newsmakers

newsmakers

Tape shows Blagojevich eyed Winfrey for Senate

CHICAGO

A secretly made FBI tape shows that former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich weighed the possibility of naming Oprah Winfrey to the U.S. Senate seat being left by President Barack Obama.

Blagojevich was heard on the tape played Monday at his corruption trial saying Winfrey’s name carried so much prestige that no one could criticize him if he named her to the Senate.

His former chief of staff, John Harris, who is on the witness stand, is heard on the tape saying he didn’t know what Winfrey stood for politically.

But the former governor says he knows she is a Democrat and supported Obama in his race for president. He calls her a “kingmaker.”

Blagojevich has pleaded not guilty to charges including that he schemed to sell or trade Obama’s former seat.

‘The Nine’ author plans new book

NEW YORK

Jeffrey Toobin, who examined the inner workings of the U.S. Supreme Court in his best-seller “The Nine,” probes the court under the Obama administration in his new book.

William Thomas, senior vice president, publisher and editor in chief at Doubleday, announced Monday that Toobin’s “The Oath: The Secret Struggle for the Supreme Court,” will be published in 2012.

“The battle between a conservative court and a liberal president will be one of the central behind-the-scenes dramas of the Obama years,” said Toobin, a staff writer for The New Yorker and a senior analyst for CNN.

“The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court” remained on The New York Times list of best-sellers for more than four months.

Rapper pleads guilty to tax-evasion charge

NEW YORK

Hip-hop star Method Man has pleaded guilty to a tax-evasion charge and made his final restitution payment to New York officials.

The former Wu-Tang Clan member was arrested Oct. 9 on charges he failed to pay state and personal income taxes from 2004 through 2007.

He was sentenced to a conditional discharge, which means the arrest will be purged from his record if he stays out of trouble.

Method Man’s real name is Clifford Smith.

He owed about $106,000. His attorney, Peter Frankel, says when the star learned of the tax issue, he immediately corrected it.

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