Testimony Puts Jackson Jr. at Meeting Where Donation-Appointment Deal was Discussed

* Other testimony puts U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. at a restaurant table when one of his supporters allegedly offered $1 million in aid if Blagojevich appointed Jackson to the Senate seat. Jackson said Friday in a press release that he would like to “clarify my role (really my nonrole) in this affair,” but that he can’t do so during the trial: “Most important, I was never part of any improper scheme with Blagojevich or anyone else related to securing the vacant Illinois Senate seat.”
* Then there’s the roster of Illinois Democrats whom Blagojevich dissed in recorded chats: U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, then-state Senate President Emil Jones, state House Speaker Michael Madigan, then-U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel and, repeatedly, Obama. Blagojevich offers that Rep. Jackson and state Attorney General Lisa Madigan are “equally repugnant,” although if both were drowning, he could bring himself to rescue Jackson.

Read more: (“The Blagojevich Trials,” Chicago Tribune, 07/11/2010)