In the latest dramatic episode in the trial of former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, a document released by the Federal government clears the Chicago Tribune from an alleged extortion attempt from the former U.S. governor's staff. The 91-page proffer, prepared by the office of the United States Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, was unsealed upon the request of the Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times and The Associated Press, the Sun Times notes.

The document lays out the plan the federal prosecutors will use against Blagojevich in the upcoming June corruption trial. In it unfolds the elaborate web of double-crossing orchestrated by John Harris, Blagojevich's chief of staff. According to Fitzgerald's report, Blagojevich believed that "the Tribune's negative coverage of him was fueling certain adversaries of his in the State legislature and...feeding the possibility of his impeachment."

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Wire taps picked up the governor's inner circle hatching a deal: for US$100 million in state financial assistance to the then-Tribune-owned Chicago Cubs baseball team, the Tribune would fire certain anti-Blagojevich editorial board members. Among the chosen targets was John McCormick, who was, in an ironic twist, a 2010 Pulitzer Prize finalist commended for "unyielding editorials urging reform of a culture of corruption in Illinois state government."

The Columbia Journalism Review quotes Blagojevich explicitly saying to Harris "[O]ur recommendation is fire all those f*cking people, get 'em the f*ck out of there and get us some editorial support."

In fact, Harris repeatedly defied his boss's orders to threaten Tribune Co. executives, the Chicago Tribune reports. Instead, Harris "had merely strung his boss along based on information that the Tribune's financial advisor had given him about imminent layoffs. He implied to Blagojevich that the Tribune people were sensitive to his issues, even though he had full knowledge that the staff reduction was completely unrelated," Fitzgerald concludes.

According to Editor & Publisher, the Tribune's editorial board itself had no hint of anyone wanting them fired. Thus, in the last few weeks before the governor's arrest, his top aide had been pacifying Blagojevich while ignoring his directives, writes the Chicago Press Release.

Blagojevich responded through his publicist in a press release quoted by the Chicago Tribune saying, "There is nothing new. It's the same old false allegations and lies. I'm looking forward to the trial so the truth comes out and everyone will see that I'm innocent."