Ken Berwitz

The Rahm Emanuel/rod blagojerkovich connection is starting to explode.

Chicago Fox News is reporting that Emanuel and blagojevich did have a number of meetings about filling Barack Obama's soon-to-be-vacated senate seat.  And they may have been taped.  You can see the report below or, if that doesn't work, by clicking here:

Then we have this somewhat-behind-the-curve report from CBS2Chicago, which tells us:

Questions Surround Emanuel In Blagojevich Case

Emanuel Declines Comment On Whether He Had Conversations With Blagojevich

CHICAGO (CBS) ― Questions are mounting about the possible involvement of President-elect Barack Obama's chief of staff Rahm Emanuel in the scandal engulfing Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

As CBS 2's Joanie Lum reports, Blagojevich represented the North and Northwest Side's 5th Congressional District in Washington before he was elected governor and Emanuel took over in 2002.

An examination of the FBI complaint against Blagojevich and the days immediately following Obama's historic election victory suggests the governor was highly interested in Obama confidante Valerie Jarrett as a potential Senate appointee, albeit with a steep price tag.

The 76-page complaint contains multiple references to "Senate Candidate 1," whose description clearly fits Jarrett, a former finance chief for Obama's earlier campaigns and incoming senior White House adviser. Read More

Because of that, the question has thus arisen as to whether Emanuel had any dealings with the governor.

Emanuel did not appear at a news conference Thursday at which President-elect Obama addressed the Blagojevich scandal and announced Tom Daschle as his pick for Health and Human Services secretary.

But a Chicago Sun-Times reporter ran into Emanuel at City Hall, and said Emanuel refused to answer any questions about whether he had conversations with Blagojevich.

Obama said at the news conference Thursday that no one on his staff tried to make any deals.

The genie is out of its bottle, and it ain't getting stuffed back in.  Indications are pretty clear that Rahm Emanuel has neck-deep involvement in this scandalous situation....with the tide still rising.

And, of course, there is Barack Obama - who first said no one associated with him had any involvement at all, and then said he was "confident" no one did.  Now he'll have to move his lie one notch further toward the truth.

This is exactly what Obama did with his claims about never hearing jeremiah wright say anything untoward, and his admission of how much money antoin "tony" rezko procured for his campaigns over the years.  Tell the lie, and then modify the lie as facts come out that prove he was lying.

Liars are what they are.   And Barack Obama lies to us all the time.  Rahm Emanuel isn't lying - yet - because he's just not talking.  

Maybe Mr. Obama should learn from that.