Reporting with Sarah Ostman
We're nearing the day that Rod Blagojevich gets arrested. The recording just played is in early December, just the week before the former governor's arrest.
Blagojevich is heard reacting to a Chicago Tribune article that he read to say that lobbyist and friend John Wyma had been wearing a wire.
Blagojevich asks Harris if he believed Wyma's attorney, who was making public statements saying Wyma had not been wearing a wire.
"Do you believe him?" Blagojevich asked Harris.
Harris said he had no reason not to believe him.
(The Tribune reported that the government was recording Rod Blagojevich based on information by Wyma. Prosecutors later disclosed that Wyma had refused to wear a wire but he provided the probable cause basis for wiretaps in the case.)
Blagojevich then switches topics to the Chicago Tribune editorial board, asking why editorial writer John McCormick hadn't been canned.
"So McCormick stays at the Tribune, huh?" Blagojevich is heard asking.
Harris said he once again fibbed about the situation.
"I was trying to buy more time, telling him more layoffs were coming," Harris said.
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