T18:22:23","slug":"%f0%9f%9a%a8-fbi-files-unsealed-what-obama-and-emanuel-told-agents-about-blagojevich","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capitalfeed.news\/?p=891","title":{"rendered":"\ud83d\udea8 FBI Files Unsealed: What Obama and Emanuel Told Agents About Blagojevich …"},"content":{"rendered":"

Newly Released FBI Records Detail Obama-Emanuel Interviews in Blagojevich Case<\/h3>\n

WASHINGTON, D.C.:<\/strong> Newly released FBI records provide additional details about conversations involving then-President-elect Barack Obama, his incoming chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, and former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich over who might succeed Obama in the U.S. Senate.<\/p>\n

The records include partially redacted FBI FD-302 interview summaries of Obama and Emanuel. According to Fox News, Obama was interviewed on December 18, 2008, while Emanuel was interviewed on December 20, 2008, shortly after Blagojevich was arrested on federal corruption charges.<\/p>\n

The FBI records had previously been withheld from public release. A federal court had ruled that the FD-302s were protected as attorney work product because the interviews were conducted as prosecutors prepared for potential litigation.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

What Did the Emanuel Interview Reveal About Lisa Madigan?<\/h3>\n

Blagojevich had maintained that he was considering appointing then-Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan to Obama’s Senate seat. Madigan was the daughter of then-Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan.<\/p>\n

According to the newly reported FBI interview notes, Obama was asked whether he knew that Emanuel had discussed Lisa Madigan with the Blagojevich administration as a potential Senate candidate.<\/p>\n

The Emanuel interview notes say that on December 8, 2008, Emanuel and David Axelrod met with U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and that Lisa Madigan was discussed as a possible candidate.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The notes further state that Emanuel subsequently contacted Blagojevich’s chief of staff, John Harris, and discussed the merits of appointing Madigan to the Senate.<\/p>\n

Blagojevich was arrested at his Chicago home the following morning, December 9, 2008. Federal prosecutors accused him and his chief of staff of, among other things, attempting to obtain personal financial benefits by leveraging his authority to appoint a U.S. senator.<\/p>\n

Valerie Jarrett and Other Candidates<\/h3>\n

The FBI interview records also discuss Obama’s initial consideration of longtime confidante Valerie Jarrett for the Senate seat. Obama ultimately decided that Jarrett would instead join his administration as a senior White House adviser.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

According to the Emanuel interview, Emanuel continued to favor Jarrett for the Senate seat at that stage of the process. After Jarrett was no longer under consideration, other potential candidates included Tammy Duckworth, former Rep. Jan Schakowsky, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., and Lisa Madigan.<\/p>\n

A contemporaneous 2008 review of contacts between Obama’s transition team and Blagojevich’s office stated that Emanuel had discussed potential Senate candidates with Blagojevich’s chief of staff. The review said those discussions did not include an agreement to provide Blagojevich with a personal benefit in exchange for the Senate appointment.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Blagojevich ultimately appointed Roland Burris to Obama’s vacant Senate seat. Burris did not seek reelection. Republican Mark Kirk won the seat in 2010, and Tammy Duckworth defeated Kirk in 2016.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Newly Released FBI Records Detail Obama-Emanuel Interviews in Blagojevich Case WASHINGTON, D.C.: Newly released FBI records provide additional details about conversations involving then-President-elect Barack Obama, his incoming chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, and former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich over who might succeed Obama in the U.S. Senate. The records include partially redacted FBI FD-302 interview […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":896,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-policy","post_format-post-format-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalfeed.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalfeed.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalfeed.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalfeed.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalfeed.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=891"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/capitalfeed.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":897,"href":"https:\/\/capitalfeed.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891\/revisions\/897"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalfeed.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalfeed.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalfeed.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalfeed.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}