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The 'Stunning Hypocrisy' of Dennis Hastert:
Speaker, Coach, Sexual Abuser
A court filing describing why former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert broke banking laws is very straightforward about his history of sexually abusing wrestlers he coached at Yorkville (Ill.) High School in his pre-politics days. You can’t tell the story of his illegal withdrawals without it; the investigation centered around $3.5 million Hastert promised to an unnamed Individual A, whom, according to court filings, he sexually abused. Plus, the filings detail at least four other victims, as well as the recliner Hastert sat on in the locker room to watch his wrestlers shower in the name of supervision.
What this means is that from 1999 to 2007, the United States had a child molester two heartbeats away from the presidency. A child molester who got that job because at the time, after the Republicans’ first choice stepped aside because of admitted extramarital affairs, was seen as a clean and morally upstanding figure with no hint of scandal. If you wonder why, when you sign up to coach COH -3.32% or volunteer, you have to (at least you should) jump through so many background-check hoops, this is more evidence why. If you can’t trust a U.S. House Speaker (or a priest, or coaches at pretty much any level), you can’t really trust anyone, right?
“Defendant’s history and characteristics are marred by stunning hypocrisy.” Those are the words Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven A. Block uses to convince a federal judge in Chicago to give Hastert a six-month prison sentence for breaking banking laws; namely, making withdrawals in a manner designed to avoid detection under federal banking laws, including those enacted under the Patriot Act passed during Hastert’s watch. If you want to get an idea of Hastert’s stunning hypocrisy, there’s this from the court filing, talking about Hastert’s bank contacting him after a series of suspicious withdrawals:
Defendant initially told the risk management officer that the withdrawals were none of his business. When the risk management officer pressed further, defendant said that he was withdrawing the cash for investments and to buy stocks and also because he wanted to keep his cash deposits under the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation insurance limits. The risk management officer told defendant that his explanations did not make sense, i.e., one cannot buy stocks with cash, and the risks associated with possessing large amounts of currency far outweigh the risks of a bank failure. Defendant provided no further explanation. The risk management officer explained to defendant the bank’s obligations under the Bank Secrecy Act and the PATRIOT Act. Defendant stated that he was aware of the law, but that the PATRIOT Act was just for terrorism and he (defendant) was not a terrorist.
Defendant’s history and characteristics also are marred by stunning arrogance. In the court filing, it’s explained that Hastert’s attorney told investigators that his client was being extorted; in two meetings between Hastert and Individual A, the person promised $3.5 million to keep quiet about Hastert sexually abusing him in a hotel room during a wrestling camp trip, it became abundantly clear to investigators there was no extortion going on
In fact, according to the court filing, Individual A figured Hastert’s community prominence, which is a big reason why the five wrestlers spotlighted in the filing didn’t tell anyone Hastert sexually abused them, would help them both in keeping everything quiet:
Individual A said that he had wanted to involve lawyers from the beginning to make their agreement “legal,” but that defendant had refused. Individual A recounted that he had wanted to bring in two close confidantes of defendant at the beginning to help them reach an agreement, but defendant had refused. Individual A said that people “buy their way out of trouble all the time,” and that there had to be a way to do it. Individual A said that he had relied on defendant, who had been in Congress and had lawyers at his disposal, to help structure their agreement. Individual A referred during the conversation to a “lock box” (i.e., safe deposit box) in which defendant had agreed to place stock or money so that their agreement could be fulfilled if defendant died.
Alas, the federal and state statute of limitations on Hastert’s sex crimes has expired, which is why prosecutors are asking for about as much as they can — six months in prison on the banking charges to which Hastert plead guilty. That hardly seems like sufficient payback for a life of stunning hypocrisy, and how it caused the boys he abused to “feel alone, ashamed, guilty and devoid of dignity,” as the prosecutor’s court filing put it.
Hastert’s sentencing is scheduled for Chicago April 27. His lawyers are arguing for probation because of the 74-year-old Hastert’s ill health, and because he has suffered so many “public repudiations.” Wait,Hastert has suffered enough? What hypocrisy. What arrogance.
Surrounded by U.S. Marshals, former Republican Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert leaves the Dirksen Federal Courthouse on October 28, 2015 in Chicago, Illinois. Hastert plead guilty to bank fraud charges after he was accused of intentionally evading federal reporting requirements involving bank transactions. Hastert is alleged to have withdrawn more than $1.5 million dollars in several installments from bank accounts to make payments to an ‘Individual A’ to cover-up sexual abuse that reportedly took place when Hastert was a teacher and wrestling coach at Yorkville High School. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
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