* 6:32 pm - The timing couldn’t be worse for Burris…

Federal authorities questioned U.S. Senator Roland Burris today at his lawyer’s office — a long-awaited interview involving his U.S. Senate seat appointment — the Sun-Times-NBC/5 team has learned.

Burris is not accused of wrongdoing but was questioned in the case that centers on ousted Gov. Blagojevich and his alleged attempts to sell President Obama’s former seat.

Authorities interviewed Burris on a Saturday at his lawyer’s office, ostensibly to keep the exchange out of the limelight Burris has recently found himself in.

Burris admitted last week that his lawyers were in contact with the FBI about sitting for an interview, but denied that the contact was his motivation for controversially amending sworn testimony before a House impeachment panel.

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[Burris] has been informed he is not a target of the probe, the sources said.

Burris this past week had acknowledged that federal investigators wanted to talk to him about what he knows regarding Blagojevich’s decision to fill the Senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama.

He said his attorneys had been working for some time to set up a meeting. It was not related to the two recently started probes into how forthcoming Burris was to Illinois lawmakers and the public about his contacts with Blagojevich allies.

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Burris is expected, in fact, to make staff appointments Monday — including a replacement for a recent chief of staff who resigned Friday, and a legislative director.

The junior senator has indicated to associates that he intends to fight the controversy because he doesn’t believe he’s engaged in any wrongdoing.