It was December 2008, Obama said he was "appalled and disappointed" by the revelations that the Illinois governor was involved in a "pay-to-play" scheme to fill his Senate seat.

"I have never spoken to the governor on this subject. I'm confident that no representatives of mine would have any part of any deals related to this seat," Obama, then the president-elect, said at the time.

Sheldon Sorosky, one of Rod Blagojevich’s lawyers tried to drag President Barack Obama into the fray this afternoon, asking union official Tom Balanoff whether the FBI asked him about campaign money going to Obama.

Prosecutors objected, as they have so often during cross-examinations, and U.S. District Judge James Zagel said Sorosky should only ask in general what the FBI had said to Balanoff.

But Balanoff didn’t get to give an answer, and Zagel wouldn’t let the line of questioning go on after a private sidebar discussion among the lawyers.

Balanoff's recollection of the events leading up to election night does suggest that Obama may have been more directly involved, and at an earlier stage, than he ever admitted.

Balanoff testified that when he went to talk with Blagojevich about his conversation with Obama, the former Governor almost immediately brought up the possibility of a Cabinet post for himself.

That testimony may indicate that President Obama may have been more connected to the haggling over his Senate seat than he has previously acknowledged.