Obama White House Doesn't Want Blagojevich Retrial

On Thursday, Federal Judge James Zagel said he would set a retrial date for former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich during the first week of January 2011. The trial wouldn't begin any earlier than Jan. 4, Judge Zagel said, but he didn't set a specific date. Prosecutors had asked for an earlier date, but the judge said he wanted to avoid scheduling conflicts over the holidays.

The retrial date was discussed after federal prosecutors announced they would not retry the former governor's brother, Robert Blagojevich.

Rod Blagojevich will also need new attorneys when he stands trial again; Sam Adam Sr. and his son Sam Adam Jr. say they won't represent Blagojevich at the retrial.

On Thursday, the judge asked for a report on the former governor's finances to determine whether Mr. Blagojevich, who has said he is broke, qualifies to receive legal help. The judge said he would appoint two lawyers to serve as Mr. Blagojevich's defense team if he is deemed indigent. Blagojevich had seven attorneys in the first trial, but the judge said two lawyers would be sufficient, because the evidence had already been examined and Mr. Blagojevich had seen the government's case.

Clearly the Obama White House had preferred that the retrial not occur right away, and preferably not at all.

It is widely believed that the issue of Obama, his Chicago White House cronies, Rahm Emanuel and Valerie Jarrett, as well as Obama's own connection to convicted felon Tony Rezko, will become the central issue in the retrial, something which did not happen in the first trial, due to the fact that the prosecution cut its case short and the defense rested early as a result.

But even though the case will not be retried until January, the issue of Obama has now become unavoidable, as evidenced by Rod Blagojevich's recent statements in the news media.