What Did Denny Do?

What did Denny do?

CHICAGO — J. Dennis Hastert, the former speaker of the House of Representatives, has been charged with lying to the F.B.I. and making cash withdrawals from banks in a way that was designed to hide that he was paying $3.5 million to someone for his “misconduct” from years ago, a federal indictment released on Thursday said.

Mr. Hastert, 73, the longest-serving Republican speaker, had worked as a lobbyist since leaving office. The indictment, announced by the United States attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, said Mr. Hastert, who was once a high school teacher and wrestling coach in Yorkville, Ill., had so far paid $1.7 million to the person, who had lived in Yorkville and had known Mr. Hastert for most of his or her life. Mr. Hastert worked in Yorkville from 1965 to 1981.

In 2010, during meetings between Mr. Hastert and the unnamed individual, the two discussed “past misconduct” by Mr. Hastert against the person, according to the indictment.

OK, I'll say it - no yelling "Sandusky!" until the fax are in.

Hastert's time as a high school teacher and coach from 1965 to 1981 in Yorkville was highlighted in the indictment right off the bat. The town is also referenced as the place where "Individual A" resided for most of his or her life. The indictment added that "Individual A" has known Hastert for most of his or her life, too.

A former federal prosecutor stressed the importance of the teacher/coach detail to the Associated Press.

"Feds don't put in language like that unless it's relevant," said Jeff Cramer, who now heads up the investigation firm Kroll's Chicago office.

It's clear that Yorkville is where Hastert and "Individual A" intersect. A slew of questions still remain unanswered, though: is "Individual A" male or female? What kind of connection did "Individual A" have to Hastert? What kind of "misconduct" was so unspeakable that it was worth the former House speaker allegedly agreeing to pay out $3.5 million in cash to keep it under wraps?

It may be a while before the public gets some answers to those questions. BuzzFeed News reported on Thursday, based on anonymous sources, that the prosecutor in the case, U.S. Attorney Zachary T. Fardon, struck a deal with Hastert's lawyers to withhold explicit details from the indictment.

TPM

OK, I'll say it (for cons) - "You wouldn't find this interesting if the guy were a democrat."

Gingrich. DeLay. Livingston. Now Hastert.

All those exemplars of traditional morality that led the witch hunt against Clinton.

tom said:
Gingrich. DeLay. Livingston. Now Hastert.


All those exemplars of traditional morality that led the witch hunt against Clinton.

This should be everyone's first thought when they think back to those holier-than-thou hypocrites.

It was a "he," not that that makes any difference.

I can only imagine that anything that costs $3.5MM to hush up must be pretty bad.

Well, sadly, CNN Breaking News is what you probably thought...

"Washington (CNN)Former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert was paying a former student in order to keep quiet about allegations of sexual misconduct from the time when Hastert was a teacher and wrestling coach in Illinois, two sources with knowledge of the federal government investigation told CNN on Friday afternoon."

If he were still a teacher, the union would be fighting to make sure he remained employed.

ramzzoinksus said:
If he were still a teacher, the union would be fighting to make sure he remained employed.

Perfect.

Puhleeze, can we rerun some of the impeachment speeches made on the respective floors of congress back in Bubba's day!

ramzzoinksus said:
If he were still a teacher, the union would be fighting to make sure he remained employed.

In my experience, it's usually administrators who want to hush up siht like this. But you probably know better.

ramzzoinksus said:
If he were still a teacher, the union would be fighting to make sure he remained employed.

Actually, the union will fight tooth and nail to keep the current due process rules in place for teachers. I am sure that unions and teachers hate it when due process laws help to protect dirtbags, but they won't give up due process. I can envision situations where this leads to an erosion of the exceptional due process protections granted to teachers.

The odd thing is that we seem to have some dirtbags in our own district protected by due process while a teacher in West Orange who had her kids send get well cards to Mumia or something like that seems to have been fired by the B.O.E. Kind of odd. I am hardly a Mumia fan and what she did was ill-advised, but it hardly makes her a dirtbag.

GL2 said:
Puhleeze, can we rerun some of the impeachment speeches made on the respective floors of congress back in Bubba's day!

Sure, but let's not lose sight of the fact that Clinton was guilty.

More interesting to me is the story about Hastert was collecting bribes from the Turkey gov't. This was uncovered by Sibel Edwards and then pushed under the rug by the Bush White House.

Then Hastert gets a job as consultant to the Turkish Gov't. at 30K per year.

Just another example of the Christian/family values Republican.

Red_Barchetta said:

GL2 said:
Puhleeze, can we rerun some of the impeachment speeches made on the respective floors of congress back in Bubba's day!

Sure, but let's not lose sight of the fact that Clinton was guilty.

