Former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert has been indicted on federal charges alleging he agreed to pay $3.5 million in apparent hush money to a longtime acquaintance blackmailing him, then lied to the FBI when asked about suspicious cash withdrawals from several banks, federal prosecutors said.
The stunning indictment of the longtime Republican powerhouse alleged he gave about $1.7 million in cash to the acquaintance, identified only as Individual A in the charges, to “compensate for and conceal (Hastert’s) prior misconduct” against Individual A that had occurred years earlier.
He was taking out the money at sub-$10,000 clips in order to avoid the reporting requirements. Weird that he'd be charged if he was doing this as the VICTIM of blackmail. Very weird. Link - ( New Window )
He's accused of playing loose in the withdrawal of $952,000 (cash) to get around the law to report cash transactions over $10K. Oh yeah... He's also accused of lying to the FBI.
... elected to the House of Representatives after a teaching career. he was a retired high school teacher and wrestling coach. When elected, his net worth was < $500,000.00.
When Hastert left Congress, his net worth exceeded $5M. His current net worth is over $30M.
This is not a unique story, or exclusive to the Republican Party...
All the same...throw out all the bums....we need term limits in the worst way...and return to a citizen legislature and people willing to serve their communities and would be willing to work for nothing...
The only ones that could afford to work for nothing Â
was worth bupkis when he entered the Senate and is now a millionaire
That's a pretty casual suggestion of corruption. Reid has a history as a corruption fighter:
Quote:
In July of 1978, a man named Jack Gordon, who was later married to LaToya Jackson, offered Reid twelve thousand dollars to approve two new, carnival-like gaming devices for casino use. Reid reported the attempted bribe to the F.B.I. and arranged a meeting with Gordon in his office. By agreement, F.B.I. agents burst in to arrest Gordon at the point where Reid asked, “Is this the money?” Although he was taking part in a sting, Reid was unable to control his temper; the videotape shows him getting up from his chair and saying, “You son of a bitch, you tried to bribe me!” and attempting to choke Gordon, before startled agents pulled him off. “I was so angry with him for thinking he could bribe me,” Reid said, explaining his theatrical outburst. Gordon was convicted in federal court in 1979 and sentenced to six months in prison.
One day in 1981, Landra Reid noticed that the family station wagon was not running properly, and she discovered a cable under the hood and “something” sticking out of the gas tank. Police found a device that would have exploded had it been correctly grounded. Reid always blamed Gordon for the bomb, and the incident frightened his family—by then there were five children, four sons and a daughter—so that for a year they started the car by remote control.
Also, the property he and his wife lived on for 25 years in his hometown turned out to have some valuable mineral rights. A gold mining company recently bought it. So maybe he's corrupt (I dont know the guy), but it's not at all crazy to thing that he could amass 7 figures after working his whole life. Link - ( New Window )
He's accused of playing loose in the withdrawal of $952,000 (cash) to get around the law to report cash transactions over $10K. Oh yeah... He's also accused of lying to the FBI.
Well Bama, if that's what he did no wonder he got caught. Withdrawing $952,000 to stay under $10,000 will always get you caught. Maybe he should have withdrawn in $9,520 increments instead, the math would have worked much better (8->
He raises money every day running for office. He gets sworn in gets to have a picture taken with his/her family they go out to dinner to celebrate the very next day he/she is working the phones for reelection funds. So much money being moved every day and not all of it is properly accounted for
look at his children and some of what they've managed to accomplish by pluck and good luck. Not, incidentally, the identity of their father. And some of his friends have been similarly fortunate. One or two of them have been, well, criminal, but that happens.
This is not to suggest that Republicans are above this. My former governor is on bond pending appeal, and whether he wins the appeal or not what he did was shady as shit.
look at his children and some of what they've managed to accomplish by pluck and good luck. Not, incidentally, the identity of their father. And some of his friends have been similarly fortunate. One or two of them have been, well, criminal, but that happens.
