CHICAGO â€" Representative Jesse L. Jackson Jr., who has been absent from Congress since early June, is receiving treatment at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota for depression and gastrointestinal issues, a statement issued by the clinic said on Friday night.
The statement offered few details about Mr. Jackson's ailment, but said that he had arrived at the clinic, based in Rochester, Minn., and was to receive “extensive inpatient evaluation.†The statement, which the clinic said it was distributing on behalf of Mr. Jackson, added: “Further information will be released as Congressman Jackson's evaluation proceeds.â€
For weeks, questions have swirled over Mr. Jackson's circumstances after he dropped out of sight without explanation. As the weeks went on, his office issued three brief statements, which seemed to raise as many questions as they answered.
It was uncertain why the clinic released the information on Fr iday night, and a spokeswoman for the clinic said she could offer no additional details.
Before the statement was issued, though, The Chicago Sun-Times reported on its Web site that Mr. Jackson had been flown this week by private airplane to Minnesota after being treated in Tucson, Ariz.
Mr. Jackson, 47 and once seen as a rising star likely to become a United States senator or the mayor of Chicago, is facing re-election in November. The clinic's statement on Friday offered no sense of when Mr. Jackson may return to Washington.
