Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s recent claim that he was paid to stay away from then-Senator Barack Obama during the 2008 campaign may have an impact on President Obama’s re-election campaign. According to Byron York at the Washington Examiner:
But there is one subject concerning Wright that merits scrutiny. In a nearly three-hour recorded interview with Ed Klein, author of the new book "The Amateur: Barack Obama in the White House," Wright said that back in 2008, when he was at the center of a raging controversy over his sermons, a close friend of Obama's offered him money to shut up until after the November election.
In the interview, Wright said Dr. Eric Whitaker, a top official at the University of Chicago Hospitals, sent a note to Wright through an intermediary at Wright's Trinity United Church of Christ. "[Eric] sent it to one of the members, who sent it to me," Wright told Klein. "He sent it to one of the guys close to me, saying, 'Can you make this offer to Rev?'"
Wright said he has kept notes from his experience and keeps all his documents, including the note from Whitaker, in a cardboard box. According to Klein, the amount Whitaker offered Wright was $150,000.
As York points out, there are some important questions that have yet to be answered: "Did Whitaker actually make the offer Wright says he did? If so, did Obama know about it? And where would the money have come from?"