This is not to suggest that Republicans are above this. My former governor is on bond pending appeal, and whether he wins the appeal or not what he did was shady as shit.
So the kids of very successful people tend to do very well. What's your point? Are you accusing Reid or his children of wrongdoing? Facts please.
for channeling money from a super-PAC into his gubernatorial campaign, and Reid's kids, Rory in particular, have a strange tendency to represent companies that covet Harry's political support.
Corruption Scandals Led to Harry Reid’s Abrupt “Retirement” Â
For nearly a decade Judicial Watch has investigated and exposed Reid’s involvement in a multitude of transgressions and JW even warned the Senate Ethics Committee, but not surprisingly, no action was ever taken. On multiple occasions the Senate minority leader appeared on JW’s “Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians” list for his role in a number of political scandals that got more serious as his seniority and clout in Congress increased.
As far back as 2006 Reid was in hot water for violating Senate rules by concealing a seven-figure payoff on a suspicious land deal orchestrated by a longtime friend known for political bribery and mob ties. The influential senator secretly collected a $1.1 million profit on land he hadn’t personally owned for years. To hide the deal, Reid transferred ownership, legal liability and tax consequences to a company owned by a former casino lawyer who has been investigated by federal authorities. Months earlier Red got busted for accepting gifts from a state agency trying to influence him. In that scheme the lawmaker quietly took very expensive ringside boxing tickets from the Nevada Athletic Commission while that state agency was trying to influence him on the sport’s federal regulation.
In 2012 Reid made JW’s corrupt politician list because he was embroiled in an influence-peddling scandal involving a Chinese “green energy” client of a Nevada law firm run by his son Rory. The senator was one of the Nevada projects most prominent advocates, helping recruit the company during a 2011 trip to China and applying his political muscle on its behalf, according to a mainstream news report. Reid’s son was an attorney at the prominent Las Vegas firm that represented the Chinese Company, ENN Energy Group, and helped it locate a 9,000-acre desert site for well below its appraised value from Clark County.
In 2013 Reid was again named to JW’s most corrupt politician list for taking more than $130,000 in illegal campaign funds from a shady donor, Harvey Whittemore, who eventually went to jail. Whittemore hired four of the senator’s sons at a law firm in which he served as senior partner and worked with Reid on huge land deals that required federal legislation. Additionally, Reid sponsored at least $47 million in earmarks that directly benefitted organizations with close ties to one of his sons, Key Reid. The legislator also colluded with President Obama to nix a proposed nuclear waste dump in Yucca Mountain Nevada after U.S. taxpayers spent $15 billion on the project.
More recently Reid abused his authority to pressure the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to expedite a $115 million foreign investor visa deal critical to his son’s casino client. Reid got the DHS to override agency procedures to rush through hundreds of visa applications from foreign nationals who helped fund a Las Vegas hotel and casino that hired Rory Reid to provide legal representation for the project, according to a recent news report. The article goes into tremendous detail about the illicit scheme that evidently served as the straw that broke the camel’s back. A few days later Reid said he wouldn’t run for a sixth term in the Senate. His hometown newspaper called it a “surprise announcement.” On his government website, Reid posted a goodbye video saying he did his best though hasn’t been perfect.
"Facts" were requested. And while they come from Judicial Watch, there is a fair amount of smoke there. Which goes back to the discussion of yesterday, shouldn't we expect a little more than "nothing overtly (or demonstrably) criminal!"
for channeling money from a super-PAC into his gubernatorial campaign, and Reid's kids, Rory in particular, have a strange tendency to represent companies that covet Harry's political support.
#1 has nothing to do with Harry Reid. Should we smear Jeb, GWB, and GHWB for the sins of other Bushes like Neil and Prescott? #2 is troubling (and altogether too fucking common). I'll look more into that.
