President-elect Barack Obama plans to reveal on Tuesday his staff's conversations with the Illinois governor accused of trying to sell Obama's Senate seat, transition officials said Monday.

"We have a report," said Obama spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter. "It's been ready for release for a week. We've held off at the request of the U.S. Attorney's office and that continues to be the case, though we expect to be able to release the report shortly."

Obama had promised to release this week the review he ordered of contacts between his aides and Gov. Rod Blagojevich's office about appointing Obama's Senate successor. The president-elect is on vacation in Hawaii, but his office will go ahead with the release on Tuesday, transition officials said.

Blagojevich is accused of trying to sell Obama's Senate seat. Obama has said his internal review will show that his staff had no "inappropriate" discussions with the governor or his staff about the seat.

Incoming White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel contacted Blagojevich's office about the appointment, according to a source close to the governor who requested anonymity because the person is not authorized to speak on the matter. Blagojevich believed Emanuel was advocating Obama friend Valerie Jarrett for the Senate seat so he would not have to compete with her for Obama's attention in the White House, the source said.

It was not known whether Emanuel, a Chicago-area congressman, spoke to Blagojevich, his chief of staff, or both, or why the governor believed Emanuel was pushing Jarrett for the job, the source said.

It's also not known if any of those discussions are included in tapes investigators began making of Blagojevich's conversations in October. A federal complaint charging the governor with seeking cash and favors for Obama's vacant Senate seat doesn't cite conversations with Emanuel or others on the transition staff. read more

Rahm Emanuel, Barack Obama's chief of staff, reportedly had one conversation with Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.


A new national poll indicates Americans are split on whether aides to President-elect Barack Obama did something inappropriate in their contacts with embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Twelve percent of those questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Monday say Obama aides did something illegal, with another 36 percent feeling Obama aides didn't act illegally but did do something unethical. Forty-three percent say no Obama aides did anything seriously wrong.

Blagojevich was arrested December 9 on federal corruption charges. Among the allegations is that the Illinois governor tried to sell or trade Obama's former Senate seat.

Obama stepped down as the junior senator from Illinois last month after winning the presidential election. It is the sole authority of the Illinois governor to name a successor to serve the remaining two years of Obama's term.

Two transition aides said that the Obama team will release a report Tuesday detailing contact between the president-elect's staff and Blagojevich and his advisers.

The results of the internal investigation reportedly will list one conversation between Obama's incoming chief of staff, Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, and Blagojevich. read more