Why Is the FBI Asking About Obama's Home Purchase?

December 11, 2008

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Thursday, December 11, 2008

Mickey Kaus puts together two interesting items.

Item One, in today's Washington Post:

A footnote to the 76-page criminal complaint and affidavit charging

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) with soliciting bribes confirms

what has long been rumored — that a former longtime friend and

fundraiser for President-elect Barack Obama is talking to federal

prosecutors in hopes of a reduced sentence.

Antoin " Tony " Rezko's offer to provide authorities with evidence of

others' wrongdoing is " not complete, " and prosecutors are working to

corroborate the claims he has made so far, the footnote said.

Item Two, in the Washington Times on Election Day:

A former Illinois real estate specialist says FBI agents have

questioned him about a Chicago property that had been bought by

convicted felon Tony Rezko's wife and later sold to the couple's next-

door neighbor, Sen. Barack Obama.

The real estate specialist, J. Conner, said bank officials

replaced an appraisal review he prepared on the property and FBI

agents were investigating in late 2007 whether the Rezko-Obama deal

was proper.

" Agents and I talked about payoff, bribe, kickback for a long time,

though it took them only a short number of minutes of talking with me

while looking at the appraisal to acknowledge what they already

seemed to know: The Rezko lot was grossly overvalued, " Mr. Conner

told The Washington Times Monday.

" Rezko paid the asking price on the same day Obama paid $300,000 less

than the asking price to the same seller for his adjacent mansion, "

he said. " This begs the question of payoff, bribe, kickback. "

Maybe absolutely nothing will come of this. Recall the number of

times people thought the Whitewater investigation was on the verge of

a huge revelation that would shake the Clinton presidency to its

foundation. Federal prosecutors may or may not have an interest in

bringing charges against the President-elect.

But Obama's strange reticence about this matter might seem a little

more sensible in light of these stories . . .

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