Long-Hidden Obama, Emanuel FBI Interviews From Blagojevich Case Surface

By Illinois Review

Nearly eighteen years after federal investigators interviewed President-elect Barack Obama and incoming White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel in the Rod Blagojevich investigation, the FBI records documenting those conversations have surfaced.

The partially redacted FD-302 interview summaries were obtained this week by Fox News.

Illinois Review called for their release in July.

Obama was interviewed on December 18, 2008, nine days after Blagojevich’s arrest. Emanuel was interviewed two days later. The records remained out of public view through both of Blagojevich’s criminal trials.

Blagojevich’s defense sought the interviews before both trials, and U.S. District Judge James Zagel denied the requests. In 2011, after reviewing the summaries himself, Zagel said they contained nothing relevant to the defense.

The records were also the subject of a years-long Freedom of Information Act fight. The FBI denied a 2012 request from Judicial Watch for the Obama, Emanuel and Valerie Jarrett interview reports, and the Justice Department successfully defended the withholding in court through a 2020 D.C. Circuit ruling that the reports were protected as attorney work products.

The Obama 302 shows investigators asked whether he knew Emanuel had discussed then-Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan for the vacant Senate seat in exchange for legislation being passed.

According to the report, Emanuel would have been aware that Madigan was an acceptable candidate to Obama and had an “open line of conversation” with the Blagojevich administration.

The Emanuel interview provides additional detail.

On December 8, 2008, one day before Blagojevich’s arrest, Emanuel and Obama adviser David Axelrod met with Sen. Dick Durbin and agreed Madigan would be a strong candidate. Emanuel then contacted Blagojevich Chief of Staff John Harris and discussed the merits of appointing her.

Blagojevich has maintained for years that he was considering appointing Madigan as part of broader negotiations involving her father, then-House Speaker Michael Madigan, and Blagojevich’s legislative agenda.

The documents reported so far do not establish that a Madigan-for-legislation agreement was reached.

The interviews also address Jarrett, whom Obama initially considered for the Senate before deciding she would join his White House staff. According to Emanuel’s interview, he continued to favor Jarrett for the Senate because her close friendship with Obama could make serving in the White House “awkward.”

In 2015, the Seventh Circuit vacated five counts tied to the Senate seat because of flawed jury instructions, and prosecutors did not retry them.

President Donald Trump commuted Blagojevich’s 14-year prison sentence in 2020 after he had served nearly eight years, and granted him a full pardon in 2025.

Fox News reported that the records remain partially redacted. Obama and Emanuel did not respond to the network’s requests for comment.