Nightly News   |  November 21, 2012

Jesse Jackson, Jr. resigns from Congress

Jackson, who has been hospitalized on and off since June for treatment of bipolar disorder, gave up his seat in Congress after 17 years. NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell reports.

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This content comes from Closed Captioning that was broadcast along with this program.

>> big news about a big name after an increasing bizarre saga. congressman jesse jackson jr . resigned today. two weeks ago he was re-elected despite disappearing from public view days earlier. we learned he was being treated for a disease, now, a cloud.

>> reporter: today, a once promising political career is officially over, with an end marked by inspispiraling legal troubles, jesse jr., the son of the famed civil rights leader, gave up his seat. in a letter, he wrote in part, my health issues and treatment have become incompatible with service in the house of representatives . jackson has been homicide on and off since june for treatment of bipolar disorder , seen here while a patient at the mayo clinic . today, cook county officials are weighing options for a special election to replace jackson .

>> and i think he feels that the district he represents, somebody should be there in a healthier condition.

>> reporter: but jackson makes striking admissions about his mistakes, talking to the justice department as they examine whether or not he used money to buy personal items, including an expensive watch. jackson writes i am doing my best to cooperate with the investigators and accept responsibility for my mistakes. for they are my mistakes, and mine alone. jackson writes i pray i will be remembered for what i did right. jackson 's lawyers say tonight that while he is cooperating it could take months to resolve the legal issues. so far, no charges have been filed. jackson says that his constituency deserves a full-time legislator, and it could take months before that