Hastert Under investigation??

[Bonnie]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -

The Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Dennis Hastert, is under investigation by the FBI, which is probing corruption in Congress, ABC News reported on Wednesday.

ABC, citing high level Justice Department sources, said information implicating Hastert was developed from convicted lobbyists who are now cooperating with the government.

Part of the investigation involves a letter Hastert wrote three years ago, urging the Secretary of the Interior to block a casino on an Indian reservation that would have competed with those of other tribes.

Hastert's Press Secretary told ABC in a statement: "We are not aware of this." Hastert's spokespeople were not immediately available for comment.

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsa...US-CONGRESS-ETHICS-HASTERT.xml&src=rss&rpc=22



BUT WAIT that's wrong

The Department of Justice issued a statement clarifying that Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) is not under investigation Wednesday evening after ABC World News Tonight reported that he was "very much in the mix" of the DOJ’s sweeping congressional bribery probe.

"Speaker Hastert is not under investigation by the Justice Department," DOJ Director of Public Affairs Tasia Scolinos said in a one-line statement.

The DOJ started releasing the statement in response to reporters’ questions around 7 p.m. Wednesday.

The ABC News story, which was picked up by the Drudge Report in the early evening, claimed that Hastert was under investigation by the FBI, "which is seeking to determine his role in an ongoing public corruption probe into members of Congress," according to the story. The story first cited "high-level government sources," but later changed the sourcing on its web story to "senior U.S. law enforcement officials."

Brian Ross, who reported the story, is ABC News’ chief investigative correspondent. According to his biography on ABC News’ website, he received the National Headliner Award for breaking the 1980 ABSCAM story, among other accolades.

The story maintained that part of the investigation involves a letter Hastert wrote three years ago, urging the Secretary of the Interior to block a casino on an Indian reservation that would have competed with other tribes. The other tribes were represented by convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who has pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe public officials, tax evasion and fraud. The story claimed that Abramoff has provided details of his dealings with Hastert as part of his plea agreement with the government.

The report caused a late-day furor on Capitol Hill with GOP aides questioning the motivation behind the leak, and then quickly circulating the DOJ statement that Hastert is not under investigation through e-mail. Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.), vice chair of the Republican Conference, sent the DOJ release out to his press list at 8:09 p.m.In the last two days, Hastert has publicly chastised the administration for its raid on Rep. William Jefferson’s (D-La.) congressional office over the weekend. Hastert has argued that the raid is a direct violation of the separation of powers between the two branches of government as they are defined by the Constitution.

Ron Bonjean, Communications Director for Speaker of the House J. Dennis Hastert (R-IL) issued the following statement regarding the ABC Nightly News story that aired this evening: "The ABC News report is absolutely untrue. As confirmed by the Justice Department, ‘Speaker Hastert is not under investigation by the Justice Department.’ We are demanding a full retraction of the ABC News story. The Speaker’s earlier statement issued today to ABC News accurately reflects the facts regarding this matter."

A spokeswoman for ABC News did not immediately return a call for comment.

http://www.hillnews.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/052506/doj.html


Hmmm?

By Andy Sullivan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - House Speaker Dennis Hastert might sue ABC News for libel and defamation for a news report that said he was "in the mix" in a corruption investigation, according to a letter sent by Hastert's lawyer on Thursday.

The letter from Hastert counsel J. Randolph Evans said statements in ABC's report constitute libel and defamation, and asked who could "accept service of process to remedy this intentional falsehood."

Citing anonymous law enforcement sources, ABC News reported on Wednesday that Hastert was under scrutiny in an FBI corruption investigation centered around former lobbyist Jack Abramoff.


ABC updated its story later to say Hastert was not a formal "target" or "subject" of the investigation, but was "in the mix."

Bonnie..Way to back peddle

Hastert's spokesman called the story "absolutely untrue" and demanded a retraction, and the Justice Department said the story was wrong.

At the Capitol, Hastert told Reuters: "They made an accusation. The Justice Department denied it."

Abramoff pleaded guilty to corrupting members of Congress in January and is cooperating with investigators as they examine his links to several Republican lawmakers.

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsa...US-CONGRESS-ETHICS-HASTERT.xml&src=rss&rpc=22

 

[waltky]

Hastert pleads guilty to lying to the FBI...

Dennis Hastert pleads guilty in hush-money case
Former US Speaker of the House of Representatives Dennis Hastert has pleaded guilty in a case tied to hush-money. The 73-year-old was charged with lying and breaking financial laws in an attempt to pay $3.5m (£2.3m) to cover up "misconduct".

The admission is part of deal with prosecutors that could see Mr Hastert serve up to six months in prison. The plea represents a dramatic fall for the former senior US politician. The plea agreement, seen by the BBC, says that Mr Hastert "agrees to enter a voluntary plea of guilty to Count 2", which charged him with "structuring and assisting in structuring currency transactions". "Structuring" is a term used to describe the act of removing several small sums of money (in this case less than $10,000) in order to avoid rules that require banks to report large transactions.

Count 1 alleged that Mr Hastert had lied to the FBI during the investigation. The agreement says that prosecutors will ask for this charge to be dismissed once the sentence for Count 2 has been imposed. Media reports suggest the charges may be connected to his history as a teacher and wrestling coach in Illinois in the 1970s. One woman has said Mr Hastert sexually abused her brother then and she believes he was not the only victim. Mr Hastert was not charged with sexual abuse as part of the case. Jolene Burdge told ABC News in June that her late brother Steve Reinboldt never came forward about the alleged abuse because he feared "no-one would believe him".

She said he told her about the abuse in 1979, when he revealed he was gay. The FBI interviewed Ms Burdge, who has considered coming forward with her brother's story in the past, in May. Ms Burdge never asked Mr Hastert for money, but she thinks the unnamed person cited in the case as being paid off knows what happened to her brother. Mr Hastert served as speaker of the House of Representatives from 1999 to 2007, when he resigned from the chamber after the Republicans lost control. He was first elected to the House in 1987.

Dennis Hastert pleads guilty in hush-money case - BBC News