Barack Obama's name pops up unexpectedly in Rezko trial

Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama's name came up unexpectedly again at the Antoin "Tony" Rezko corruption trial today in Chicago and in a way that earlier filings in the case did not telegraph.

Stuart Levine, the prosecution's star witness, said he and Obama were at a party Rezko threw at his suburban Chicago Wilmette mansion on April 3, 2004, for Nadhmi Auchi, a controversial Iraqi-born billionaire whom Rezko was trying to get to invest in a South Loop real estate development.

Auchi, now a citizen of the United Kingdom, has faced criminal charges in Europe. He also figured in the revocation of Rezko's bond early this year after attempting to wire him more than $3 million. Upon learning of that attempt, U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve declared Rezko a flight risk and ordered him held in a federal jail in the Loop.

The Rezko party in 2004 was designed to induce Auchi to pour money into the South Loop investment. Obama's presence at the party of one of his major early fundraisers and political supporters was not previously known.

At the time, Obama was fresh off a surprise win in the Illinois Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate and was riding a crest of national publicity. The freshman Illinois senator is not accused of any wrongdoing, but this is yet another unknown aspect of his relationship with Rezko, which Obama has said he now regrets.

The Tribune has a nonstop Rezko trial blog here.

-- Bob Secter

Bob Secter writes for the Swamp of the Chicago Tribune's Washington bureau.                                           Photo Credit: AP/Nam Y. Huh

Comments

[Anee]

Snobama is donoma

[Bas]

I hope the press will finally expose Obama for the crooked politician everyone here in Chicago already knows he is.

[Ann Knapp]

W;hen will the voters see the light? I only pray it won't be after he wins the Democratic nomination and it's too late as he will never win the general election. Vote for Hillary!

[Inquirer]

Someone should keep the heat up on Barack Obama.

The more exposure Barack Obama gets, the worse he looks. It seems that when the REAL Obama stands up (as opposed to the Slick Campaign Obama), it’s not a pretty sight.

Here’s some of what we know so far:

Thanks to investigative efforts thus far, we know the REAL Barack Obama has a cocaine record, we know the REAL Barack Obama has a Tony Rezko shady deals record, and we know that the REAL Barack Obama has a Rev. Jeremiah Wright "God damn, America," record.

What else do we know about the REAL Obama -- other than the fact just uncovered that he hasn't a clue about what the REAL America is all about?

Here’s some of what we need to know:

We’re just beginning to get inklings about plans by Barack Obama’s church for the opening of its new race-based Kwame Nkrumah Academy, named for a firebrand black Pan-African Marxist revolutionary known in his day as “the Lenin of Africa.” KWAME NKRUMAH? Obama's church is naming its new elementary school after A MARXIST REVOLUTIONARY? Read on:

http://tinyurl.com/4ypah7

and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwame_Nkrumah

Whoa, whoa, whoa! The elephant in the room suddenly is: Does the REAL Barack Obama also have a MARXIST record?

And while the press and broadcast media have yet to catch up to this issue, others have been snooping for weeks. Here's just a sampling:

http://tinyurl.com/3p6lkl

and earlier:

http://tinyurl.com/4bdr72

See for yourselves: just Google: barack obama and marxism.

We certainly should not be seriously considering at this time an individual to lead the country who remains a Big Question Mark. Barack Obama is a big question mark. And, as I suggested at the outset, what we're learning about him as we begin to remove that question mark is not a pretty sight.

[Rebecca]

Stuart Levine? Is that one of the 3 co-defendants who was donating to Hillary's campaign?

[NURSERATCHET]

WHEN OBAMA WAS ASKED ABOUT HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH TONY REZKO DURING CNN'S DEBATE IN FEBRUARY, I AM CERTAIN HE SAID THAT THERE WAS NO RELATIONSHIP. THAT HE (OBAMA) HAD DONE ABOUT 5 HOURS LEGAL WORK FOR A PROJECT REZKO WAS INVOLVED IN. WELL, NOW, SENATOR OBAMA. THAT WASN'T THE TRUTH WAS IT?? ONCE WE PEEL AWAY THE LAYERS OF OBAMA, WHAT WILL WE FIND??? HOW CAN WE POSSIBLY NOMINATE A MAN WE KNOW NOTHING ABOUT! NO OBAMA!

[NormInPA]

Obama's mindless followers with their puppy love infatuation will find a way to attempt to dismiss this too, what's that old saying, there are none so blind as those who will not see? Seems the radical left are willing to buy a pig in a poke. Then there's the "those who don't remember history are doomed to repeat it" saying (do a Google search of the 1912 election of W. Wilson in which one party was split leading to their defeat). BO, his handlers, and his blind followers will come out and dismiss this latest revelation too. It's beginning to sound too much like "pay no attention to that man behind the curtain."

[Johnny]

Cozy relationships like the one between, the hypocrite, Senator Obama and the rascal, Tony Rezko, is what makes us "working folk" bitter with a tendency, as a "crutch" to cling out of desperation to guns and religion as a substitute to "wrapping our fingers around a politicians neck" and ringing some sense, if at all possible, into it. Oh, mercy, Mr. Obama, we are quite bitter that you are playing us for fools while you line your pockets with "goodies" from your pal Rezko, leaving us, as a means of escape from reality, clinging to our guns and religion. All your phony talk, Mr. Obama, makes us cling even more thereby raising our "bitterness" to new heights, irritated further by your "dance-step" with Tony Rezko.

[Chuck]

Guilt by association doesn't work for me. The Clintons and McCain have spent time with a variety of crooked and corrupt individuals as well. This is only news because Obama cultivated the reputation of being completely different from the normal politician. He's not. The system requires that you get big money to run for office. It is a corrupt system and taints the candidates who participate in it. I still support Obama as being someone who is not as strongly tied to the old system. I am particularly encouraged by the small donor support he has received. He is much less beholden to special interests than either McCain or Clinton. I will go for the guy who breaks the Bush/Clinton treadmill - Go Obama!

[steven caballos]

Afer Obama wins you will see the economy rise again and gas prices drop like a hot potato.!!!

[steven caballos]

After Obama wins you will all see the economy rise like the sun in the mornig and gas prices drop like Clintons pants behind the desk.