Buford's citation to JW has nothing to do with facts. JW has the credibility of a FoxNews.com comments section post. JW representing a "fact" makes me MORE likely to disbelieve that fact.
Here is Judicial Watch's 2012 10 Most Corrupt List: Vern Buchanan (R-FL), Sec'ty Chu, Hillary & Susan Rice, Holder, Jesse Jackson Jr, Menendez, Obama, Reid, Rivera (R-FL), Sebelius. So two GOP back benchers who had been condemned by most of their own party as corrupt hacks, and all the most prominent democrats. And the complaints about the Dems are typically policy/governance based and have nothing to do with corruption. Like Holder:
Quote:
A regular on our annual Top Ten Corrupt list, Holder shamelessly operates the most blatantly politicized Department of Justice (DOJ) in a generation. And, with the Operation Fast and Furious scandal, it is no exaggeration that his agency has blood on its hands.
It's really just such a ridiculous but predictable source for Buford to cite.
or shut up. If all you have is what you have posted so far, you may as well give up. Joker.
Again this thread has nothing to do with Harry Reid. But once again you've hijacked it like the Santorum thread yesterday. Why not start a seperate Harry Reid thread?
My old drill sergeant used to say "there are only two things that can getcha Pri, a whiskey glass and a woman's ass." I'm guessing it was the latter. Presumably a woman.
As far back as 2006 Reid was in hot water for violating Senate rules by concealing a seven-figure payoff on a suspicious land deal orchestrated by a longtime friend known for political bribery and mob ties. The influential senator secretly collected a $1.1 million profit on land he hadn’t personally owned for years. To hide the deal, Reid transferred ownership, legal liability and tax consequences to a company owned by a former casino lawyer who has been investigated by federal authorities.
FactCheck ...
Quote:
The AP’s story about Reid’s land transactions with his friend Jay Brown came out in 2006. According to the article, Reid bought what the AP called "undeveloped residential property on Las Vegas’ booming outskirts" in 1998 for about $400,000, and bought a second, adjacent parcel jointly with Brown, a former casino lawyer. In 2001, Reid sold the first parcel for the same price to a holding company that Brown created, AP said. Then in 2004, Brown’s company sold the land to other developers, and Reid got $1.1 million of the proceeds. So according to the records that AP looked at, it seemed as though Reid got his $400,000 back when he sold the land to the company in 2001, and also got $1.1 million on top of that when the company sold the land several years later, even though he no longer owned it.
On top of that, AP reported, Reid never disclosed on his Senate financial disclosure statement the 2001 sale of the land to the holding company, and when he collected the $1.1 million in 2004, he reported it on that year’s statement as a sale of land he owned personally.
Reid’s office, however, said no money changed hands when Reid transferred the land to the holding company in 2001; instead, Reid got an ownership stake in the company equal to the value of his land. If true, that means Reid didn’t get paid for the property until the company sold it in 2004, when he received nearly triple what he paid for it originally. Reed’s aides said he continued to pay taxes on the property and didn’t disclose the change in ownership because he considered it a "technical transfer."
Reid asked the Senate Ethics Committee whether he should amend his annual financial disclosure statements to reflect what had actually happened with the land. Then several days later, without waiting for a response from the panel, Reid did adjust his disclosure statement to reflect the circumstances of the land transfer, and also reported two much smaller land deals that had previously been unknown to the public. That pretty much put an end to press stories about the deal, until the matter was recently revived by the Angle campaign. [...]
The AP story contains no interviews with witnesses or any other information that indicates anything fishy took place, only that there was a discrepancy between records in Nevada and Reid’s Senate financial disclosure statement on this parcel of land. Reid was never charged with any ethics or legal violations, nor – at least according to public records – was he even investigated in connection with the matter.
My old drill sergeant used to say "there are only two things that can getcha Pri, a whiskey glass and a woman's ass." I'm guessing it was the latter. Presumably a woman.
