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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDennis Hastert Paid to Hide Sexual Relationship With Student: NBC
Tsk. Tsk. Those Traditional Family Values are hard to cover up for long.
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/dennis-hastert-indictment-fed-say-cover-was-related-sexual-misconduct-n366776
Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert paid a man to conceal a sexual relationship they had while the man was a student at the high school where Hastert taught, a federal law enforcement official told NBC News on Friday.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity. Tribune reported earlier in the day that two unnamed federal officials said that Hastert paid a man from his past to conceal sexual misconduct.
Hastert was indicted Thursday on charges that he structured bank withdrawals to avoid federal reporting requirements and later lied about it to the FBI. The indictment said that Hastert was paying an unidentified person from his past to conceal Hastert's "prior misconduct." The indictment did not specify the alleged misconduct or name the person.
The Yorkville, Illinois, school district where Hastert taught and coached wrestling from 1965 to 1981 said that it had "no knowledge of Mr. Hastert's alleged misconduct, nor has any individual contacted the District to report any such misconduct."
Charles Hastert, a nephew, told NBC News on Friday that his uncle "has always been as honest and clean as they come." He said he believes the charges are probably a political witch-hunt.
morningfog
(18,115 posts)workinclasszero
(28,270 posts)malaise
(269,157 posts)NOT
One more criminal ReTHUG
Just imagine the coverage if this was a Democrat
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)DanTex
(20,709 posts)just misleading the government about bank withdrawals?
RandySF
(59,224 posts)jeff47
(26,549 posts)Brother Buzz
(36,463 posts)but I believe the child abuse/rape thing would be a state issue, but lying to the FBI is a federal crime.
jeff47
(26,549 posts)Nor would it necessarily be child abuse/rape. High school, so the kid could have been 18.
Also would require a cooperating witness - the former kid. He may not want to prosecute since that brings up the blackmail.
City Lights
(25,171 posts)That was Henry Hyde's constant remark during the Clinton-Lewinsky period.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)meow2u3
(24,772 posts)Republican politicians are like your mom and dad when they tell you, "Do what I tell you; don't do what I do."
xfundy
(5,105 posts)Can they stem the tide?
MohRokTah
(15,429 posts)daleanime
(17,796 posts)Kind of sick, isn't?
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)the ones who preach the loudest are trying to cover up the sound of the skeletons rattling in their closet.
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)[URL=.html][IMG][/IMG][/URL]
mythology
(9,527 posts)Because nobody knew he had trouble keeping his hands off of kids, nobody knew to ask him under oath about it.
Besides, no doubt the kid was just asking for it dressed like that. So it's really not his fault, he couldn't help himself.
Sure it's actually illegal to sexually abuse kids as opposed to getting a blowjob from a consenting adult, but he technically didn't do what he helped impeach a president over.
aint_no_life_nowhere
(21,925 posts)For Republicans, wearing diapers with prostitutes is considered normal behavior. Something tells me this must be something akin to the Sandusky scandal and the meltdown of his career, something that would show Hastert as the biggest hypocrite in his party of hypocrites.
But of course Hastert should be given the opportunity to defend himself in the court of public opinion, if he chooses to. Republicans didn't cut Bill Clinton any breaks, however, when his scandal broke, but of course we know they're ultimate hypocrites.
Stuart G
(38,445 posts)Remember that one..
Jim Lane
(11,175 posts)My guess was that he had an affair with an underage student and that it resulted in a pregnancy. He was exposed to a charge of statutory rape plus a paternity suit.
If, however, the student was male, then my theory becomes less likely.
If, however, there was more than one student....
still_one
(92,395 posts)Jim Lane
(11,175 posts)still_one
(92,395 posts)dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)Wonder how many layers there are to this story?
SoapBox
(18,791 posts)...let me know how it all turns out.
I've got things like earning a living, taking out the trash, walking the dog and other things that the 99% do. It doesn't include having sex with high schoolers.
brooklynite
(94,727 posts)Yes, let's go with that one
workinclasszero
(28,270 posts)Smh
JI7
(89,264 posts)peecoolyour
(336 posts)Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)Snobblevitch
(1,958 posts)What does this mean? What am I missing?
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)So, subtly, you're asking them how their coach tasted.
Snobblevitch
(1,958 posts)still_one
(92,395 posts)aint_no_life_nowhere
(21,925 posts)child molestation. It would be funny if there were photos of Huckabee alongside Hastert in public, to go along with the Huckabee photos showing him alongside Ted Nugent and Josh Duggar.
KeepItReal
(7,769 posts)Nice work Bush & Co.
An actual criminal brought to justice with this law.
Now can we just let this law expire already?
sufrommich
(22,871 posts)PuraVidaDreamin
(4,109 posts)Is labeling Hastert as either Republican or Democrat?
B Calm
(28,762 posts)Hoppy
(3,595 posts)hedda_foil
(16,375 posts)He and his wife were both school teachers. He coached the wrestling team. Their families weren't wealthy. So how in he'll did he come up with $3 million in payoff money?
jwirr
(39,215 posts)countryjake
(8,554 posts)http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2015/05/28/former-house-speaker-dennis-hastert-indicted/
~snip~
Hasterts ability to make such large cash payments probably came from his career as a K Street lobbyist. He entered Congress in 1987 with a net worth of no more than $270,000 and then exited worth somewhere between $4 million and $17 million, according to congressional disclosure documents. Much of his wealth, however, was tied up in real estate holdings.
