ANOTHER OBAMA HEADACHE: BLAGO TRIAL STARTS

Rod Blagojevich's attempt to get Barack Obama to testify at his corruption trial failed last month when the judge denied the motion for subpoena. Nonetheless, with scandals involving the White House allegedly offering positions / jobs to Rep. Joe Sestak in exchange for dropping out of his primary race with Arlen Specter in Pennsylvania and Andrew Romanoff for dropping out of his race with incumbent Michael Bennet; the trial is likely to get additional play.

Obama may not be testifying but it's looking like the testimony of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is a very distinct possibility. Emanuel has his fingerprints on both the Sestak and Romanoff scandals. The Blagojevich trial may just be the trifecta. Emanuel was identified by last week's White House memo as the person who dispatched Clinton to approach Sestak and his Deputy Chief of Staff, Jim Messina was named by the Denver Post last September as the person who approached Romanoff.

Ukraine's KYIV Post is reporting on the Blago trial:

Judge James Zagel of the U.S. District Court ruled out a defense request to have Obama testify. But among those who may take the stand are senior White House staffers Rahm Emanuel and Valerie Jarrett, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, U.S. Senator Richard Durbin, and U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.

"Given the former Governor's previous antics regarding this case, it's no surprise he is casting a wide net -- apparently from the President down to dogcatcher," a statement from Durbin's office said after the Senate Democrat was served.

This article also provides another angle of interest - Blago plans to testify and his attorney admits to having little to no control over him. Blago is scheduled to testify in his own defense. That alone would make for a great spectacle.

His attorney told an interviewer that he had neither the capability nor the intention of shutting Blagojevich up.

"He's a celebrity idiot, but he is a celebrity," Sam Adam Jr. told Chicago Magazine of plans to let his client testify.

Quieting Blagojevich would never work, he added.

"I can't. But you're going to see when he testifies. He's truly funny -- totally self-absorbed but truly funny," Adams said. "He's also one of the most insecure people I've ever met. It's such a strange dynamic."

Back in April, due to a glitch, the redacted portions of Blago's motion to subpoena Obama were revealed. Click HERE to read. The unredacted portions, read in the context of the two other scandals all but serves to create even closer parallels between Obama, Blago, Sestak, and Romanoff.

More HERE

h/t to Free Republic