Reid Pledges to do Best to Work With Burris

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Monday said he will “do my best to work with” Sen. Roland Burris, offering a much-needed show of support after days of bad news for Burris.

In an interview with Bloomberg news, Reid also noted, however, that Sangamon County State’s Attorney John Schmidt is considering a perjury investigation into Burris’s recent acknowledgement that he had more extensive contacts with former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich than he had previously disclosed, and attempted to raise funds for Blagojevich while the governor was considering appointing him to the seat.

“He is now a United States Senator. There’s an investigation taking place in Springfield,” Reid said, going on to dismiss a question about what advice he would give Burris.

“He doesn’t need my advice, he needs other people’s advice. He’s a Senator, and as long as he’s a Senator, I’m going to do my best to work with him,” Reid said.

Burris last week lost two of his top aides including his interim chief of staff, Darrel Thompson, whom Reid had loaned to Burris to help the new senator launch his office. Thompson has returned to his role of being a senior advisor to Reid.

Burris was also interviewed by federal investigators on Saturday as part of their probe into Blagojevich. Burris was told he was not the subject of the probe.

–J. Taylor Rushing