Since Hastert became a lobbyist, his clients have paid millions of dollars for his services.
Last year, Hastert took the helm of Dicksteins lobbying practice at a time when it was undergoing major structural changes.
A large group of lobbyists had departed for rival Greenberg Traurig, taking significant business, and Hastert was tapped to help rebuild Dicksteins lobbying business.
His clients included Peabody Energy, the Secure ID Coalition and Fuels America, according to lobbying records.
So, he was already worth millions when he retired from Congress in 2007, and since, he's went on to a very lucrative career lobbying for Big Tobacco and Energy.
still_one
(92,395 posts)was paying hush money
winstars
(4,220 posts)8 track mind
(1,638 posts)My memory might be failing me, but why do I vaguely remember Bartcop writing stories about Mr. Hasert having an improper relationship? Does anyone remember this?
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)remember how Denny Hastert got his job as Speaker of the House.
After Gingrich was caught whoring around, Livingston was given a shot.
But Larry Flynt had tapes of Livingston licking the boots of his dominatrix,
so he had to step down, and then a panic set in on the GOP.
They were in the process of impeaching a president for having sex, and they
couldn't find any Republicans who weren't screwing around on their wives!!
Panic!
Panic!
What would happen the the shrinking credibility of the GOP if the THIRD
Speaker in a row was guilty of the "crime" they impeched Clinton for?
Panic!
Panic!
They kept looking and kept looking. Everyone in line for the job had cheated
and proof was out there, (even tho reporters would NEVER tell on a Republican)
so they kept digging and kept digging until they found Dennis Hastert.
Who?
Dennis Hastert, a wrestling coach from Illinois.
Since they had to find a House Republican who has always been faithful to his wife,
Denny Hastert suddenly became the third most powerful man on the planet, mostly
because babes don't find sweaty wrestling coaches all that screwable.
Now fast-forward to this week.
Trent Lott got caught being a racist prick.
Next in line was Oklahoma's Junior embarrassment - Don Rickles (R-Racist).
But, just like Livingston and all the other House Republicans, Rickles was just as big
of a racist prick as Lott was, so he had to be passed over. They finally settled on Frist,
and that was only because he's so new to politics, his name isn't on a whole gaggle of
"screw the African American" legislation - so he got the top job.
In closing (crowd does the wave) the second-biggest reason Smirky McHandjob was
selected to be our president is because he's one of the few Republicans who didn't spend
most of the ninties rooting around inside Clinton's zipper for some non-existent "proof"
that would show Clinton to be a murdering, drug-dealing, serial-rapist.
So, we got Hastert because he's as unlucky as Ken Starr with women,
we got Smirky McHandjob because he wasn't in on the GOP's cockhunt
and now Frist is king of the senate because he's too new to have a record.
It's amazing how we pick our leaders, isn't it?
http://www.bartcop.com/0958.htm
hedda_foil
(16,375 posts)missingfink
(174 posts)Bartcop was great - my favorite read of the day. I wish he was still alive and putting out that daily publication. Bart had nicknames for most of the prominent 'R's'. Dennis Hastert was "the sweaty wrestler" because of his background as a coach. Someone else was labeled "the viscious Pigboy". I'll let the readers attempt to ID that person.
jwirr
(39,215 posts)some thing that was not a crime. Hypocrisy another traditional R value.
PowerToThePeople
(9,610 posts)Hmmm, something does not line up here Charles Hastert.
passiveporcupine
(8,175 posts)The second person was not being paid by Hastert, the official said.
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-hastert-misconduct-20150529-story.html
So it sounds like it's the student who is blackmailing him, and another student was also abused, but didn't blackmail him. Is there a statute of limitations on blackmail?
carolinayellowdog
(3,247 posts)not the first time I've heard about the wrestling coach/sex abuse issues, but damdifino where it was discussed before. For Individual A to wait 30 years and then demand 3.5 million in hush money is almost as despicable as the original abuse.
passiveporcupine
(8,175 posts)Child molestation sticks with you for life. But I do think blackmail is nasty too. I guess I don't find it nearly as bad, if the person being blackmailed hurt someone else, because that is karma. If it was just a mutual adult affair or something, then I'd put more weight on the blackmailer. It's also possible the kid was not up to taking any action against him when he was younger. And I wish, instead of blackmail, he had just made this public...but then where would that leave him if charges can't be made because of statue of limitations. I still like the public shaming part of it. The fact that this is revealed now has cost Hastert his current lobbying job. But he's rich enough now, he probably can live well without the income. Not in jail though. I hope he goes to jail for these new charges.
According to the link in my post, he's only paid out 1.7 million of the 3.5 agreed on, so I think the blackmailing may still be going on. After all, he had to be sneaky about the withdrawals, so it would take some time to get that much money through.
tabasco
(22,974 posts)The victim could have been ready to report Hastert's crimes and Hastert offered money to keep him quiet.
Nowhere in the indictment or news story is there a mention of a victim blackmailing Hastert.
So, stop making shit up.
Response to Tierra_y_Libertad (Original post)
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