Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
A former Speaker of the House (and current DC lobbyist) is facing federal charges for fumbling what appears to be an effort to pay hush money to an unidentified individual for “misconduct,” though the details of the alleged misconduct are unclear.
Dennis Hastert, the former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, is facing federal charges in an alleged attempt to conceal large bank withdrawals, used to pay an individual for past “misconduct” on the part of the former veteran politician, federal prosecutors announced on Thursday.
The unnamed individual, a resident of Hastert’s hometown of Yorkville, has known Hastert for most of this life. The alleged misconduct happened many years earlier, according to the indictment. According to the indictment, in 2010, Hastert met with and then agreed to provide an unnamed individual $3.5 million “in order to compensate for and conceal his prior misconduct against” that person, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago.
Hastert was charged with structuring the withdrawal of $952,000 in cash in order to evade the requirement that banks report cash transactions over $10,000, and lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation about his withdrawals.
The media coverage of this ongoing investigation is sure to be a doozy.