I havent heard the rumor, but the charging doc is troublingly suggestive:
Quote:
At times material to
this indictment:
a. From approximately 1965 to 1981, defendant JOHN DENNIS HASTERT was a high school teacher and coach in Yorkville,
Illinois. From approximately 1981 to 2007, defendant JOHN DENNIS HASTERT was an elected public official , including eight years as Speaker of the United States House of
Representatives. From approximately 2008 to the
present, defendant JOHN DENNIS HASTERT has worked as a lobbyist in Washington, D.C.
Why would his time as a teacher and coach be "material"? Small chance it is money-corruption related, but the more likely thing is sex in a way that is relevant to school. Yikes. Hope that's not it.
but our government has become a "for profit duopoly". the main job and mission of our elected officials is to get re-elected. both parties.
What was the Clinton's net worth when the left office? Less than $3M. Now around $100M.
Obama's when he entered office? around $1.6M? now it's ten times that.
I don't think this is what our forefather's expected. this is just influence peddling.
end of rant. sorry.
Absolutely. And it's true of both elected officials and unelected figures such as senior civil servants and flag officers. It has almost nothing to do with party either, as lobbying firms and other folks looking for impressive names for the masthead aren't particularly partial (on the whole of course) to Republicans or Democrats.
In 2013 Reid was again named to JW’s most corrupt politician list for taking more than $130,000 in illegal campaign funds from a shady donor, Harvey Whittemore, who eventually went to jail.
Law360 ...
Quote:
Federal authorities claimed that scheme allowed Whittemore to make an individual campaign donation in excess of the federal limits. They further accused Whittemore of hiding the alleged scheme from the Federal Election Commission, Reid and his campaign committee.
Ike's buddies bought him a house near Gettysburg when he retired.
Reagan raised eyebrows when he accepted a six figure speaking fee from Japanese interests shortly after leaving office.
Clinton's friends arranged financing for his purchase of his home in NY after leaving office.
These all made the news.
It just seems that NOW elected officials expect to cash in and there's no public comment. It has nothing to do with either party. It has everything to do with the two party system.
Really, we might elect someone to the presidency who has amassed a fortune since her husband left the same office? Not by building and running a business, or investing her own capital, but all based on influence and access.
Clearly our forefathers were far from perfect... Â
but this sort of self-dealing probably didn't really start until the railroad era, whether it was out of the nobility of their spirit or because the opportunities for large-scale graft just weren't there yet.
Many of the founding fathers owned other human beings Â
but this sort of self-dealing probably didn't really start until the railroad era, whether it was out of the nobility of their spirit or because the opportunities for large-scale graft just weren't there yet.
Land deals were their thing. Many of Washington's cabinet meetings consisted of the Secs. accusing each other of corruption, libel and planning lawsuits. Purchasing votes was seen as political negotiations.
is a big no-no and something bankers are always on the alert for because we can go to jail too if we are reasonably seen to be facilitating the violations.
RE: RE: RE: Umm...you know what the rumors are for why he was paying hush money Â
I havent heard the rumor, but the charging doc is troublingly suggestive:
Quote:
At times material to
this indictment:
a. From approximately 1965 to 1981, defendant JOHN DENNIS HASTERT was a high school teacher and coach in Yorkville,
Illinois. From approximately 1981 to 2007, defendant JOHN DENNIS HASTERT was an elected public official , including eight years as Speaker of the United States House of
Representatives. From approximately 2008 to the
present, defendant JOHN DENNIS HASTERT has worked as a lobbyist in Washington, D.C.
Why would his time as a teacher and coach be "material"? Small chance it is money-corruption related, but the more likely thing is sex in a way that is relevant to school. Yikes. Hope that's not it.
That's pretty much my thoughts. The deliberate reference to his days as a school teacher make me think the blackmail might be something related to a statutory rape. I can't imagine any secret worth paying out $3.5mil for outside of someone knowing that either you committed a murder or that you fondled little boys.
