Jesse Jackson, Jr. admitted he participated as an informant for the FBI. He was candidate no. 5 in the IL Gov. Blagojevich case. It is thought Candidate No. 5 was willing to put up money for President Elect Obama’s Senate seat.

ABC News’ Rick Klein and Bret Hovell Report: A tidbit out of Chicago may provide some insight as to why Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. is so confident of being cleared in the probe of Gov. Rod Blagojevich — despite his star turn as “Senate Candidate 5” in the US attorney’s legal filing.

WLS-TV, ABC’s Chicago affiliate, is reporting that Jackson, D-Ill., “has worked with federal prosecutors, informing on an alleged Blagojevich administration scheme two and half years earlier.”

“Sources tell ABC7 that Jackson has been in regular contact with the feds and has told the government that in 2003 Blagojevich denied the congressman’s wife Sandi an appointment as Illinois lottery director because Jackson would not donate $25,000 to the governor’s campaign fund,” WLS’ Charles Thomas reports.

“Hours before Blagojevich and his chief of staff John Harris were arrested, Jackson says prosecutors gave him a ‘courtesy call’ to let him know he was mentioned in the criminal complaint.”

ABC News reported last week that Jackson is the unnamed “Senate Candidate 5” referenced in the US attorney’s criminal complaint. According to the legal filing, emissaries for that candidate offered Blagojevich up to $1 million if he would agree to name the candidate to President-elect Barack Obama’s Senate seat.

At a press conference last week, Jackson said: “I reject and denounce pay-to-play politics and have no involvement whatsoever in any wrongdoing.”

He also made a comment that suggests that the investigation into Blagojevich’s exploits caught him by surprise: “I thought mistakenly that the process was fair,” Jackson said.

The Chicago Tribune reported Friday that Jackson allies held a fundraiser for Blagojevich the weekend before the criminal complaint against the governor was filed — in an event some attendees said was intended to boost Jackson’s prospects for joining the Senate.

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