Dennis Hastert Was Paying Somebody Big Bucks To Shut Up...

[RocketMan]

but poor Denny's in a wheelchair...... too old and sick to be punished....take your suitcase.....full of all those Turkish bribes to your grave Denny

Well put.

When I get angry and/or hopeless about stuff like this, I remember something Thomas Pynchon wrote in Gravity's Rainbow: "Through the machineries of greed, pettiness, and the abuse of power, love occurs." Don't know why I thought of that just now.

[seemslikeadream]

Hastert told authorities he was extorted by alleged abuse victim
Former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert
Former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert through the years.
Jason MeisnerContact Reporter
Chicago Tribune
Federal prosecutors gave new details in a lengthy court filing Friday night about allegations of sex abuse against former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, saying he told authorities that one man had extorted him for $3.5 million.

Prosecutors said Hastert's life was a "stunning hypocrisy."

Reflecting on his career as a wrestling coach, prosecutors noted that Hastert wrote in his memoir that there was "never a sufficient reason to strip away a person's dignity."

"Yet that is exactly what he did to his victims," prosecutors wrote in the 26-page filing. "He made them feel alone, ashamed, guilty and devoid of dignity. While (Hastert) achieved great success, reaping all the benefits that went with it, these boys struggled, and all are still struggling now with what (he) did to them."


PDF: Prosecutors' position on Dennis Hastert sentencing
The court filing revealed that after an initial interview of Hastert in December 2014 by law enforcement, he later told authorities that he was the victim of an extortion plot by a person identified only as Individual A. Hastert had agreed to pay $3.5 million to Individual A to keep quiet about misconduct decades ago.

Prosecutors also disclosed that federal agents listened in on conversations as Hastert talked by telephone to Individual A.

The prosecution memo comes two days after Hastert's lawyers filed court papers seeking probation for the former lawmaker. The defense filing said Hastert was "profoundly sorry" for the harm he caused others decades ago but stopped short of acknowledging accusations he sexually abused students at Yorkville High School. In fact, his lawyers singled out his teaching and coaching background for praise, saying he chose that career path "to make a difference in the lives of young people."

Hastert pleaded guilty in October to a felony count of illegally structuring cash withdrawals to evade bank currency-reporting requirements, but underlying that dry charge were the bombshell allegations that Hastert had agreed to pay $3.5 million to a person identified only as Individual A to keep quiet about misconduct decades ago.

Dennis Hastert accused of sexual abuse by at least 4, sources say
On Thursday, the Tribune reported that at least three other people in addition to Individual A have made what law enforcement sources said are credible allegations of sexual abuse against Hastert. The newspaper has determined the identities of three of them, all men, whose allegations stretch over a decade when they were teenagers and Hastert was their coach.

One is dead, but his sister, Jolene Burdge, has long spoken out about the details she said her brother, Stephen Reinboldt, shared with her before his death from AIDS in 1995. He was an equipment manager for the school's wrestling and football teams before graduating in 1971. Burdge said she plans to read a victim-impact statement at Hastert's sentencing, scheduled for April 27.

Another alleged victim, identified in court as Individual D, also may address the court at Hastert's sentencing. Individual D has talked to the Tribune at length but has not agreed to be named.

The Tribune has also learned the identity of Individual A, but he declined to talk to reporters.

The victim testimony could prove crucial in determining whether Hastert gets prison time.

Dennis Hastert accusations
Jolene Burdge poses at her home in Billings, Mont. She said her brother, Stephen Reinboldt, was sexually abused by former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert when Reinboldt was a student and Hastert was a wrestling coach and teacher at Yorkville High School.
His plea agreement with prosecutors recommends a sentence ranging from probation to up to six months in prison — the lowest possible sentence under federal guidelines for a felony conviction. U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Durkin has noted, however, that he is free to sentence Hastert to up to five years in prison.

In their filing Wednesday, Hastert's attorneys recounted his rise from humble beginnings as a small-town schoolteacher to the longest-serving Republican House speaker in U.S. history. His "swift and devastating" fall from grace after his bombshell indictment in 2015 left him in a "state of despair caused by extreme isolation and the withdrawal of support from many friends and former colleagues," the filing stated.

