This story is so back and forth. First it starts off with ABC’s Brian Ross reporting this:
Federal officials say the Congressional bribery investigation now includes Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, based on information 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 other tribes.
The other tribes were represented by convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff who reportedly has provided details of his dealings with Hastert as part of his plea agreement with the government.
This is nothing really new. There has been talk of Hastert being involved for months now, all this does is give us a little verification which is good.
Well this story comes out and shockingly enough the Justice Department issues an immediate denial:
The Justice Department denied a news report Wednesday that it was investigating House Speaker Dennis Hastert.
The statement by department spokeswoman Tasia Scolinos came in response to a report by ABC News that Hastert was under investigation by the FBI to determine his role in a public corruption probe centered around convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Amid a furor surrounding the weekend FBI raid on the offices of Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., ABC quoted federal officials as saying information implicating Hastert was developed from convicted lobbyists now cooperating with the government.
What is shocking about this is the speed in which the Justice Department responded. It is also shocking that they responded at all. We have heard different names come and go as being investigated with Abramoff, Cunningham and even Fitzgerald. In the past none of these reports have been confirmed nor denied by the Justice Department.
So why has the Justice Department decided to break its silence regarding on going investigations? Perhaps the answer lies with the heat Hastert has been putting on them regarding the William Jefferson raid this past weekend:
“The Justice Department must immediately return the papers it unconstitutionally seized,” House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said in a statement.
Interesting how this statement came out a few short hours before Brian Ross broke the original story that Hastert is under investigation.
Now back to the Hastert investigation. After the Justice Department issued it’s denial of the investigation, Brian Ross responded and said that Hastert is under investigation:
Richard Esposito and Rhonda Schwartz contributed to this report.
Despite a flat denial from the Department of Justice, federal law enforcement sources tonight said ABC News accurately reported that Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert is “in the mix” in the FBI investigation of corruption in Congress.
Speaker Hastert said tonight the story was “absolutely untrue” and has demanded ABC News retract its story.
Law enforcement sources told ABC News that convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff has provided information to the FBI about Hastert and a number of other members of Congress that have broadened the scope of the investigation. Sources would not divulge details of the Abramoff’s information.
“You guys wrote the story very carefully but they are not reading it very carefully,” a senior official said.
So now we got ABC still confirming the story even after the Justice Department flatly denies it. But what could be the reason for this. Well there is one part of this last story by ABC that could answer that:
Officials said the next logical investigative step would be for the FBI to seek a wide range of documents from the members of Congress named by Abramoff, including letters and business documents.
There is the hidden answer and now lets put it into order. Hastert comes out this week supporting a Democrat under investigation for bribery and even demands that papers be returned that the FBI seized. With a Republican leader doing this in an election year where the hot topic is the corruption within his own party, this is very shocking. The day that Hastert releases this statement, ABC breaks the story that Hastert is under investigation in the Abramoff scandal. Almost immediately the Justice Department issues an unprecedented statement denying the report. ABC then responds back confirming their original report backed up with even more Justice Department sources.
What we have here is a case of politicking at it’s worst. Hastert is obviously using his cover of “shock” of the Jefferson raid to try and protect himself in another investigation. Remember, these are the same people who have no regard for Constitutional protections. They have supported a President who has blatantly violated the protections put in the Constitution and the rights of the citizens (ie. the NSA wiretap). Now to protect his ass Hastert will do anything, even if it means helping a corrupt Democrat get off the hook.
We are under attack. We have a nasty invader and it is not al Qaeda or from some foreign land. It is the corrupt politicians running this country and doing whatever they can to destroy every single thing this country stands for and our forefathers fought and died for. They are creating an imperial Presidency who will return us back to the situation that made our founding fathers flee their native land to begin with. Ironic that the President’s name is George and the leader our forefathers fled from was King George.
We must do what we can to replace these politicians in the fall. George Bush needs censored pending the outcome of hearings, lobbyists need kicked out of Washington, the balance of powers that protects our delicate democracy need restored and EVERY SINGLE politician involved in these scandals need put in prison. If people do not believe this then they have zero right to call themselves American.
(You can view ABC’s original report from the Nightly News below)