Rezko: Feds pressured to incriminate Obama

My colleague Ken Vogel sends over a copy of a letter from Tony Rezko to the judge in his corruption trial, in which he accuses prosecutors of pressuring him to incriminate Obama:

Your Honor, the prosecutors have been overzealous in pursuing a crime that never happened. They are pressuring me to tell them the “wrong” things that I supposedly know about Governor Blagojevich and Senator Obama. I have never been party to any wrongodoing that involved the Govenror or the Senator. I will never fabricate lies about anyone else for selfish purposes.



In the letter, Rezko -- who was later convicted on corruption charges -- maintains his innocence and pleads for time with his family before what he says is his likely conviction.

His conviction was thought to have badly damaged Blagojevich and cast his political future in doubt; the trial hardly touched Obama.

The U.S. Attorney's office declined comment in the Tribune piece on the letter, and it's worth keeping in mind that Rezko's case doesn't fit into the pattern of reportedly political federal prosecutions: The U.S. Attorney in Chicago is Patrick Fitzgerald, not a man whose taking his guidance from Karl Rove.

UPDATE: Vogel has much, much more context here.