An intern in Sen. Barack Obama’s office last year was recommended by an Illinois Democratic fundraiser later indicted for seeking kickbacks on government deals.
Obama has denied doing any favors for Antoin “Tony” Rezko, who has pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against him. The internship was one of 98 Illinois spots filled from a pool of 350 applicants.
Gerald R. Ford, who picked up the pieces of Richard Nixon’s scandal-shattered White House as the 38th and only president in America’s history never elected to nationwide office, has died, his wife, Betty, said Tuesday. He was 93.
"My family joins me in sharing the difficult news that Gerald Ford, our beloved husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather has passed away at 93 years of age," Mrs. Ford said in a brief statement issued from her husband’s office in Rancho Mirage. "His life was filled with love of God, his family and his country."
The presidential pardon of Richard Nixon’s Watergate misdeeds defined Gerald Ford’s singular presidency. That’s not exactly what Ford had hoped. He saw Nixon’s pardon as the first step toward being elected to the presidency on the merits of his own work. And there was no way Ford could focus on the nation’s business as long as Nixon’s legal fate remained unresolved. A criminal trial could take years, and Nixon would not wait out that time quietly, Ford wrote in his autobiography.
President Bush hailed Gerald R. Ford for his administration’s honor. His former opponent, President Carter, called him “a man of highest integrity.” And Nancy Reagan hailed his dedication to the country.
In the uncertain days after the Watergate scandal, those qualities were enough.
Ford, who died Tuesday at 93, was remembered for getting and keeping the country on course in shaky times.
Carter, who defeated Ford in 1976, said he was “one of the most admirable public servants and human beings I have ever known.”
For more than 12 years, Capitol Hill Blue has watched, monitored, criticized and chastised politicians from all political persuasions for what we see as their failure to serve the Constitution and their country.
We’ve fought the good fight but something was, and is, lacking. Our critics are always quick to point out that while we are there to criticize we do not offer any real solutions to the many problems that confront our nation.
A lengthy Senate investigation has debunked charges by a Republican congressman that military analysts identified Mohamed Atta and other Sept. 11 hijackers before the attacks, according to a committee aide familiar with the report.
The Pentagon is expected to send 3,500 troops into Kuwait to stand ready for use in Iraq, senior defense officials said on Tuesday as the Bush administration weighs adjusting force levels in the war.
The "call-forward" force was requested by Army Gen. John Abizaid, head of the military command responsible for the Middle East, and must be approved by Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
Iraq’s highest court rejected Saddam Hussein’s appeal Tuesday and said the former dictator must be hanged within 30 days for his role in the 1982 slayings of 148 Shiite Muslims from a town where assassins tried to kill him.
"From tomorrow, any day could be the day" Saddam is sent to the gallows, the chief judge said.
The ruling could stoke Iraq’s sectarian rage, with the Shiite majority demanding Saddam’s death and most in the formerly dominant Sunni Arab community calling the trial tainted.