Obama Staff: No Inappropriate Talks With Blagojevich

President-elect Barack Obama had no contact with indicted Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) or his staff, and Obama’s staff had no “inappropriate” conversations with Blagojevich or his team about the Illinois Senate seat, Obama’s transition team said Monday.

Transition communications director Dan Pfeiffer said that a review of contacts between the team and Blagojevich’s office had been completed; Obama ordered the review in a press conference last Thursday.

“At the direction of the President-elect, a review of Transition staff contacts with Governor Blagojevich and his office has been conducted and completed and is ready for release,” Pfeiffer said in a statement. “That review affirmed the public statements of the President-elect that he had no contact with the governor or his staff, and that the President-elect’s staff was not involved in inappropriate discussions with the governor or his staff over the selection of his successor as US Senator.”

White House Chief of Staff-designee Rahm Emanuel has faced questions about what conversations he might have had with Blagojevich and his staff. Reports have swirled that Emanuel may have been recorded during court-approved wiretaps of the Illinois governor’s phone lines.

“I have never spoken with the Governor on this subject,” Obama said Dec. 11, when ordering the review. “And I am quite confident that no representatives of mine would have had any part in any deals related to this seat.”

Transition counsel and White House counsel-designee Gregory Craig has been asked to brief the U.S. Attorney’s office of the internal review, Pfeiffer said, but the transition team would not release a copy of the review until Dec. 22, per the U.S. Attorney’s request.