Clinton camp keeping an eye on Rezko trial Nick Juliano

Published: Tuesday March 4, 2008



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Print This Email This May send staffer to watch trial after Obama aide spotted taking notes Hillary Clinton's advisers sounded confident speaking to reporters Tuesday morning, and they could hardly contain their delight at the perception that Barack Obama has started facing tougher questions on the campaign trail. Now that the trial has begun for former Obama fundraiser Tony Rezko in Chicago, the Clinton campaign is hammering their opponent with charges that he is obscuring his relationship to the real estate developer, who was indicted seventeen months ago for alleged money laundering, extortion and fraud. "There are many, many more questions than answers from Sen. Obama on the Rezko matter," Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson said during a conference call with reporters. Pointing out that Obama sent a staffer to observe to the opening session of Rezko's trial, the Clinton camp is considering sending a representative of its own to watch out for Obama dirt during the proceedings. "Maybe the two people [from the Clinton and Obama campaigns] will sit together and compare notes at the end of the day," Wolfson said. Some reporters on the call wondered if Clinton's sudden calls for openness were a little bit hypocritical. The former First Lady has been criticized as too secretive for not releasing White House documents, along with her tax returns. But Wolfson claimed there was no contradiction, and insisted that the campaign just wanted answers to fairly standard inquiries. As to the tax returns, he said they would be released around April 15, before Pennsylvania voters go to the polls. "I know the kind of questions this campaign has received on matters large and small," Wolfson said. Wolfson demurred when asked to list specific allegations of misconduct on Obama's part. The Illinois Senator conducted a real estate transaction with Rezko in 2006. Obama has said the transaction itself was perfectly legal, but acknowledged it was a mistake to enter into any arrangement with Rezko when it was known he was under investigation. "This is a story that has been going on for a year and a half," Obama said on ABC's "Good Morning America" Monday. "We have seen more than 200 articles written about it. And we, in fact, released an email just recently from the seller of the home that confirmed that Mr. Resco had nothing to do with the price that I got for my house. He got into trouble that was completely unrelated to me. And that trouble that he's in right now is completely unrelated to anything that I have done." Host Terry Moran pushed Obama to release everything related to the transaction, but the candidate avoided making any firm commitment.



