May 2, 2009 6:07 pm US/Central
Jesse Jackson Jr Speaks About Ethics Probe
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
After weeks out of the public eye, U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) appeared Saturday at an immigration reform rally.
It's the first time Jackson was heard from since he became the target of a
Congressional ethics probe.
Investigators are looking into charges that Jackson surrogates offered to raise money for former Gov. Rod Blagojevich. That was supposed to be in exchange to appointing Jackson to the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President Obama.
But Jackson contends he has
done nothing wrong.
CBS 2's Pamela Jones reports.
Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. joined hundreds at gathered at a church to push for fairness for immigrant workers and for the first time in weeks, he addressed questions about the Congressional ethics committee investigation into allegations someone Jackson knows was in some way involved in an attempt to buy last year's vacant Senate seat.
"One fact will never change, whatever the outcome…I offered the former governor nothing and the former governor offered me nothing," Jackson said.
The congressman spent several minutes talking with reporters Saturday afternoon. He said he's still offering information on any
contacts his staff may have had with the former governor and Jackson is confident he'll be cleared.
"This one fundamental fact will remain throughout whatever processes… I think in the final analysis, I will be absolved," Jackson said.
That comment was said as Congressman Jackson prepares to take some 1,200 petitions to the president. They're form letters asking President Obama to enact immigration reform legislation this year.
Jackson told the crowd, immigrant workers do some of the hardest work in the country and deserve a pathway toward permanent legal citizenship.
The congressman also blasted former Gov. Rod Blagojevich for his efforts to appear in a reality show. Jackson says it basically makes a joke of the allegations against him and he says people are suffering because of the former governor's actions and that's no laughing matter.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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