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Washington (CNN) - The White House chief of staff Tuesday reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to Israel and said the dispute over settlements should not keep the Israelis and Palestinians from holding peace talks.

"No one should allow the issue of settlements to distract from the goal of a lasting peace between Israel, the Palestinians and the Arab world," Rahm Emanuel told participants at a conference of the Jewish Federations of North America.

He urged Israelis and Palestinians to hold peace negotiations soon to address key "final status" issues of security, borders, refugees and Jerusalem. But he added that that "unilateral actions should be avoided and cannot dictate the outcome," a pointed reference to continued settlement activity by Israel.

Emanuel filled in for President Barack Obama, who canceled his scheduled appearance before the group to attend the Fort Hood memorial service. He reiterated statements made by Obama stressing the "unbreakable" bond between the United States and Israel.
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WASHINGTON (CNN) - A one-time aide to former President George W. Bush took aim Sunday at recent comments by White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel that questioned the Bush administration's conduct of the war in Afghanistan.

Last Sunday on CNN's State of the Union, Emanuel strongly suggested that the current scenario in Afghanistan – with a contentious election last month casting a cloud over an already difficult security situation – was the result of missteps on the part of the previous administration.

"It's clear that basically we had a war [in Afghanistan] for eight years that was going on, that's adrift," Emanuel told CNN's John King, "that we're beginning at scratch, just at the starting point, after eight years – and that there's not an [Afghan] security force, an [Afghan] army, and the types of services that are important for the Afghans to become a true partner."

"There's a set of questions that have to have answers that have never been asked," Emanuel also said last Sunday.

Responding to Emanuel, former Bush counselor Ed Gillespie said Sunday on State of the Union that Obama's Chief of Staff "was either uninformed or willfully misleading in what he said."

Gillepsie told King that the Bush administration conducted its own thorough review of the Afghanistan war but did not disclose it publicly at the request of the incoming Obama administration.

"[Emanuel] knows full well – I suspect – that there was a proposal given and a review given that took into account the Afghan national army, the politics over there, the policing, the international framework," Gillespie said Sunday.

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WASHINGTON (CNN) – A one-time aide to former President George W. Bush took aim Sunday at recent comments by White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel that questioned the Bush administration's conduct of the war in Afghanistan.

Last Sunday on CNN's State of the Union, Emanuel strongly suggested that the current scenario in Afghanistan – with a contentious election last month casting a cloud over an already difficult security situation – was the result of missteps on the part of the previous administration.

"It's clear that basically we had a war [in Afghanistan] for eight years that was going on, that's adrift," Emanuel told CNN's John King, "that we're beginning at scratch, just at the starting point, after eight years – and that there's not an [Afghan] security force, an [Afghan] army, and the types of services that are important for the Afghans to become a true partner."

"There's a set of questions that have to have answers that have never been asked," Emanuel also said last Sunday.

Responding to Emanuel, former Bush counselor Ed Gillespie said Sunday on State of the Union that Obama's Chief of Staff "was either uninformed or willfully misleading in what he said."

Gillepsie told King that the Bush administration conducted its own thorough review of the Afghanistan war but did not disclose it publicly at the request of the incoming Obama administration.

"[Emanuel] knows full well – I suspect – that there was a proposal given and a review given that took into account the Afghan national army, the politics over there, the policing, the international framework," Gillespie said Sunday.

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WASHINGTON (CNN) – A week after White House Communications Director Anita Dunn said Fox News operates like a wing of the Republican Party, President Obama’s Chief of Staff provided another window into the administration’s thinking on the cable news outlet.

“It’s not so much a conflict with Fox News,“ Emanuel said Sunday during CNN’s State of the Union, “I suppose the way to look at it and the way the president looks at it and we look at is: it’s not a news organization so much as it has a perspective. And that’s a different take.”

Emanuel also told CNN Chief National Correspondent John King that it was important to the White House that other media outlets not take their cues from Fox.

That said, Emanuel said the White House wasn’t preoccupied with its ongoing differences with Fox News Channel. Instead, the administration is focused on reviving the economy and determining the right course of action in Afghanistan, Emanuel said Sunday.

In a statement e-mailed to CNN after Emanuel's interview on State of the Union, Fox News said it was open to having a discussion.

