Rod Blagojevich, the Illinois Governor, was yesterday preparing to break his silence for the first time since being accused of a “political corruption crime spree” that included efforts to sell Barack Obama’s Senate seat for cash. He told reporters that he could not wait to “tell my side of the story”, perhaps within the next 24 hours.

“There’s a time and place for everything,” he said, “that day will soon be here and you might know more about that today, maybe tomorrow.”

Although Mr Obama has emphasised that neither he, nor any member of his team, did anything wrong, rumours have continued across Illinois and through Washington about potentially damaging fall-out from the scandal for at least one of his top aides.Rahm Emanuel, picked to be White House chief of staff, was reported to feature in 21 conversations taped by the FBI’s investigation into Mr Blagojevich. That figure was disputed by officials who insisted that they had “no concerns” about Mr Emanuel. David Axelrod, the President-elect’s senior adviser, added that the notoriously abrasive chief of staff may not have always discussed his interactions with “utter precision.”

Mr Obama, newly annointed as Time magazine’s “Person of the Year”, yesterday acknowledged “it’s a little bit frustrating” that he had not been able to release the results of an internal investigation into his team’s links with Mr Blagojevich.

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