Looks like Jesse Jackson has been cooperating with Pat Fitzgerald’s probe of Rod Blagojevich for longer than we knew.
The Associated Press reports:
A spokesman for Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. tells The Associated Press the congressman has been talking to federal investigators about his dealings with Gov. Rod Blagojevich (bluh-GOY’-uh-vich) since summertime.Spokesman Rick Bryant wouldn’t give details of those discussions Tuesday morning.
But a report from WLS-TV in Chicago cites unidentified sources as saying Jackson has told investigators Blagojevich wouldn’t appoint Jackson’s wife as state lottery director because Jackson wouldn’t donate $25,000 to the governor’s campaign fund.
Jackson has admitted to being “Senate Candidate 5” identified in the charging document against the Illinois governor. Blagojevich says in a recorded conversation that an “emissary” from Candidate 5 proposed a “pay to play” deal for Barack Obama’s vacated Senate seat.
Late update: In fact, Jackson’s cooperation may have gone on for much longer than that. CNN reports:
Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. has served as an informant to the U.S. attorney’s office in Illinois, two sources close to Jackson tell CNN.Jackson has served as an informant for more than a decade and has relayed information relating to embattled Gov. Rod Blagojevich since 2006, the sources said.