"Surprisingly, the White House continues to declare war on a news organization," Fox News Michael Clemente said in the statement, "instead of focusing on the critical issues that Americans are concerned about like jobs, health care and two wars. The door remains open and we welcome a discussion about the facts behind the issues."
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WASHINGTON (CNN) - Wall Street needs to focus more on helping Main Street than self-enrichment, two of President Barack Obama's top advisers said Sunday.

Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and Senior Adviser David Axelrod said Wall Street institutions that received taxpayer-funded bailouts should stop fighting proposed new financial regulations intended to prevent another near economic meltdown.

They also said firms should re-think paying large new bonuses now that fortunes have recovered, and Axelrod called for banks that got government help to increase lending to support economic growth.

The comments came after JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs last week reported strong earnings and likely lucrative bonus payments within a year of receiving government help. Both organizations have repaid the government and no longer are governed by regulations linked to the taxpayer money.

Emanuel and Axelrod, without naming names, criticized beneficiaries of government help for now opposing reforms that would prevent a recurrence of the problem.
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WASHINGTON (CNN) – As the debate over health care reform moves into a new phase, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is defending one proposal to help finance the nearly $900 billion price tag for Democrats’ ambitious plans to restructure the nation’s health care system.

“This is basically one of the ways in which you basically put downward pressure on health care costs,” the top Obama aide said Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union. “The president believes . . . it is helpful in getting costs under control and it hits the insurance companies and the high expansive and expensive plans.”

The possibility of a tax on health insurance plans with higher premiums and better benefits is driving a wedge between Democrats and many labor unions who have been longtime political allies of Democrats. In addition to being concerned about a possible tax on so-called “Cadillac” health insurance plans, unions are also concerned that the final version of health care reform legislation will not include a public health insurance option.

Labor leaders believe a public option would help union workers in negotiations with employers in an environment where escalating health care costs have dampened wage increases. The unions oppose a tax on “Cadillac” plans because they fear it could affect their middle- and working-class members who have foregone wage increases in the past in order to receive high-end health care coverage as part of overall compensation packages during collective bargaining negotiations.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – A top aide to President Barack Obama said Sunday that the administration’s thorough review of the U.S. military’s continued involvement in Afghanistan includes asking a number of questions about the Afghan government’s ability to function and provide peace and security on its own.

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said the White House is not only looking at the question of how many troops are necessary to accomplish the American mission in Afghanistan but also: “Do you have a credible Afghan partner for this process - that can provide the security and the type of services that the Afghan people need?”

“This is a much more complex decision” than just determining the appropriate level of troops, Emanuel told CNN Chief National Correspondent John King Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union.

“It’s clear that basically we had a war [in Afghanistan] for eight years that was going on, that’s adrift,” Emanuel also said, “that we’re beginning at scratch, just at the starting point, after eight years – and that there’s not an [Afghan] security force, an [Afghan] army, and the types of services that are important for the Afghans to become a true partner.”

Echoing comments from Massachusetts Democrat Sen. John Kerry, Emanuel said it would be “reckless to make a decision on U.S. troop levels if, in fact, you haven’t done a thorough analysis of whether, in fact, there’s an Afghan partner ready to fill that space that the U.S. troops would create and become a true partner in governing the Afghan country.”

“There’s a set of questions that have to have answers that have never been asked,” Emanuel said of the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan for the last eight years. Emanuel added that Obama won’t be rushed into making a decision without asking the firm questions and challenging the assumptions behind the questions.

With the results of a recent Afghan presidential still unclear because of concerns about election fraud, Emanuel said that now there are two options for resolving the election – either a run-off between the two top candidates or a negotiation between the two.

The end result must be “a legitimate and credible” government that the Afghan people view as valid, Emanuel said.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – In a session with journalists today, White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel sounded more optimistic about health care reform than many of his fellow Democrats. In fact, he made a point of telling reporters that secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who spoke with the president today, said "I wish I was this close in '94," when she unsuccessfully attempted to shepherd her bill through Congress.

That said, Emanuel clearly understands the hurdles that lie ahead-particularly with members of his own party. Yet he insisted that the committees working on legislation in the House and the Senate are not as far apart on major matters as has been portrayed. Moreover, he added the status quo is unacceptable. Any measure, he said, must be deficit-neutral, bend the health care cost curve downward, and include one of the president's favorite plans, 'MedPac', which would empower an independent executive agency to curb health care costs.

