President Obama’s long-time Chicago confidant and golfing partner Eric Whitaker is under fire from federal prosecutors, who labeled him a 'hostile witness' Tuesday.
Whitaker is part of the ongoing trial of Leon Dingle, Jr., who allegedly stole more than $3 million in taxpayer dollars in a fraud scheme involving state grants. Whitaker refused to cooperate with federal prosecutors after they pointed out that Whitaker stood to benefit from the scheme.
The Chicago Sun-Times reported Tuesday:
He stopped cooperating after being asked about his relationship with Quinshaunta R. Golden, who was his chief of staff at the state agency and oversaw the awarding of millions of dollars in state grants and contracts to Dingle, according to prosecutors. Prosecutors had questioned Whitaker about whether he'd had a "sexual relationship" with Golden, a lawyer for Dingle revealed at an Oct. 1 pretrial hearing.
In their 13-page motion, prosecutors said Whitaker is "a witness clearly hostile to the government" not only for refusing to cooperate, but also because of his ties to Dingle.
"The government is not seeking permission to [treat Whitaker as a hostile witness] solely because Dr. Whitaker refused to answer a single question about a sexual relationship with Golden. It is counsel for Dingle . . . that has raised such an issue," Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy A. Bass wrote. "Rather, Dr. Whitaker was the Director of DPH . . . during the time millions of dollars in grant funds were awarded to" a not-for-profit group Dingle controlled.
The Sun-Times made light of Obama's high profile relationship with the recently declared 'hostile' witness:
Still, the national media will unlikely show up outside Whitaker’s home, as they did for one GOP staffer who resigned over a Facebook post criticizing the appearance of Obama’s daughters during the annual turkey pardoning.