RE: RE: Umm...you know what the rumors are for why he was paying hush money Â
My old drill sergeant used to say "there are only two things that can getcha Pri, a whiskey glass and a woman's ass." I'm guessing it was the latter. Presumably a woman.
1.7 million for an affair with a woman? Supposedly this was a younger person who he has known since they were a child...You don't pay 1.7M and lie to the FBI for just an affair
Markky, Reagan got a 2 million dollar "honararium" Â
The stunning indictment of the longtime Republican powerhouse alleged he gave about $1.7 million in cash to the acquaintance, identified only as Individual A in the charges, to “compensate for and conceal (Hastert’s) prior misconduct” against Individual A that had occurred years earlier.
He was taking out the money at sub-$10,000 clips in order to avoid the reporting requirements. Weird that he'd be charged if he was doing this as the VICTIM of blackmail. Very weird.
Link - ( New Window )
When Hastert left Congress, his net worth exceeded $5M. His current net worth is over $30M.
This is not a unique story, or exclusive to the Republican Party...
That's a pretty casual suggestion of corruption. Reid has a history as a corruption fighter:
One day in 1981, Landra Reid noticed that the family station wagon was not running properly, and she discovered a cable under the hood and “something” sticking out of the gas tank. Police found a device that would have exploded had it been correctly grounded. Reid always blamed Gordon for the bomb, and the incident frightened his family—by then there were five children, four sons and a daughter—so that for a year they started the car by remote control.
Also, the property he and his wife lived on for 25 years in his hometown turned out to have some valuable mineral rights. A gold mining company recently bought it. So maybe he's corrupt (I dont know the guy), but it's not at all crazy to thing that he could amass 7 figures after working his whole life.
Link - ( New Window )
This is not to suggest that Republicans are above this. My former governor is on bond pending appeal, and whether he wins the appeal or not what he did was shady as shit.
This is not to suggest that Republicans are above this. My former governor is on bond pending appeal, and whether he wins the appeal or not what he did was shady as shit.
So the kids of very successful people tend to do very well. What's your point? Are you accusing Reid or his children of wrongdoing? Facts please.
As far back as 2006 Reid was in hot water for violating Senate rules by concealing a seven-figure payoff on a suspicious land deal orchestrated by a longtime friend known for political bribery and mob ties. The influential senator secretly collected a $1.1 million profit on land he hadn’t personally owned for years. To hide the deal, Reid transferred ownership, legal liability and tax consequences to a company owned by a former casino lawyer who has been investigated by federal authorities. Months earlier Red got busted for accepting gifts from a state agency trying to influence him. In that scheme the lawmaker quietly took very expensive ringside boxing tickets from the Nevada Athletic Commission while that state agency was trying to influence him on the sport’s federal regulation.
In 2012 Reid made JW’s corrupt politician list because he was embroiled in an influence-peddling scandal involving a Chinese “green energy” client of a Nevada law firm run by his son Rory. The senator was one of the Nevada projects most prominent advocates, helping recruit the company during a 2011 trip to China and applying his political muscle on its behalf, according to a mainstream news report. Reid’s son was an attorney at the prominent Las Vegas firm that represented the Chinese Company, ENN Energy Group, and helped it locate a 9,000-acre desert site for well below its appraised value from Clark County.
In 2013 Reid was again named to JW’s most corrupt politician list for taking more than $130,000 in illegal campaign funds from a shady donor, Harvey Whittemore, who eventually went to jail. Whittemore hired four of the senator’s sons at a law firm in which he served as senior partner and worked with Reid on huge land deals that required federal legislation. Additionally, Reid sponsored at least $47 million in earmarks that directly benefitted organizations with close ties to one of his sons, Key Reid. The legislator also colluded with President Obama to nix a proposed nuclear waste dump in Yucca Mountain Nevada after U.S. taxpayers spent $15 billion on the project.
