Blagojevich met with Jackson Jr. Monday afternoon and said he was close to making a decision about whom he would appoint.
The governor was arrested by the FBI early Tuesday morning in order to "stop a crime spree," according to U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald.
Jackson Jr. said Tuesday that he met with Blagojevich Monday "for the first time in years" and voiced his desire to fill Obama's empty Senate seat. He said he was "shocked" by Blagojevich's arrest, adding that "if these allegations are proved true, I am outraged by the appalling, pay-to-play schemes hatched at the highest levels of our state government."
Following his press conference Wednesday, Jackson Jr. said that "at no point in time" was he told that he would be named Obama's replacement.
Jackson Jr. is only one of a number of Illinois political figures whom the FBI is expected to interview in Chicago and Washington. But fellow Illinois Democratic Reps. Luis Gutierrez, Jan Schakowsky and Danny Davis, as well as Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, all say they have not been contacted by the FBI or prosecutors in connection to the Blagojevich investigation.
Madigan has confirmed, however, that she is Senate Candidate #2 in the affidavit, but she denied having any conversations with Governor Blagojevich about the Senate seat.
According to the affidavit, Blagojevich wanted it leaked to the Chicago-Tribune that Senate candidate number 2 was running for the vacant seat because he wanted to "send a message to the [President-elect's] people."
Madigan said that if Blagojevich does not resign and the legislature fails to impeach him, she is prepared to invoke Illinois law that could result in his removal from office. She said she may be prepared to take this step sooner rather than later if it appears the legislative impeachment process is too protracted, declaring "Illinois needs a new Governor."
In addition to the hours of wiretap tapes, which reveal only Blagojevich's version of events, agents are seeking firsthand accounts from anyone who dealt with Blagojevich over Obama's vacant Senate seat.
According to an FBI affidavit unsealed after the governor's stunning arrest Tuesday, Blagojevich wanted Obama "to put something together -- something big" in exchange for going along with Obama's choice to fill his vacant U.S. Senate seat.
"I've got this thing and it's f-- golden, and, uh, uh, I'm just not giving it up for f--' nothing. I'm not gonna do it. And I can always use it. I can parachute me there," Blagojevich said during a phone call secretly recorded by the FBI Nov. 5, the day after the election, according to the affidavit.
Fitzgerald said, "There's no reference in the complaint to any conversations involving the president-elect or indicating that the president-elect was aware of it, and that's all I can say." His comment did not close the door on the possibility that Obama or someone on his staff may have known of some aspect of the governor's demands.
There are strong indications that Candidate 1 may be Valerie Jarrett, Obama's close confidante who has since been named a special presidential adviser. Senate Candidate 1 is identified in the federal documents as an adviser to the president-elect.
Durbin said Blagojevich was considering Jarrett until she withdrew her name from consideration. "The governor asked me if I thought she [Jarrett] was serious about not being appointed and I said, 'yes, she told me point blank that she was,'" Durbin said.
The federal complaint also states that Candidate 1 eventually withdrew from consideration.
In addition, Durbin declined to speculate whether Senate Candidate 5 could be in peril.
The FBI says Blagojevich wanted an appointment to the Obama Cabinet as secretary of the Health and Human Services Department, a well-paying job, or huge campaign contributions as the price for naming Obama's successor.
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