Former Republican Congressman and supporter of MKO indicted on hush money for child abuse
Dennis Hastert, a once powerful Republican Congressman who was known as a champion of Christian family values and a supporter of Iran's anti-government armed opposition group (MKO) was indicted on Thursday on charges that he lied to the FBI on paying hush money to a student he sexually abused as a high school wrestling coach.
AlterNet Senior Writer Max Blumenthal had also previously speculated on Hastert’s involvement in covering up sexual abuse by former Florida Congressman Mike Foley (R), who was forced to resign in 2006 after news came to light that he had engaged in inappropriate courting of young men who worked as pages.
Hastert became a born-again Christian in high school, and much of his time at Wheaton College, an evangelical institution, was devoted to religious study and promoting family values. "With me, what you see is what you get," Hastert told The New Yorker reporter in 2003. He is also quoted in 2003, "it is equally important to put repeat child molesters into jail for the rest of their lives," and in 2006, "At home, we put the security of our children first, and Republicans are doing just that in our nation's House. We've all seen the disturbing headlines about sex offenders and crimes against children. These crimes cannot persist. Protecting our children is as high a priority as securing our border against terrorists."
Hastert was a high school teacher and wrestling coach in Yorkville, Illinois, from 1965 to 1981, before going on to serve as an elected official and then to work as a highly paid lobbyist. Hastert agreed to pay his sexual victim $3.5 million to compensate for and conceal the misconduct, according to the indictment.
Related to Justice
- Only in America: News on Justice and Hope
- Holocaust survivor supports blacks in Missouri and Palestinians in Gaza
- Iranian born artist promotes universal basic income in the Netherlands (video)
- British legal system paralyzed by an Iranian criminal
- "Wal-Mart copied Iranian American dentist's business plan" Lawsuit claims: Shah vs. Wal-Mart
- From a White homeless to a black President: U.S. law protects
- Why prisons cannot be privatized and judges cannot be trusted?
