Burris Should Think About His Future, Obama Aide Says

By Roger Runningen and Andrew Harris

Feb. 20 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Senator Roland Burris’s statements about his appointment appear to be inconsistent and he should take time this weekend to think about his future, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

“The people of Illinois have been through a very trying time,” Gibbs told reporters at a briefing today in Washington. “The president is supportive of an investigation that would get some full story out.”

Earlier today, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn called on Burris, a Democrat, to resign as a result of the furor over discrepancies in his statements about contacts with former Governor Rod Blagojevich and the governor’s advisers before he got the Senate appointment.

Quinn, who took office last month after Blagojevich’s impeachment and removal, told a Chicago press conference that Burris should “put the interests of the people of Illinois ahead of his own.” Quinn said it wasn’t in the public interest to have a senator “going over and over matters with respect to how he obtained the office.”

(More here.)