Emanuel Spoke To Governor About Senate Appointment

The pressure on White House Chief of Staff designate Rahm Emanuel is ratcheting up. The Sun-Times earlier claimed the feds recorded 21 telephone conversations of Emanuel speaking to the governor's representatives about Obama's Senate replacement. A new report today claims Emanual had direct conversations with the governor, some of which were likely taped. He pressed the governor to appoint Valerie Jarrett shortly after the election; however, the report notes there is no indication at this point he attempted to broker a deal in consideration of Jarrett's appointment. The Sun-Times cites "sources with knowledge of the conversations" as their source. That differs with what Obama's folks are claiming. "A source with the Obama camp strongly denied Emanuel spoke with the governor directly about the seat, saying Emanuel only spoke with Blagojevich once recently to say he was taking the chief of staff post," the Sun-Times reports.