Jackson Jr. Denies Claim He Tried to Pay Blago for Senate Seat

Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. is denying allegations that he directed one of his fundraisers to offer campaign cash to then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich in return for an appointment to the Senate seat Barack Obama vacated when he became president. The Illinois Democrat issued a statement denying the claim after a story in Tuesday’s Chicago Sun-Times reported that Illinois businessman Raghuveer Nayak presented the allegation to federal officials, Roll Call reports.

Nayak also contends that he paid for airline tickets for a female friend of Jackson’s when the congressman asked him to do so.

“The allegations about fundraising and the Senate seat are not new,” Jackson said. I’ve already talked with the authorities about these claims, told them they were false, and no charges have been brought against me.”

The controversy surrounding Obama’s former Senate seat eventually propelled Blagojevich’s ouster as governor and a trial in which Blagojevich was convicted of lying to federal agents.