* JB Pritzker appeared on WBEZ this morning and was asked about the leaked FBI recordings of him talking with then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich in 2008. Pritzker repeated his claims from earlier that he knew before he ever announced that Gov. Rauner would “throw everything and the kitchen sink at me because, frankly, he’s got nothing to run on and they are afraid, the GOP and Bruce Rauner, are afraid to run against me.”

Pritzker also once again pointed what he considered to be the suspicious timing of the “leak,” which he says occurred on the final day of spring session when the governor couldn’t get a budget passed for the third time in a row. “So, at the close of the day with nothing to talk about, this is what they throw out there.”

When reminded that a Tribune reporter had earlier said that these recordings didn’t come from the Rauner campaign, Pritzker said…

“He said it didn’t come from Bruce Rauner. He didn’t say it didn’t come from the GOP. He didn’t say it didn’t come from the Koch brothers’ network. So, remember, they’re all in league with one another. So, he only excluded Bruce Rauner [and] I don’t think Bruce Rauner did pick up the phone and call them. So, this is a political hit.”

An ILGOP official flagged this audio for me earlier today, saying Pritzker “goes full on conspiracy theory.”

My own suspicion is that these tapes might’ve been leaked by one of Blagojevich’s defense attorneys (or perhaps a defense lawyer for a different defendant in the same case). Whether the leak was conveniently timed or whether the Trib has had these tapes for a while and the reporters just went back to listen to them is perhaps something for the FBI to consider if it ever looks into this breach of a federal judge’s seal.

* Audio of the exchange…

The full interview is here.

* This is what the Tribune reporter said, by the way…

We don’t ever talk about sourcing on these kinds of issues. I know the [Pritzker] campaign threw out a Bruce Rauner allegation. That’s not correct. I can say that. […]

This is Tribune reporting going back over … We have had routes for information on this case. I mean for me personally I’ve been protecting sources on this case back to 2006.