Subject: Fwd: First Read: Obama advisor questions 'aunt' story timing
From: "denis mcdonough" <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Sat, 1 Nov 2008 14:50:30 -0400

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Timothy Skoczek <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, Nov 1, 2008 at 2:48 PM
Subject: First Read: Obama advisor questions 'aunt' story timing
To:

 *** UPDATE ***  Senior McCain campaign advisor Mark Salter declined to
comment on the story, per NBC/NJ's Adam Aigner-Treworgy.  Salter told
reporters on McCain's plane that "it's a family matter."

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/11/01/1625096.aspx

First Read: Obama advisor questions 'aunt' story timing

Posted: Saturday, November 01, 2008 2:17 PM by Carrie Dann

Filed Under: 2008, Obama

From NBC/NJ's Athena Jones and Carrie Dann

Speaking to reporters today, Obama chief strategist David Axelrod addressed
reports that Zeituni Onyango, the half-sister of Obama's Kenyan father, has
been living illegally in the United States for four years. Axelrod expressed
some skepticism about the timing of the news, which first broke in the Times
of London and was confirmed by the Associated Press in the waning days of
the presidential race.

"The campaign issued a statement on that," Axelrod told reporters, "And I
don't have anything more to add to it, other than I think people are
suspicious about stories that surface in the last 72 hours of a national
campaign.

"I think that they're going to take that," he added, "They're going to put
it in that context."

In a statement earlier today, the campaign said that "Sen. Obama has no
knowledge of her status but obviously believes that any and all appropriate
laws should be followed."

Campaign finance records indicate that Obama's aunt donated $265 to his
campaign.  The Obama team said today that the money would be refunded, as
foreign nationals are not permitted to donate to presidential campaigns in
the United States.

Onyango has lived in a public housing complex in Boston since an immigration
judge turned down her request for asylum in 2004.

*** UPDATE ***  Senior McCain campaign advisor Mark Salter declined to
comment on the story, per NBC/NJ's Adam Aigner-Treworgy.  Salter told
reporters on McCain's plane that "it's a family matter."