More recently Reid abused his authority to pressure the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to expedite a $115 million foreign investor visa deal critical to his son’s casino client. Reid got the DHS to override agency procedures to rush through hundreds of visa applications from foreign nationals who helped fund a Las Vegas hotel and casino that hired Rory Reid to provide legal representation for the project, according to a recent news report. The article goes into tremendous detail about the illicit scheme that evidently served as the straw that broke the camel’s back. A few days later Reid said he wouldn’t run for a sixth term in the Senate. His hometown newspaper called it a “surprise announcement.” On his government website, Reid posted a goodbye video saying he did his best though hasn’t been perfect.
Link - ( New Window )
"Facts" were requested. And while they come from Judicial Watch, there is a fair amount of smoke there. Which goes back to the discussion of yesterday, shouldn't we expect a little more than "nothing overtly (or demonstrably) criminal!"
What am I missing. What did buford do?
I can't believe that anyone would not only know that Harry Reid is corrupt but believe he fights corruption. That's pretty amazing right there.
#1 has nothing to do with Harry Reid. Should we smear Jeb, GWB, and GHWB for the sins of other Bushes like Neil and Prescott? #2 is troubling (and altogether too fucking common). I'll look more into that.
Buford's citation to JW has nothing to do with facts. JW has the credibility of a FoxNews.com comments section post. JW representing a "fact" makes me MORE likely to disbelieve that fact.
Here is Judicial Watch's 2012 10 Most Corrupt List: Vern Buchanan (R-FL), Sec'ty Chu, Hillary & Susan Rice, Holder, Jesse Jackson Jr, Menendez, Obama, Reid, Rivera (R-FL), Sebelius. So two GOP back benchers who had been condemned by most of their own party as corrupt hacks, and all the most prominent democrats. And the complaints about the Dems are typically policy/governance based and have nothing to do with corruption. Like Holder:
It's really just such a ridiculous but predictable source for Buford to cite.
I can't believe that anyone would not only know that Harry Reid is corrupt but believe he fights corruption. That's pretty amazing right there.
Couldn't find any good World Net Daily or Alex Jones articles?
You aren't ignorant, you are just ridiculously partisan. Even HH knows that Reid is dirty.
Again this thread has nothing to do with Harry Reid. But once again you've hijacked it like the Santorum thread yesterday. Why not start a seperate Harry Reid thread?
My old drill sergeant used to say "there are only two things that can getcha Pri, a whiskey glass and a woman's ass." I'm guessing it was the latter. Presumably a woman.
FactCheck ...
On top of that, AP reported, Reid never disclosed on his Senate financial disclosure statement the 2001 sale of the land to the holding company, and when he collected the $1.1 million in 2004, he reported it on that year’s statement as a sale of land he owned personally.
Reid’s office, however, said no money changed hands when Reid transferred the land to the holding company in 2001; instead, Reid got an ownership stake in the company equal to the value of his land. If true, that means Reid didn’t get paid for the property until the company sold it in 2004, when he received nearly triple what he paid for it originally. Reed’s aides said he continued to pay taxes on the property and didn’t disclose the change in ownership because he considered it a "technical transfer."
Reid asked the Senate Ethics Committee whether he should amend his annual financial disclosure statements to reflect what had actually happened with the land. Then several days later, without waiting for a response from the panel, Reid did adjust his disclosure statement to reflect the circumstances of the land transfer, and also reported two much smaller land deals that had previously been unknown to the public. That pretty much put an end to press stories about the deal, until the matter was recently revived by the Angle campaign. [...]
The AP story contains no interviews with witnesses or any other information that indicates anything fishy took place, only that there was a discrepancy between records in Nevada and Reid’s Senate financial disclosure statement on this parcel of land. Reid was never charged with any ethics or legal violations, nor – at least according to public records – was he even investigated in connection with the matter.
Link - ( New Window )
Quote:
To a younger individual right?
