Blagojevich claims Emanuel John Harris conversation tape missing, Rod Blagojevich attorneys file pretrial motion

“Why did the Illinois Senate Health & Human Services Committee, with Obama as chairman, create and push Bill 1332, “Illinois Health Facilities Planning Act,” early in 2003, which reduced the number of members on the Board from 15 to 9, just prior to rigging by Tony Rezko and Rod Blagojevich?”…Citizen Wells

From the Chicago Tribune February 7, 2011.

“Attorneys for Rod Blagojevich filed a pretrial motion Tuesday seeking what they claimed was missing evidence in the impeached Illinois governor’s corruption trial, including records of a phone call between a Blagojevich aide and then White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel.

The motion claims the telephone conversation took place just a day before Blagojevich’s December 2008 arrest on charges that include allegations he sought to sell or trade the appointment to President Barack Obama’s vacated Senate seat for personal gain. The motion says details of that conversation could bolster a defense contention that Emanuel, who has not been accused of any wrongdoing, was willing to help with a political deal in which Blagojevich would have named Illinois’ attorney general to the seat.

But the call between Emanuel and then Blagojevich chief of staff John Harris is not among hundreds of transcripts of secret FBI wiretaps recorded before Blagojevich’s arrest. The defense motion points only to circumstantial evidence that it even happened, including a reference in a White House transition-team report from after the arrest that said Emanuel had “about four” conversations with Harris. The defense was given records of only three conversations, according to the motion.

“The fourth and final phone call is the call that is mysteriously missing,” it adds. “Piecing together multiple documents after the first trial, Blagojevich uncovered the fact that the December 8th phone call … took place.”

A message seeking comment left on a voicemail overnight at the U.S. attorney’s office wasn’t immediately returned.

Blagojevich faces 23 charges at his April retrial, after jurors at his first trial last year agreed only on one of 24 counts and convicted him of lying to the FBI. Both prosecutors and defense attorneys have been ordered to file all pretrial motions by next week.

The defense’s latest filing comes just two weeks before Chicago’s mayoral election. Emanuel has a considerable fundraising advantage and leads in polls in the race to replace retiring Mayor Richard Daley.

Emanuel has said little about the Blagojevich case publicly, often citing the ongoing legal proceedings for not commenting in detail. The White House report released in 2008 by the then president-elect’s office concluded neither Emanuel nor anyone else on Obama’s staff had had any “inappropriate discussions” with Blagojevich or his aides.

It found that Emanuel had had “one or two telephone calls” with Blagojevich and “about four” with Harris, who testified for the government at Blagojevich’s first trial.”

Read more:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-us-blagojevichtrial-,0,2339978.story

Here is a wiretap from several weeks before the alleged conversation from the Blagojevich trial.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CFQwLyqNek]