When asked whether the president needs to outline a specific plan on health care, Emanuel made it clear the president is involved, and has no intention of doing so. "We made a choice...(to offer) broad oputlines and let the legislative process work," he said. "...(When you start with a bill) every change becomes a defeat. I've done that story line." But, he added, "don't think we are waiting...we are not sitting back like the Maytag man."

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WASHINGTON (CNN) - The president's health care reform package - which has faced resistance from conservatives who oppose a public insurance option - came under attack from liberals yesterday, with most of the fire focused on White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.

Emanuel's apparent suggestion in a Wall Street Journal article published Tuesday that the White House would be willing to consider a "trigger" clause on a public option - to delay full implementation of the plan if insurance companies met certain conditions on coverage and cost - drew outrage from liberal members of Congress and MoveOn.org, which has poured millions of dollars into a campaign supporting the president's health care proposal.

Progressive Caucus co-chair Rep. Raúl Grijalva of Arizona immediately sent a letter to President Obama denouncing the idea. And MoveOn - which has launched ad campaigns in recent weeks pressuring equivocal senators to support the president's plan, and a public option - quickly turned its criticism on the White House.

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WASHINGTON (CNN) - Top Obama administration officials met privately in the Capitol with Democratic senators involved in health care reform Tuesday to assess where the complicated legislation stands and what the next steps need to be to pass it.

"We had to have it," said Finance Committe Chairman Max Baucus, D-Montana, about the meeting, which lasted an hour and a half. "To compare notes with the White House so the president's chief of staff hears our concerns and hears them directly."

Baucus declined to specify the "concerns" presented at the meeting, although the legislation has been slowed by Democratic differences over policy and financing.

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WASHINGTON (CNN) - Leaders from 11 veterans groups were conferring Wednesday afternoon with White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel on the Obama administration's plan to charge private insurers fortreatment of veterans' service-connected ailments.

Veterans' representatives and members of Congress have angrily opposed the proposal, which White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said is not finalized.

On Monday, the groups met with President Obama, Emanuel, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki and Steven Kosiak, director in charge of defense spending for the Office of Management and Budget.

The administration sees the plan as a way of raising more than $500 million in revenues for the Department of Veterans Affairs. However, veterans groups see it is a violation of the government's moral obligation to treat veterans injured during service to their country.

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(CNN) – It's a crowded ballot today in Chicago, where nearly two dozen candidates are running in a special primary election to replace former Rep. Rahm Emanuel.

Twelve Democrats, six Republicans and five Green Party candidates are vying to succeed Emanuel, who was re-elected in November to a fourth term but stepped down at the beginning of this year to serve as President Obama's White House Chief of Staff.

The winners of each party's primary will face off in a general election contest on April 7.

The district stretches from Chicago's wealthy North Side along Lake Michigan to more middle class ethnic enclaves in the northwest part of the city to suburban areas in neighboring Cook County. The district is dominated by Democrats. Emanuel won 78 percent of the vote in his re-election last November.

"This is a solidly Democratic district. It went overwhelmingly for Barack Obama. A Democrat has make an effort to lose that seat," says CNN Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider.

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WASHINGTON (CNN) - White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel said Sunday that Rush Limbaugh is the face of the GOP.

"He is the voice and the intellectual force and energy behind the Republican party, and he has been up front about what he views, and hasn't stepped back from that, which is he hopes for failure," Emanuel said on CBS's Face the Nation.

"He said it, and I compliment him on his honesty," Emanuel said. "But that's their philosophy that's enunciated by Rush Limbaugh and I think that's the wrong philosophy for America."

Limbaugh was the headline speaker at this week's Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington.

Watch: Rush Limbaugh's CPAC speech

"What is so strange about being honest and saying I want Barack Obama to fail if his mission is to restructure and reform this country so that capitalism and individual liberty are not its foundation?," he asked the raucous CPAC crowd during his 90 minute address on Saturday.

Speaking on ABC's This Week, House Republican Whip Eric Cantor said he disagreed with Limbaugh's comments.

"And I don't - I don't think anyone wants anything to fail right now. We have such challenges. What we need to do is we need to put forth solutions to the problems that real families are facing today."

WASHINGTON (CNN)– President Obama has wasted no time handling the Bush administration's unfinished business.

White House officials tell CNN Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel sent a memo Tuesday to all agencies and departments of the federal government. The memo halts further consideration of pending regulations throughout the government until a legal and policy review can be conducted by the Obama administration.

