Here’s an important follow-up to the earlier post about claims that emissaries to Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) offered cash to Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich in return for a Senate seat: Investigators have no evidence, outside of Blagojevich’s words, that the episode occurred. From MSNBC:

According to the criminal complaint, on Oct. 31st, Blagojevich was overheard saying of Candidate 5, “We were approached ‘pay to play,’ that, you know, he’d raise me 500 grand. An emissary came. Then the other guy would raise a million, if I made him a senator.”

But federal officials say the recordings did not pick up any conversations with Candidate 5 or the emissary. It’s important to note that this is a third-hand statement: Blagojevich is repeating what he says was the emissary’s description of what Candidate 5 said.

Jackson says he’ll cooperate with the investigation, but hasn’t done anything wrong. These are two separate stories from two different guys, but only one can be right.