Has Barack Obama’s chief of staff Rahm Emanuel under pressure to resign following the revelation that he did have contact with Governor Rod Blagojevich? Yes, according to both the Herald Sun and Times Online. The former reports:

BARACK Obama’s chief of staff is under pressure over reported contacts with Illinois’s corruption-tainted governor, who faces impeachment proceedings this week.

Rahm Emanuel, a combative congressman from Illinois who will serve as Obama’s political gatekeeper in the White House, was reported to have been in touch with Governor Rod Blagojevich about Mr Obama’s Senate seat.

The Chicago Tribune and New York Times did not suggest any wrongdoing by Mr Emanuel, citing sources as saying he had presented suggested names to take over the seat without offering any inducements to Mr Blagojevich.

The Times Online gets more specific:

THE bullish, foul-mouthed but effective Chicago arm-twister Rahm Emanuel has come under pressure to resign as Barack Obama’s chief of staff after it was revealed that he had been captured on court-approved wire-taps discussing the names of candidates for Obama’s Senate seat.

Emanuel’s presence at the heart of the scandal threatens to roil the president-elect’s administration as a Chicago prosecutor builds his corruption case against Rod Blagojevich, the Illinois governor.

According to the Guardian:

Barack Obama’s choice to be his White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, is coming under mounting pressure to make a full disclosure about his contacts with the disgraced governor of Illinois over the billowing Senate “seat for sale” scandal.

We shall see. The source for MyFox Chicago said that the conversations between Emanuel and Blago were probably taped and may well be in the hands of the FBI. That doesn’t mean that Emanuel will be charged with anything, but Obama may not want a scandal-tainted chief of staff before he even takes office.

Via Gateway Pundit.