Former House speaker indicted for lying to the FBI

[gpatt0n]

	Former House speaker indicted for lying to the FBI Published on May 28, 2015 CNN's Joe Johns reports that former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert has been charged with lying to the FBI about money they say he paid to cover up misconduct.
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[gpatt0n]

I was reluctant to say it when the news first broke but I got to say my gut was right ... leading folks to recall former Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards comment about his popular electability ...

 

Yes, it was Edwards who used to brag that "The only way I'd lose is if they catch me in bed with a live boy or a dead girl."

 

Of course this is in response to a LA Times story this morning that the $3.5 million Hastert was paying in hush money was to a former athlete that he coached before he entered public life. This link is to the NYTimes story.

 

pubby

[gpatt0n]

I read where the bond for this 'crime' was $4,500.

 

There are voices - even voiced from the left - that scratch their head in regard to this prosecution - suggesting that folks actually question what the crime is? (Technically, the indictment is for intentionally withdrawing $9,975 instead of $10,000 of your money so that the federal prosecutors aren't tipped to each cash withdrawal and for lying about why, when he was withdrawing larger amounts, he was doing so and the withdrawals were reported.)

 

The first obvious fact is that Denny Hastert was speaker of the house when these rules regarding the reporting of funds went through - maybe this is the financial system's effort at payback for creating such reporting requirements.

 

Another theory might be that when confronted about the withdrawals, Hastert said that it was because he didn't have confidence in the banks. I mean when a man who stood second in line to occupy the White House (the VP ... then speaker) expressed no confidence in the banking system, that alone could be a punishable insult.

 

Maybe prosecutors were also gay and as I saw that Hastert had often led the charge for laws like the defense of marriage act and other GOP anti-gay laws and efforts, maybe that two was payback.

 

But what was the crime? Taking your money in the form of cash?

 

I'm wondering whether, as the Huffpost suggests, this is a case of prosecutors going after the person searching for a crime and finding a technicality associated with some unsavory (for a family values-spouting GOP leader) activities. Those prosecutors are betting on a jury to focus on the unsavory and, being as either the statute of limitations has run and/or no crime was involved (depending on the age), decide to convict on the convenient charges?

 

So the question is, are the prosecutors just out for a big name pelt?

 

pubby

[mei lan]

I believe part of the $10K reporting crap is due to the Patriot Act. As Thomas Lifson (conservative blogger) wrote today, it is ridiculous that moving your own money can be a crime. Should only be a crime when something else is found to be criminal, like drugs, etc. Many stories out there of the government seizing small business accounts on these grounds when the deposits were simply the nature of their business.

 

As for Hastert, and the Duggars, and who knows who else - if you have a skeleton such as this in your closet, for crying out loud, what on EARTH makes you think it won't come out at some point after you become famous??? George W.'s 20yo DUI nearly sank him when it was revealed on the eve of the 2000 election. Why on earth wouldn't you get out in front of that and say (esp. since he made no secret of the fact that he's a recovering alcoholic), "Look...when I was young and stupid, I did this...I regret it sorely but it was part of who I was then, and as you know I've been sober for blah blah blah." In the case of the sexual misconducts, they should have just avoided fame. Arrogant idiots.

[Peaches]

This sounds sleazy. Hope it is not true but if he is paying the blackmail, he needs to be exposed.

[rednekkhikkchikk]

Lying to a federal officer is a crime, same as with any other law enforcement.

That said, I am sure it's politically motivated, probably thanks to the blatant hypocrisy demonstrated by yet another self-righteous 'do as I say, not as I do' politician. He was a proponent of and helped push through the Patriot Act, and now he is learning the fallacy of "if you've done nothing wrong you have no need to worry..."

You'd think the shameless pervs would stop criminalizing everything and get out of people's bedrooms rather than waiting to be publically outed as deviants and hypocrites by some former victim/partner etc or caught by the laws they helped pass, as in this case. Not sure it can be fixed, but no doubt our government is broken in every way possible, from abuse of the system to the people who populate it.

Disturbing as hell.