PRESIDENT-ELECT Barack Obama will make public by today a report detailing his staff's contacts with Illinois Democratic governor Rod Blagojevich, who has been accused of trying to sell the US Senate seat that Mr Obama resigned, Democratic officials said at the weekend.
Release of the report, finished last week, was held up at the request of the US attorney investigating Mr Blagojevich. But two Democratic sources said the Obama team expects to make it public today.
Last week, Mr Obama told reporters that the report found no "inappropriate" contact between his staff and Mr Blagojevich or his staff. But Mr Obama and his aides have declined to offer details, including whether chief of staff-designate Rahm Emanuel discussed the Senate seat with the Illinois governor.
George Stephanopoulos, host of the ABC News Sunday talk show This Week, said on the show that Mr Emanuel spoke once with Mr Blagojevich and four times with the governor's chief of staff, John Harris. Citing Democratic sources, Mr Stephanopoulos said the report would clear Mr Emanuel of saying or doing anything wrong.
Federal officials used wiretaps and listening devices to capture Mr Blagojevich and Mr Harris discussing ways to profit from the governor's ability to decide who fills the Senate vacancy.
Those conversations revealed both men to be frustrated by what they perceived to be the unwillingness of Mr Obama's advisers to play ball.
Some of the conversations between Mr Blagojevich or Mr Harris and Emanuel may be captured on tape, too.
But US attorney Patrick Fitzgerald has not made those conversations public.
Meanwhile, environmentalist activists expressed optimism yesterday about the incoming administration's commitment to combating climate change.
"If this team can't advance strong national policy on global warming, then no one can," said Kevin Knobloch, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists, referring to Mr Obama's choices for the top energy and environment jobs in his administration, which takes office on January 20th.
"This calibre of scientists in any administration would be a major headline," Mr Knobloch said by telephone yesterday. "But in contrast to the eight years of the Bush administration, where political appointees ran roughshod over science at a terrible cost to the truth, they stand out even more.
Last week, Mr Obama picked a Nobel physics laureate, Stephen Chu, to head the energy department; former environmental lawyer and US senator Ken Salazar as interior secretary; former New Jersey environment chief Lisa Jackson to head the US Environmental Protection Agency; and Nancy Sutley, deputy mayor of Los Angeles, to run the White House Council on Environmental Quality. - (Los Angeles Timesservice; additional reporting Reuters)