Updated

The following is an internal review prepared for President-elect Barack Obama:

At your direction, I arranged for transition staff to provide accounts of any contacts that you or

they may have had with Governor Blagojevich or his office in which the subject of your

successor came up.

The accounts support your statement on December 11, 2008 that you “have never spoken to the

Governor on this subject [or] about these issues,” and that you “had no contact with the

Governor’s office.” In addition, the accounts contain no indication of inappropriate discussions

with the Governor or anyone from his office about a “deal” or a quid pro quo arrangement in

which he would receive a personal benefit in return for any specific appointment to fill the

vacancy.

One member of the transition staff, Rahm Emanuel, did have contacts of the type covered by

your request. I discuss the nature of those contacts in the attached report. David Axelrod and

Valerie Jarrett, two other individuals on the transition staff, did not have any contacts with the

Governor or his office but are included in the report to address questions raised by the press.

These accounts were communicated to the Office of the United States Attorney in interviews that

were conducted last week. At the request of the Office, we delayed the release of this report

until such time as the interviews could be completed. The interviews took place over a period of

three days: Thursday, December 18, 2008 (the President-Elect); December 19, 2008 (Valerie

Jarrett); and December 20, 2008 (Rahm Emanuel).

One other individual, Dr. Eric Whitaker, a family friend, was approached and asked for

information by a member of the Governor’s circle. I have included an account of this contact

even though Dr. Whitaker is not a member of the transition staff.

Report to the President-Elect

On December 11, 2008, the President-Elect asked the White House Counsel-designate to

determine whether there had been any staff contacts or communications – and the nature of any

such contacts of communications – between the transition and Governor Blagojevich and his

office relating to the selection of the President-Elect’s successor in the United States Senate.

The results of that review are as follows:

The President-Elect

The President-Elect had no contact or communication with Governor Blagojevich or members of

his staff about the Senate seat. In various conversations with transition staff and others, the

President-Elect expressed his preference that Valerie Jarrett work with him in the White House.

He also stated that he would neither stand in her way if she wanted to pursue the Senate seat nor

actively seek to have her or any other particular candidate appointed to the vacancy.

After Ms. Jarrett decided on November 9, 2008 to withdraw her name from consideration as a

possible replacement for him in the Senate and to accept the White House job, the President-

Elect discussed other qualified candidates with David Axelrod and Rahm Emanuel. Those

candidates included Representatives Jan Schakowsky and Jesse Jackson, Jr., Dan Hynes and

Tammy Duckworth. The President-Elect understood that Rahm Emanuel would relay these

names to the Governor’s office as additions to the pool of qualified candidates who might

already be under consideration. Mr. Emanuel subsequently confirmed to the President that he

had in fact relayed these names. At no time in the discussion of the Senate seat or of possible

replacements did the President-Elect hear of a suggestion that the Governor expected a personal

benefit in return for making this appointment to the Senate.

Rahm Emanuel

Mr. Emanuel had one or two telephone calls with Governor Blagojevich. Those conversations

occurred between November 6 and November 8, 2008. Soon after he decided to accept the

President-Elect’s offer to serve as Chief of Staff in the White House, Mr. Emanuel placed a call

to the Governor to give him a heads up that he was taking the Chief of Staff’s position in the

White House, and to advise him that he would be resigning his seat in the House of

Representatives. They spoke about Mr. Emanuel’s House seat, when he would be resigning and

potential candidates to replace him. He also had a brief discussion with the Governor about the

Senate seat and the merits of various people whom the Governor might consider. Mr. Emanuel

and the Governor did not discuss a cabinet position, 501c(4), a private sector position for the

Governor or any other personal benefit for the Governor.

In those early conversations with the Governor, Mr. Emanuel recommended Valarie Jarrett

because he knew she was interested in the seat. He did so before learning -- in further

conversations with the President-Elect -- that the President-Elect had ruled out communicating a

preference for any one candidate. As noted above, the President-Elect believed it appropriate to

provide the names of multiple candidates to be considered, along with others, who were qualified

to hold the seat and able to retain it in a future election. The following week, Mr. Emanuel

learned that the President-Elect and Ms. Jarrett with the President’s strong encouragement had

decided that she would take a position in the White House.

Between the time that Mr. Emanuel decided to accept the position of Chief of Staff in the White

House and December 8, 2008, Mr. Emanuel had about four telephone conversations with John

Harris, Chief of Staff to the Governor, on the subject of the Senate seat. In these conversations,

Mr. Emanuel and Mr. Harris discussed the merits of potential candidates and the strategic benefit

that each candidate would bring to the Senate seat. After Ms. Jarrett removed herself from

consideration, Mr. Emanuel – with the authorization of the President-Elect – gave Mr. Harris the

names of four individuals whom the President-Elect considered to be highly qualified: Dan

Hynes, Tammy Duckworth, Congresswoman Schakowsky and Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr.

