Timing of Blago Call, Jarrett's Senate Retreat Questioned

The timing of reports that Valerie Jarrett, a top aide to Barack Obama, was out of the running to succeed him in the Senate, and the Nov. 10 conference call on which Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich discussed selling that seat is raising questions, the Wall Street Journal reports. The FBI was listening, and “various Washington-based advisers” were, too—prompting some to ask if any were Obama’s.

If Team Obama wasn’t privy to the call, the timing of Jarrett being out of the mix “seems extremely lucky,” Cam Simpson notes. On the call, Blagojevich specifically asked “what he can get from the president-elect,” according to the FBI. “Look for everyone to continue focusing on this call, and who from Washington was on the line,” Simpson concludes. (More Rod Blagojevich stories.)