House Speaker Not Under Investigation: Justice (Hastert Victim of Drive-by Media)

Reuters ^ | Wednesday, May 24, 2006

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Take a cue from Mr. Harper. Ignore the bastards.

[Texasforever]

What favorable things did he say about Jefferson?

[Coop]

Can you sense the intense level of apathy here?

[defconw]

If the thing was not so insulting it would be funny.

[deport]

Feds say House Speaker not under probe

By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press Writer 10 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department denied a news report Wednesday that it was investigating House Speaker Dennis Hastert.

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The statement by department spokeswoman Tasia Scolinos came in response to a report by ABC News that Hastert was under investigation by the FBI to determine his role in a public corruption probe centered around convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Amid a furor surrounding the weekend FBI raid on the offices of Rep. William Jefferson (news, bio, voting record), D-La., ABC quoted federal officials as saying information implicating Hastert was developed from convicted lobbyists now cooperating with the government.

Hastert, R-Ill., sharply criticized the raid and, with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., demanded that Justice Department officials return all the documents seized from Jefferson's office.

Asked if he was being investigated, Hastert said late Wednesday that he has not received any notice from the Justice Department that he was being investigated as part of the Jack Abramoff probe.

"You'll have to ask the Justice Department," he told reporters, as he walked from his office to the House chamber. "Somebody leaked it out."

Pressed by reporters, Scolinos said: "Speaker Hastert is not under investigation by the Justice Department."

Hastert's office later issued a statement calling the ABC report "absolutely untrue" and demanding a full retraction. ABC had no immediate comment.

Hastert was among nearly three dozen lawmakers who pressed the Interior Department to block a Louisiana Indian casino's casino application. An Associated Press review of campaign reports, IRS records and congressional correspondence found that Hastert and the other lawmakers had collected large donations from Abramoff and his tribal clients.

Between 2001 and 2004, Hastert collected more than $100,000 in donations from Abramoff's firm and tribal clients. He also had used Abramoff's restaurant to hold fundraisers.

[StAnDeliver]

ABC offers this message board right on Brian Ross' ABC home page to "tell World News Tonight what you think".

[goldstategop]

Then why is he outraged over the treatment meted out to Louisiana's Jefferson? Where there's smoke, there's fire.

(Denny Crane: "Every one should carry a gun strapped to their waist. We need more - not less guns.")

[KoRn]

"Hastert Victim of Drive-by Media"

BIGTIME! It just didn't seem possible, to me he's always seemed to be an honest guy.

[rodguy911]

Feeble attempt to get the focus off of William Jefferson

They(rats, rino pubbies and drive-by vendors,) successfully got the focus off the black William Jefferson, not the real one, when the FBI entered his office.

That's all the drive bys want to discuss about this story now and, as usual, we fell right into their trap.

[Arrowhead1952]

Who hired Craig Livingstone?

Karl Rove!!

Wonder what DU has to say about this?

[madison10]

Between 2001 and 2004, Hastert collected more than $100,000 in donations from Abramoff's firm and tribal clients. He also had used Abramoff's restaurant to hold fundraisers.

Had to get the "dig" in, didnt' they?

[Mo1]

I wonder if it's rope a dope?

[jrooney]

Folks,

This was pushback coming from the donks to an easy target Hastert (that has been mishandling this Jefferson probe) due to huge and deep investigations that are coming to a close.

We will see more of this and should be aware that the donks, rogue cia and msm will deploy these things to deflect and eat up news coverage and take up their front page newspaper space.

[MEG33]

Was that an "official" leak that Hastert was under investigation? I am willing to wait on the truth and wait before condemning and hanging Hastert..so far nothing is "official". That is what I meant by "unofficial accusation" in the thread you posted..

[tongue-tied]

Reporter: I know a guy who knows a guy, and he heard a guy in the restroom at Denny's say he heard that the VP will be indicted Monday!

Editor: Run it! Call them un-named sources who refused to be indentified and have a hand in this. We'll call it not just a leak, but a veritable flush!

[KoRn]

PS: Drudge needs to make a correction on his site.

[Nevermore]

Feeble attempt to get the focus off of William Jefferson?

Why? What's B.J. been up to?

[jrooney]

See post #48. This is becoming typical Brian Ross reporting because of his own legal troubles.

[STARWISE]

Unbelievable .. was just going to post it when I saw your ping. Thanks .. and can we now say that PMB (projectile media bias) is now a full-fledged contagion??

[sourcery]

Speaker HasDirt will now magically become plane old Speaker Hastert again. Move along, nothing to see here. We now return you to your regularly-schedule political mud wrestling match :-)