Carol Felsenthal

His career may be in the tank and his White House dreams shattered, but there’s some good news for Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. this week: He made The Hill’s “50...

After the closing arguments on Tuesday, I called a prominent defense lawyer in town whom I’ve known for decades. He asked not to be identified, but his insights are worth...

The Blagojevich defense opened its case Monday with the ex-gov’s older-by-16-months brother, Robert Blagojevich, testifying on behalf of Rod (and also himself—Rob is the alleged middle man in the plot...

"Quite frankly, it’s [Blagojevich’s] case, and it’s the high stakes that he’s facing, so he certainly runs the show on many of these things," says Aaron Goldstein, the youngest—and arguably...

In tapes played for the jury last week at the Blago trial, the ex-gov was heard telling aides that if both Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr....

By several accounts, Blago’s defense lawyers have come off looking like rookies—often tutored by U.S. District Judge James Zagel in a manner reminiscent of a an impatient and bored professor.

“I hear you’re an Oxxford guy,” I said to Rod Blagojevich in 2003, shortly after he became governor. His beady, closely-set eyes popped in excitement, and he launched into a...

Jonathan Alter grew up in Lincoln Park before heading east for school and then to New York to write for Newsweek. Currently the national affairs columnist for the beleaguered magazine,...

When Rod was at the top of his game in 2003, just after he was elected governor—and when fantasies of the Oval Office danced in his head—he told me that...