Jesse Jackson Jr. says couple owes $1.8M: Something has to give

Former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. on Tuesday said he and his estranged wife Sandi Jackson are $1.8 million in debt thanks to legal bills from their federal criminal prosecution and mounting fees from an acrimonious divorce playing out in courtrooms in two cities.

Jackson Jr. talked to reporters during an at-times rambling question-and-answer session following a brief hearing in his divorce case at the Daley Center, opining on the state of Washington politics and the best way to settle the couple’s bills. Neither Jackson nor his wife, former Ald. Sandi Jackson, has worked since their release from prison after serving sentences meted out for misusing campaign funds and tax charges.

Jackson Jr. said he is living solely off Social Security Disability payments — after 17 years in Congress, Jackson Jr. in 2012 took a leave of absence for treatment of bipolar disorder — and that those payouts don’t add up to the $138,000 reported by his wife’s attorneys.

“Something has to give . . . because it’s impossible to spend to pay two sets of lawyers in this city and another set in Washington, D.C., and child support and mortgage,” Jackson said.

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