Barack Obama’s appointed chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, is said to have been cleared of any wrongdoing in talks with the humiliated Illinois governor who was caught on wiretap discussing how to profit from filling Obama’s vacant Senate seat. An anonymous source has told the Associated Press that a report will be released by Tuesday. In it, Obama’s internal probe reportedly explains why Emanuel contacted Blagojevich’s office about the appointment.

ABC News’s George Stephanopoulos said yesterday on his talk show, "This Week," that Emanuel spoke once with Blagojevich and four times with the governor’s chief of staff, John Harris, who’s also charged in the case and resigned this month. Emanuel openly pushed for the appointment of Valerie Jarrett — Obama’s supposed favorite — to the seat and ABC’s sources said Harris responded by asking if, in return, "All we get is appreciation, right?" Emanuel reportedly responded, "Right."

Unnamed sources reportedly told the AP something similar: Blagojevich believed Emanuel was advocating Obama’s friend Valerie Jarrett for the Senate seat — and Blagojevich wanted something in return.

Blagojevich is accused of attempting to sell Obama’s U.S. Senate seat to the highest bidder. Federal officials said Blagojevich and Harris were secretly recorded discussing ways to profit from the governor’s ability to decide who fills the Senate vacancy. Officials said the conversations, recorded using wiretaps and listening devices, revealed both men to be frustrated by what they perceived as the unwillingness of Obama’s advisers to "play ball," AP reports. An official familiar with Obama’s internal review said the president-elect’s team wrote their report without having access to transcripts of the FBI’s taped conversations.

U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald has not made the conversations public yet, the Washington Post reports. Fitzgerald has said that Obama "was not implicated" in the case," AP reports, and Emanuel is not a target for prosecutors. Obama, who is vacationing in Hawaii with his family, is said to not make a public statement on the report. He has kept mum about his ties with the fallen governor.

Meanwhile, local Chicago artist Bruce Elliot’s latest work depicts an already humiliated governor behind bars … in the buff. The Chicago Tribune reports that Elliott is "nearly complete" with a nude painting of Rod Blagojevich titled "The Cavity Search," which pictures the embattled Illinois governor "handcuffed and wearing an orange jumpsuit pulled down to his knees," with a guard nearby "pulling on a rubber glove."

The artwork will reportedly hang on the wall of Elliott’s wife’s bar, the Old Town Ale House, next to his infamous painting of a naked Sarah Palin.