At the end of May, news broke that former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-IL) allegedly lied to authorities about millions in hush money he was paying to a blackmailer to conceal sexual misconduct. Now the FBI is reporting that the number victims may have grown to as many as three.
The FBI initially revealed that the case involved Hastert and an “Individual A” and concerned abuse perpetrated when Hastert was a coach and teacher at his home high school back in the late 1960s and early 70s, years before he ran for Congress.
“It goes back a long way, back to then,” a source told the media. “It has nothing to do with public corruption or a corruption scandal. Or to his time in office.”
But now, the FBI is revealing that they are aware of one, perhaps two, other victims who are alleging sexual misconduct.
On Thursday, the sister of a man who died of AIDS in 1995 says that her brother told her decades ago that he was abused by Hastert when he was a student. But sources in the FBI say that this woman’s brother is not “Individual A.”
This only adds to the number of potential victims.
Dennis Hastert was the longest-serving Republican Speaker of the House, presiding from 1997 to 2007. He retired as the Congressman for the Illinois 14th District at the end of his speakership. Hastert served in Congress for twenty years.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston, or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.
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