The media frenzy that followed left Hastert's reputation in tatters, his lawyers said. Television news trucks camped out for days on the lawn of Hastert's Plano, Ill., home, helicopters circled overhead and reporters even followed his family members to Wisconsin when they tried to escape the intense scrutiny, according to the filing.

As he awaited trial in virtual hiding, Hastert's portrait was removed from the U.S. Capitol, he was forced to withdraw from numerous boards and institutions, and the tightknit community that had long been his base of support turned against him, his lawyers said.

"Mr. Hastert knows that the days of him being welcomed in the small towns he served all of his life are gone forever," the filing said. "He knows that, for the rest of his life, wherever he goes, the public warmth and affection that he previously received will be replaced by hostility and isolation."

Hastert says he's 'deeply sorry' for misconduct decades ago
The filing also noted Hastert's fragile medical condition, saying he nearly died of a rare blood infection during his first week in a hospital in November. For the first time, Hastert's lawyers in Wednesday's filing described a stroke he suffered in the hospital as a minor one.

Hastert, 74, often uses a wheelchair and needs assistance getting out of bed, going to the bathroom, bathing and dressing himself, the filing stated.

In advance of the sentencing, Durkin has appointed a doctor from Northwestern Memorial Hospital to review Hastert's health records, so the judge has an independent voice on the matter.

The statement issued by the defense outraged Burdge, 54, of Billings, Mont.

"Reading this makes me sick, almost like I did the wrong thing to a man who has 'done so much good for his community and country,'" she said. "It's so twisted."

[conniption]

http://brainsandeggs.blogspot.com/2016/ ... angle.html

[seemslikeadream]

Dennis Hastert Says He 'Mistreated' Boys at Sentencing
by STEPHANIE GOSK, HANNAH RAPPLEYE and TRACY CONNOR

Dennis Hastert, Ex-House Speaker, Arrives for Sentencing in Wheelchair 0:26
One of Dennis Hastert's sex-abuse accusers broke his silence Wednesday, testifying about his torment at the sentencing hearing where the former House Speaker will soon learn if he's going to jail in his hush-money case.

Hastert, 74, is accused of molesting four boys between the ages of 14 and 17 when he was a coach at Yorkville High School decades ago, though he is not charged with any sexual crimes.

The ex-politician apologized "to the boys I mistreated when I was there coach" but did not use word abuse.

"What I did was wrong and I regret it," Hastert, who arrived in a wheelchair, testified. "They looked up to me and I took advantage of them."

Related: The Dennis Hastert Case: What You Need to Know

One of his accusers, Scott Cross, testified that when he was a senior in high school in 1979, Hastert sexually abused him during a massage after a workout.

"As a 17-year-old boy I was devastated. I tried to figure out why Coach Hastert had singled me out. I felt terribly alone," Cross, who is called Individual D in court papers, testified. "Today I understand I did nothing to bring this on, but at age 17, I could not understand what happened or why."

"I've always felt that what Coach Hastert had done to me was my darkest secret," the father of two told the judge, adding that he was not sure until he took the stand that he could bring himself to talk about the incident.

"I wanted you to know the pain and suffering he caused me then and still causes me today. Most importantly, I want my children and anyone else who was ever treated the way I was that there is an alternative to staying in silence."

The sister of another accuser, who died of AIDS in 1995, took the stand to demand Hastert "tell the truth."

"Don't be a coward," Jolene Burdge, sister of Steven Reinboldt, testified.

"I always wonder if you're sorry for what you did or if you're sorry you got caught."

Image: Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert arrives for his sentencing in Chicago
Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R) arrives at the Dirksen Federal Court House for his hush-money case sentencing on April 27, 2016 in Chicago, Illinois. Joshua Lott / Getty Images
Hastert, who had a stroke several months ago, has cited his health problems as a reason he should be sentenced to probation. Prosecutors are recommending a six-month sentence.

Hastert pleaded guilty to illegally structuring bank transactions to avoid having them reported to regulators. Prosecutors say he was using the money to pay off a man known only as Individual A, who says Hastert molested him on a wrestling camp trip.

Individual A is not testifying at the hearing and sued Hastert this week to collect the remainder of the $3.5 million he says he was promised.

