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If you think Blagojevich was arrested so early in the investigation to stop a crime from being committed, you're wrong.

Says the WSJ. Patrick Fitzgerald's investigation team would have preferred to let the sale of the Senate seat go through and to catch the crime on tape. In fact, the timing of the arrest was dictated by the Chicago Tribune:

At Fitzgerald?s request, the paper had been holding back a story since October detailing how a confidante of Blagojevich was cooperating with his office.

But editors decided to publish the story on Friday, Dec. 5... : ?Feds taped Blagojevich; TRIBUNE EXCLUSIVE: Adviser cooperated with corruption probe, sources say.?

Blagojevich read the same headline. ?Undo? that ?thing,? the governor allegedly told his brother, according to the FBI. And just like that, the meeting was off, only one day after it had been put back into play.

IN THE COMMENTS: Darcy says:

I never thought that.

I do have a suspicion that the Tribune didn't want it to go any further, though. Time to warn the Democrats and protect Obama?

A poll -- and I'm deliberately depriving you of the weaselly "both" answer:

What is the main reason the Chigago Tribune decided to reveal the wiretap?
	For its own advantage -- to get more readers.
	To warn Democrats who were about to fall into the trap.
pollcode.com free polls

Full post as published by Althouse on December 15, 2008 (boomark / email).