Jeb Bush name pops up at Blagojevich trial; indicted Blago pal wanted presidential pardon

[seafan]

Oh, my.


Wonder if somebody has started comparing Jeb Bush's, Bernie Kosar's and Christopher Kelly's phone records from that time period...





Blagojevich trial: NFL player part of plot to win presidential pardon of Blago pal?

By Natasha Korecki
June 14, 2010

One of Rod Blagojevich's best pals, Christopher Kelly, had plotted to get a presidential pardon from President Bush, government witness Lon Monk just testified.

Kelly wanted Bernie Kosar to approach: "(Then-Florida Governor) Jeb Bush and then go to President Bush and then pardon Chris," Monk said. "Somehow they were linked to the signing of this horse-racing bill," he said.

What was Rod Blagojevich's reaction to this plot?: "It seems kind of far-fetched," Monk said of Rod Blagojevich.

The pardon never happened and Monk didn't elaborate on whether any of the contacts even happened.

Kelly, who committed suicide last year, had been charged at that point but not with any wrongdoing involving Blagojevich.

.....

Jeb Bush scoffs at Kelly's quarterback-pardon play

by Rick Pearson
June 17, 2010

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush today dismissed the strange notion -- raised at the trial of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich -- that a major Blagojevich fundraiser wanted to prevail on Bush to seek a pardon from his presidential brother.

Blagojevich’s former chief of staff Alonzo “Lon” Monk, a prosecution witness, was caught on a secret recording saying the late fundraiser Chris Kelly was contemplating seeking a pardon with the help of former Cleveland Browns quarterback Bernie Kosar, who played college football at Miami.

Monk said Kelly thought he could use Kosar to go to Jeb Bush, a two-term Republican who was then Florida governor, and seek a pardon from outgoing President George W. Bush in 2008.

Even Blagojevich thought such a plan was far-fetched, Monk told jurors.

Kelly was indicted in 2007 on a tax case, and was under investigation that fall along with the then-governor. Kelly committed suicide last year.

“It would be humorous if it wasn’t so tragic,” Jeb Bush told reporters after appearing at a fundraising event for Illinois Republican governor candidate Bill Brady. “No, Bernie Kosar didn’t call me and I don’t know who the guy (Kelly)was.”

Asked about having his name brought up in the former Democratic governor’s corruption trial, Bush responded, “My first impression was, only in Chicago.”

Brady, a state senator from Bloomington, also dismissed as Blagojevich-like criticism from his Democratic rival, Gov. Pat Quinn, that an appearance with a member of the Bush family was a sign that Brady would return to the fiscal policies of President George W. Bush.

.....

"He's a professional naysayer, we know that," Quinn said of Brady. "All he does is preach doom and gloom, that's not going to get Illinois out of the economic turmoil that George Bush created. You know, Sen. Brady was a George Bush delegate, he was a cheerleader for George Bush, George W. Bush, and all these policies that ran the American economy into the ditch."

And, as usual, the acid-tongued former Florida governor mouths a petulant reply as he tries to change the subject:

"When people wake up who are partisans and have a sniffle they blame my brother. It's just the way it is." ---Jeb Bush, at a fundraiser for Illinois GOP gubernatorial candidate Bill Brady, June 17, 2010

If this testimony regarding Jeb Bush is true, it is pertinent to note that Jeb Bush has a prior history of intervening for his pals for a presidential pardon.


Does everyone remember Orlando Bosch, who is implicated in the downing of Cubana Flight 455 on October 6, 1976, killing all 73 people on board?


I'll bet Jeb is uncomfortably remembering his own role in securing freedom for his pal, the terrorist Orlando Bosch, because Jeb successfully lobbied his own father for the presidential pardon.


Because Jeb Bush intervened with his daddy for a pardon for this terrorist, Bosch has freely walked the streets of Miami since July 18, 1990.




So the new Blago testimony involving Jeb's possible influence-peddling with his brother is not far-fetched at all.