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Obama Aides Lawyer Up for Blago Probe

Top aides to President-elect Barack Obama are lawyering up, in anticipation of questioning in the probe of Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich’s alleged attempt to sell Obama’s vacant Senate seat.

Rahm Emanuel, the incoming White House chief of staff, has hired W. Neil Eggleston, a partner at Debevoise & Plimpton. Eggleston and Emanuel briefly served together in the Clinton administration in the early 1990s, when Eggleston was associate counsel to the president and Emanuel was a senior adviser. Eggleston specializes in securities litigation, white-collar defense and internal investigations.

Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to Obama, has hired Vincent Connelly, a partner in Mayer Brown’s Chicago office. Connelly is a former prosecutor in the US Attorney’s Office in Chicago.

Emanuel and Jarrett expect to be interviewed this month by the US Attorney’s Office in Chicago and by Gregory Craig, the incoming White House counsel and a partner at Williams & Connolly.

Prosecutors have not accused either Emanuel or Jarrett of wrongdoing.

Erik Even: