The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dennis Hastert, is under investigation by the FBI, which is seeking to determine his role in an ongoing public corruption probe into members of Congress, ABC News has learned from high level government sources.
Federal officials say the information implicating Hastert was developed from convicted lobbyists who are now cooperating with the government….
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Some Coverage from the AP via New York Times:
Hastert’s name has come up in a wide-ranging investigation into whether convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s fundraising influenced several members of Congress, but the Justice Department said Wednesday the speaker wasn’t being investigated.
The Associated Press reported last November that Hastert for two years didn’t disclose his use of Abramoff’s restaurant for a fundraiser just two weeks before he asked the Interior Department in a letter to reject a Louisiana Indian tribe’s application for a casino license.
At the time, Abramoff was representing another tribe that opposed the casino. Hastert, who collected a total of $100,000 from Abramoff’s and his tribal clients, blamed a paperwork oversight, filed the required disclosure and paid for the use of the restaurant.
”Speaker Hastert is not under investigation by the Justice Department,” Tasia Scolino, a spokeswoman for the department said Wednesday night.
Asked about the matter as he walked from his office to the House floor, Hastert said he knew of no such investigation, commenting later: ”Somebody leaked it out.” Asked if he thought Gonzales should resign, the speaker shook his head and declined to answer.
”We’re not trying to protect an individual, we’re trying to protect the separation of powers,” Hastert said. ”That was true during Watergate, it was true during Bill Clinton,” he added, referring former President Nixon’s ultimate resignation and President’s Clinton impeachment trial over an affair with an intern.
In related news, MSNBC reports that Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald may ask Dick Cheney to testify in the trial of Scooter Libby. Here is a link to the AP report in the Chicago Sun-Times.
An Update from ABC News:
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.