Yup, you're right. Guilty of lying about an affair, tryst, whatever. And the power and age differential makes it predatory, however consensual.

Not sure that sinks to the the level of molesting minors or carrying on long-term affair (Newt) while simultaneously condemning Bubba.

And, IMO, if you've long been a known hound dog (Bubba), you tend not to combine the vice with moralizing and hiding behind Jesus & Co.

Hillary will benefit from this Hastert thing - who's gonna bring up Bubba's "hobby" as a critique after Newt-Hastert revelations from that era?

My morbid curiosity leads me to ask what kind of evidence from decades ago is worth 3.5 million instead of a Denny denial. The people want to know.

GL2 said:
My morbid curiosity leads me to ask what kind of evidence from decades ago is worth 3.5 million instead of a Denny denial. The people want to know.

Really. I believe Henry Hyde would have called it a "youthful indiscretion".

GL2 said:

Red_Barchetta said:

GL2 said:
Puhleeze, can we rerun some of the impeachment speeches made on the respective floors of congress back in Bubba's day!

Sure, but let's not lose sight of the fact that Clinton was guilty.

Yup, you're right. Guilty of lying about an affair, tryst, whatever. And the power and age differential makes it predatory, however consensual.


Not sure that sinks to the the level of molesting minors or carrying on long-term affair (Newt) while simultaneously condemning Bubba.


And, IMO, if you've long been a known hound dog (Bubba), you tend not to combine the vice with moralizing and hiding behind Jesus & Co.


Hillary will benefit from this Hastert thing - who's gonna bring up Bubba's "hobby" as a critique after Newt-Hastert revelations from that era?

I'm sure this revelation will have no effect on whether R candidates will mention Bubba's hobby. As far as I know, neither Newt or Hastert is running. And hypocrisy is alive and well in the R field anyway.

I think that the Feds are going after the wrong person. Like him or not (and I don't like him and never have) he is the victim of a blackmail plot, probably by "Individual A" who should be under indictment. The statute of limitations on anything Hastert may have done has long run.

Bubba isn't running either. He will merely be the first husband if Hillary gets elected. Does she have to be held accountable for his martial indiscretions? She was very upset and even pressured him into marital therapy to deal with it.

Red_Barchetta said:

GL2 said:

Red_Barchetta said:

GL2 said:
Puhleeze, can we rerun some of the impeachment speeches made on the respective floors of congress back in Bubba's day!

Sure, but let's not lose sight of the fact that Clinton was guilty.

Yup, you're right. Guilty of lying about an affair, tryst, whatever. And the power and age differential makes it predatory, however consensual.


Not sure that sinks to the the level of molesting minors or carrying on long-term affair (Newt) while simultaneously condemning Bubba.


And, IMO, if you've long been a known hound dog (Bubba), you tend not to combine the vice with moralizing and hiding behind Jesus & Co.


Hillary will benefit from this Hastert thing - who's gonna bring up Bubba's "hobby" as a critique after Newt-Hastert revelations from that era?

I'm sure this revelation will have no effect on whether R candidates will mention Bubba's hobby. As far as I know, neither Newt or Hastert is running. And hypocrisy is alive and well in the R field anyway.

No, she doesn't. But we're talking about running for president so her opponents will use anything they think will help them.

More than one con source has shared "concern" about Bill's libido and a return to the WH.

What I want to know is how does a former high school wrestling coach come up with $3,500,000 in the first place?

bobk said:
I think that the Feds are going after the wrong person. Like him or not (and I don't like him and never have) he is the victim of a blackmail plot, probably by "Individual A" who should be under indictment. The statute of limitations on anything Hastert may have done has long run.

No, they had a contractual agreement. Not blackmail. There is not reason to think that Hastert was blackmailed or extorted. If you molest someonee then offer to pay them to keep them quiet, that's not a crime by the molestation victim.

If you actually look at what Hastert was accused of, it's essentially anti-money laundering laws.

tom said:
What I want to know is how does a former high school wrestling coach come up with $3,500,000 in the first place?

By becoming speaker of the house, then a lobbyist. Is it known when the agreement was made?

bobk said:
I think that the Feds are going after the wrong person. Like him or not (and I don't like him and never have) he is the victim of a blackmail plot, probably by "Individual A" who should be under indictment. The statute of limitations on anything Hastert may have done has long run.

So you think you know more about the Statute of Limitations than does the US Attorney.

bobk said:
I think that the Feds are going after the wrong person. Like him or not (and I don't like him and never have) he is the victim of a blackmail plot, probably by "Individual A" who should be under indictment. The statute of limitations on anything Hastert may have done has long run.

So you think you know more about the Statute of Limitations than does the US Attorney.

tom said:
What I want to know is how does a former high school wrestling coach come up with $3,500,000 in the first place?

Ask Sharpe James.