Denny Hastert, Abramoff and Brian Ross

[maddezmom]

• • Some background on Hastert's animus toward the media in general and in particular ABC News, which broke the Foley story: It's not new. Last May, ABC News reported that Hastert was being investigated as part of a broader probe of convicted GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The Justice Department denied Hastert was being investigated. Hastert's lawyers threatened legal action against ABC. ABC stood by the story.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/sweet/86370,CST-NWS-sweet06.article

ABC News Update on Hastert Story
May 24, 2006 10:21 PM

Brian Ross Reports:

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.

more;http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/05/abc_news_update.html


Officials: Hastert "In the Mix" of Congressional Bribery Investigation
May 24, 2006 6:24 PM

Brian Ross Reports:

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.

The letter was written shortly after a fund-raiser for Hastert at a restaurant owned by Abramoff. Abramoff and his clients contributed more than $26,000 at the time.

more;http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/05/federal_officia.html

Denny Hastert's Late Payment
A long delay in paying for a fund-raiser at an eatery owned by scandal-plagued Jack Abramoff could prove embarrassing to a GOP Mr. Clean


Signatures restaurant, the expense-account haven owned by super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff, has hosted at least 60 GOP fund-raisers since it opened on Washington's Pennsylvania Ave. NW in early 2002. But the June 3, 2003, lunchtime gathering was special: The guest of honor was House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), and the event was a relatively intimate gathering dominated by lobbyists from Greenberg Traurig, the law and lobbying firm where Abramoff then worked.

more;http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/apr2005/nf20050415_2315.htm

Don't Bet on Coincidence
Friday, November 18, 2005; Page A22

WASHINGTON, it seems, is a city of coincidences.

(R-Ill.) held a fundraiser at lobbyist Jack Abramoff's restaurant on June 3, 2003. His political action committee, Keep Our Majority, took in at least $21,500 from Mr. Abramoff's law firm and Mr. Abramoff's Indian tribal clients.

One week later the speaker and his three top deputies wrote Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton, urging her to reject a request for a new casino from the Jena tribe of Choctaw Indians. As it happened, the Louisiana Coushatta and Mississippi Choctaw, two of Mr. Abramoff's biggest tribal clients, were furiously working to block the casino.

To hear Mr. Hastert's office tell it, the checks had nothing to do with the letter. "We've always opposed these things, in our back yard, in our state, someplace else," Michael Stokke, Mr. Hastert's deputy chief of staff, told the Associated Press. In all, Mr. Hastert received more than $100,000 in donations from Mr. Abramoff's firm and tribal clients from 2001 to 2004.

more:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/17/AR2005111701469.html

[Chipper Chat]

1. Shades of Watergate.

This flavor of article was a staple of newspapers and TV in 1972.

[Virginia Dare]

2. Looks like the dots are being connected now...

there is a vast web of corruption among the GOP leadership, and it's looking more and more like it's catching up to them. They probably thought once Delay was gone, they could coast, but it's not looking like the case at this point.

Unfortunately the really juicy stuff probably won't break until after the election. That's probably why Hastert didn't resign, because it looks bad going into the elections, so they just pretend everything's okay, but they have to know that it's unraveling.