In later telephone conversations, Mr. Emanuel – also with the President-Elect’s approval –

presented other names of qualified candidates to Mr. Harris including Attorney General Lisa

Madigan and Ms. Cheryle Jackson. Mr. Harris did not make any effort to extract a personal

benefit for the Governor in any of these conversations. There was no discussion of a cabinet

position, of 501c(4), of a private sector position or of any other personal benefit to the Governor

in exchange for the Senate appointment.

Although Mr. Emanuel recalls having conversations with the President-Elect, with David

Axelrod and with Valerie Jarrett about who might possibly succeed the President-Elect in the

Senate, there was no mention of efforts by the Governor or his staff to extract a personal benefit

in return for filling the Senate vacancy.

Valerie Jarrett

Ms. Jarrett had no contact or communication with Governor Blagojevich , with his Chief of

Staff, John Harris or with any other people from the Governor’s office about a successor to

replace the President-Elect in the United States Senate or how the decision should be made. Nor

did she understand at any time prior to his arrest that the Governor was looking to receive some

form of payment or personal benefit for the appointment. Her only contact with the Governor

was at the Governor’s Conference in Philadelphia on December 2, 2008, over three weeks after

she had decided not to pursue the Senate seat and had accepted the President-Elect’s offer to

work in the White House. She had a brief conversation with him on that occasion. He wished

her well.

On November 7, 2008 -- at a time when she was still a potential candidate for the Senate seat --

Ms. Jarrett spoke with Mr. Tom Balanoff, the head of the Illinois chapter of the Service

Employees International Union (SEIU). Mr. Balanoff is not a member of the Governor’s staff

and did not purport to speak for the Governor on that occasion. But because the subject of the

Governor’s interest in a cabinet appointment came up in that conversation, I am including a

description of that meeting.

Mr. Balanoff told Ms. Jarrett that he had spoken to the Governor about the possibility of

selecting Valerie Jarrett to replace the President-Elect. He told her that Lisa Madigan’s name

also came up.

Ms. Jarrett recalls that Mr. Balanoff also told her that the Governor had raised with him the

question of whether the Governor might be considered as a possible candidate to head up the

Department of Health and Human Services in the new administration. Mr. Balanoff told Ms.

Jarrett that he told the Governor that it would never happen. Jarrett concurred.

Mr. Balanoff did not suggest that the Governor, in talking about HHS, was linking a position for

himself in the Obama cabinet to the selection of the President-Elect’s successor in the Senate,

and Ms. Jarrett did not understand the conversation to suggest that the Governor wanted the

cabinet seat as a quid pro quo for selecting any specific candidate to be the President-Elect’s

replacement. At no time did Balanoff say anything to her about offering Blagojevich a union

position.

David Axelrod

Mr. Axelrod had no conversations with anyone outside the President-Elect’s immediate circle

about who should replace the President-Elect in the United States Senate. No one ever came to

Mr. Axelrod to propose a deal involving the selection of a replacement, and nothing came up in

any of his conversations with the President-Elect or the members of the President-Elect’s

immediate circle that suggested that the Governor was seeking some kind of quid pro quo for the

appointment.

Mr. Axelrod recalls that, after the election, the President-Elect discussed – with Mr. Axelrod and

Mr. Emanuel – a number of individuals who were highly qualified to take his place in the Senate.

Mr. Axelrod was under the impression that the President-Elect would convey this information to

the Governor or to someone from the Governor’s office, which explains why Mr. Axelrod gave

an inaccurate answer on this subject to questions from the press. He later learned that it was Mr.

Emanuel who conveyed those names to the Governor’s Chief of Staff, John Harris.

Dr. Eric Whitaker

Dr. Whitaker had no contacts or communications with either the Governor or his Chief of Staff,

John Harris. He did have contact and communication with one individual purporting to act on

behalf of the Governor.

In the period immediately following the election on November 4, 2008 – on either November 6,

7 or 8 – Deputy Governor Louanner Peters called him at his office and left a message. When he

returned the call, Ms. Peters asked who spoke for the President-Elect with respect to the Senate

appointment. She explained that the Governor’s office had heard from others with

recommendations about the vacant seat. She stated that the Governor’s office wanted to know

who, if anyone, had the authority to speak for the President-Elect. Dr. Whitaker said he would

find out.

The President-Elect told Dr. Whitaker that no one was authorized to speak for him on the matter.

The President-Elect said that he had no interest in dictating the result of the selection process,

and he would not do so, either directly or indirectly through staff or others. Dr. Whitaker relayed

that information to Deputy Governor Peters.

Dr. Whitaker had no other contacts with anyone from the Governor’s office.