My old drill sergeant used to say "there are only two things that can getcha Pri, a whiskey glass and a woman's ass." I'm guessing it was the latter. Presumably a woman.
I havent heard the rumor, but the charging doc is troublingly suggestive:
this indictment:
a. From approximately 1965 to 1981, defendant JOHN DENNIS HASTERT was a high school teacher and coach in Yorkville,
Illinois. From approximately 1981 to 2007, defendant JOHN DENNIS HASTERT was an elected public official , including eight years as Speaker of the United States House of
Representatives. From approximately 2008 to the
present, defendant JOHN DENNIS HASTERT has worked as a lobbyist in Washington, D.C.
Why would his time as a teacher and coach be "material"? Small chance it is money-corruption related, but the more likely thing is sex in a way that is relevant to school. Yikes. Hope that's not it.
What was the Clinton's net worth when the left office? Less than $3M. Now around $100M.
Obama's when he entered office? around $1.6M? now it's ten times that.
I don't think this is what our forefather's expected. this is just influence peddling.
end of rant. sorry.
What was the Clinton's net worth when the left office? Less than $3M. Now around $100M.
Obama's when he entered office? around $1.6M? now it's ten times that.
I don't think this is what our forefather's expected. this is just influence peddling.
end of rant. sorry.
Absolutely. And it's true of both elected officials and unelected figures such as senior civil servants and flag officers. It has almost nothing to do with party either, as lobbying firms and other folks looking for impressive names for the masthead aren't particularly partial (on the whole of course) to Republicans or Democrats.
Law360 ...
Emphasis added by Sphinx
Link - ( New Window )
What was the Clinton's net worth when the left office? Less than $3M. Now around $100M.
Obama's when he entered office? around $1.6M? now it's ten times that.
I don't think this is what our forefather's expected. this is just influence peddling.
end of rant. sorry.
Did you just use a forefather line to show disdain for modern political corruption? It's sweet that you believe that.
Reagan raised eyebrows when he accepted a six figure speaking fee from Japanese interests shortly after leaving office.
Clinton's friends arranged financing for his purchase of his home in NY after leaving office.
These all made the news.
It just seems that NOW elected officials expect to cash in and there's no public comment. It has nothing to do with either party. It has everything to do with the two party system.
Really, we might elect someone to the presidency who has amassed a fortune since her husband left the same office? Not by building and running a business, or investing her own capital, but all based on influence and access.
Land deals were their thing. Many of Washington's cabinet meetings consisted of the Secs. accusing each other of corruption, libel and planning lawsuits. Purchasing votes was seen as political negotiations.
I havent heard the rumor, but the charging doc is troublingly suggestive:
Quote:
At times material to
this indictment:
a. From approximately 1965 to 1981, defendant JOHN DENNIS HASTERT was a high school teacher and coach in Yorkville,
Illinois. From approximately 1981 to 2007, defendant JOHN DENNIS HASTERT was an elected public official , including eight years as Speaker of the United States House of
Representatives. From approximately 2008 to the
present, defendant JOHN DENNIS HASTERT has worked as a lobbyist in Washington, D.C.
Why would his time as a teacher and coach be "material"? Small chance it is money-corruption related, but the more likely thing is sex in a way that is relevant to school. Yikes. Hope that's not it.
That's pretty much my thoughts. The deliberate reference to his days as a school teacher make me think the blackmail might be something related to a statutory rape. I can't imagine any secret worth paying out $3.5mil for outside of someone knowing that either you committed a murder or that you fondled little boys.
Quote:
To a younger individual right?
My old drill sergeant used to say "there are only two things that can getcha Pri, a whiskey glass and a woman's ass." I'm guessing it was the latter. Presumably a woman.
1.7 million for an affair with a woman? Supposedly this was a younger person who he has known since they were a child...You don't pay 1.7M and lie to the FBI for just an affair
Reagan's Fall From Grace : The $2-Million Japan Tour & etc. - ( New Window )