Illinois congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. predicted over the weekend that he will be “vindicated” by an ethics investigation connected to ex-Governor Rod Blagojevich.
“Let me be clear. I believe in the American system of justice,” Jackson, a Democrat, said Saturday at a Kankakee County NAACP dinner. “The process is continuing, but in the end I believe I will be vindicated.”
“I don’t know him. I never had a conversation with him and by definition, I never asked anybody to talk to him,” Mr. Jackson added. “I didn’t even know he existed until the trial. I don’t know him. I never met him.”
The House Ethics Committee announced earlier this month that it would resume a probe that began before Mr. Blagojevich’s trial.
The panel announced earlier this month that it had agreed to abide by a Justice Department request to take no action in the investigation, a normal practice when the department is concerned a congressional inquiry interferes with its own investigation.
Mr. Jackson, an Illinois Democrat, who has not been charged, has repeatedly denied wrongdoing.
Mr. Jackson’s comments came two days after the Chicago Sun-Times reported that Robert Blagojevich, the ex-governor’s brother and former fundraising chief, sent letters offering to testify on Mr. Jackson before U.S. House Committee on Ethics.
