According to a report from the Chicago Tribune, Axelrod discussed Obama's friendship with Ayers on a campaign plane ride.
Axelrod said he did not know the "exact moment" Obama discovered Ayers had plotted to bomb the Capitol and the Pentagon, but it was sometime during their initial meetings. It did not deter Obama from participating in educational projects with Ayers.
As Obama did in previous denials about Ayers ("I was only eight") Axelrod used Obama's age as an excuse for associating with the criminal.
AXELROD: "I mean the fact is, like a lot of people who, you know, didn't live through that era, particularly who didn't live through that era in Chicago, it just wasn't, I mean, when he came to Chicago, Ayers was advising Mayor Daley on school reform issues and that was his profile was that he was an expert on education issues."