15 months in jail....that's 85% he will serve

after that 2 years supervised

fined $250.000...I guess he pay that with the Turkish bribes he took

now on to the civil lawsuit

[82_28]

Was he an incognito member or supporter of NAAAAAAAMBLAH? I'm not even going to search for it because. Just because. Same with Rush Limbaugh. Yet they were able to defeat Gary Hart by having a woman on his lap. Don't know where I read it, I suppose I can search for that, but Donna Rice(?) was sent to frame him and there was never an affair. Carter like Hart like Sanders were the last of the Mohicans. Sanders remains. I have no idea. Just I know in Hart's case he was a stand-up man who was reviled by the right -- this was back when Denver was small. While all that time the family values leaders of the right were abusing children and changing for good their lives.

[Burnt Hill]

Was he an incognito member or supporter of NAAAAAAAMBLAH? I'm not even going to search for it because. Just because. Same with Rush Limbaugh. Yet they were able to defeat Gary Hart by having a woman on his lap. Don't know where I read it, I suppose I can search for that, but Donna Rice(?) was sent to frame him and there was never an affair. Carter like Hart like Sanders were the last of the Mohicans. Sanders remains. I have no idea. Just I know in Hart's case he was a stand-up man who was reviled by the right -- this was back when Denver was small. While all that time the family values leaders of the right were abusing children and changing for good their lives.

I am feeling your nostalgia here. And the hypocrisy is thick. Unfortunately Gary Hart was his own worse enemy. He challenged the media to "follow me around" and they did. Got the picture of him and Donna Rice on a boat called "Monkey Business" no less. I don't know whether he had the affair or not, but he was not forthcoming enough about the situation, then he was toast.

[Pele'sDaughter]

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/den ... s_20170119

Jailed former House Speaker Dennis Hastert says a man who accused him of sexual abuse should return $1.7 million in hush money because he broke his silence by talking to the feds.

The demand was made in Hastert's response to a lawsuit filed by the accuser, known only as Individual A, who is trying to recoup the rest of the money the politician promised him.

"To the extent any contract existed between plaintiff [Individual A] and defendant [Hastert], plaintiff breached that contract," Hastert's lawyers wrote.

"Plaintiff's breach of conduct resulted in damages to defendant and plaintiff is accordingly required to return $1.7 million to defendant."

Individual A spoke to FBI agents who contacted him about his agreement with Hastert, but otherwise he has never spoken publicly about his accusations.

His attorney, Kristi Browne, said it was Hastert who had reneged.

"Mr. Hastert has decided that rather than live up to his promise to compensate his victim for his molestation and resulting injury, he will ask his victim to pay him," she said in a statement.

"He admits to agreeing to make payments, but then denies that it is an agreement that he has to keep. His response is predictable and we look forward to entering the discovery phase of the case."

Hastert, 75, was sentenced in April to 15 months in prison for making illegal cash withdrawals to pay Individual A and quash allegations he abused teenage boys while he was a high-school wrestling coach decades ago.

Although the disgraced power broker was not charged with any sex crimes because the statute of limitations had passed, the judge in the case branded him a "serial child molester" and ordered him to enroll in a sex-offender treatment program.

The alleged abuse took place well before Hastert became the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives in 1999. A few years after he retired, he was confronted by Individual A about misconduct on a wrestling trip in 1974.

Hastert agreed to pay Individual A $3.5 million and had forked over $1.7 million of that sum when federal investigators began looking into his unusual bank withdrawals.

Hastert claimed he was a victim of extortion but after FBI agents interviewed Individual A, they found his account of molestation credible.

After Hastert pleaded guilty to the financial crime, Individual A sued him, saying he was still owed $1.8 million. In his response, Hastert says there was no legal contract and even if there was, his accuser would have broken it.

Individual A's "retention of the $1.7 million is unjust," his attorneys wrote.

Not only does Hastert want his money back, he thinks Individual A should pay his attorney's fees.

At his sentencing, Hastert admitted he "mistreated" and "took advantage" of former students who came forward to say they were molested -- three of them anonymously.

"What I did was wrong and I regret it," he said at the time.