WASHINGTON (CNN)– President Obama has wasted no time handling the Bush administration's unfinished business.

White House officials tell CNN Obama Chief Staff of Staff Rahm Emanuel sent a memo Tuesday to all agencies and departments of the federal government. The memo halts further consideration of pending regulations throughout the government until a legal and policy review can be conducted by the Obama administration.

(CNN) – President-elect Obama’s team, which spent weeks documenting chief of staff Rahm Emanuel’s contact with Rod Blagojevich, got another entry for the list Monday, when the Illinois congressman sent a resignation letter to his state’s embattled governor.

“It has been a tremendous privilege to serve the people the Fifth District [of Illinois] over the past six years,” Emanuel writes in the letter to the man who once held his House seat, announcing that his resignation from the House will take effect on January 2, 2009.

“As sons of immigrants to this country,” writes Emanuel, “you and I have a deep appreciation for the opportunities America provides to those who are willing to work hard and sacrifice for their children.” As the letter ends, he offers the scandal-scarred governor his “gratitude and best wishes.”

Read: Emanuel's letter to Blagojevich

An internal investigation cleared Emanuel and the rest of Obama’s transition team of any wrongdoing in Blagojevich’s alleged plan to trade an appointment to Obama’s U.S. Senate seat for political favors.

The Illinois House panel considering impeachment charges against Blagojevich reconvened Monday and is hearing argument from the governor’s attorney.

In conjunction with the letter released Monday, Emanuel also sent automated calls to residents in his congressional district notifying them of his impending resignation.

Blagojevich himself was elected to the Illinois Fifth District’s House seat in 1996.

(CNN) - The Illinois House panel considering impeachment charges against Gov. Rod Blagojevich has received a letter from the governor's attorney urging the panel to issue subpoenas to more than a dozen potential witnesses, including incoming White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.

Steve Brown, spokesman for Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, confirms to CNN that the impeachment panel received the letter from Blagojevich attorney Ed Genson.

"The committee has taken that letter under advisement," said Brown, noting the panel's next meeting is Monday morning.

Even if the panel moved ahead with such subpoenas, however, they could still be blocked by prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, who has previously expressed concern about the impeachment panel interfering with his ongoing criminal probe.

Nevertheless, the maneuvering by Blagojevich's camp could provide a distraction for President-elect Barack Obama and top aides just days after they tried to turn the page on the matter by issing an internal investigation claiming no wrongdoing by the transition team.

Genson, Blagojevich's attorney, did not immediately return a call seeking comment on his letter.

(CNN) – An internal report compiled by the Obama transition team states that President-elect Barack Obama was interviewed by the office of U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald as part of Fitzgerald's criminal probe into embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Obama was interviewed last Thursday. Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett was interviewed Friday, and incoming White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel was interviewed Saturday.

The report, drafted by Greg Craig, Obama's choice for White House counsel, concludes that neither Obama nor his aides - including Emanuel - had any "inappropriate" contact with Blagojevich or Blagojevich's staff.

The report states that there is "no indication of inappropriate discussions with the governor or anyone from his office about a 'deal' or a quid pro quo arrangement in which he would receive a personal benefit in return for any specific appointment to fill the vacancy."

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HONOLULU, Hawaii (CNN) - Two Democratic officials are predicting that the long-awaited report about aides to President-elect Barack Obama alleged contact with the office of embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich will largely exonerate Obama's transition team.

"You're going to see this is a lot about nothing," one Democratic
official said about the controversy.

The report is significant because of lingering questions about what role - if any - top Obama aides like Rahm Emanuel played in the so-called pay-to-play scandal now engulfing the governor of Obama's home state. Specifically, the report will document what contact Emanuel and potentially other aides had with Blagojevich and his aides about the governor's alleged attempts to auction off Obama's old seat in the U.S. Senate.

Full story

(CNN) – The Obama transition team is planning to release a report by tomorrow detailing contact between his staff and embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, transition aides tell CNN.

The president-elect himself is not expected to comment publicly on the results of the internal investigation, which reportedly detail one conversation between President-elect Obama’s chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and Blagojevich, and several others between Emanuel and the governor’s top aide.

Related: What does the public think?

The Illinois governor was arrested earlier this month on charges of attempting to sell Obama’s Senate seat.

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