Thread: Hastert accuses justice dept of intimidation

http://news.yahoo.com/fc/US/US_Congress

WASHINGTON - House Speaker Dennis Hastert accused the Justice Department Thursday of trying to intimidate him in retaliation for criticizing the FBI's weekend raid on a congressman's office, escalating a searing battle between the executive and legislative branches of government. "This is one of the leaks that come out to try to, you know, intimidate people," Hastert said on WGN radio Thursday morning. "We're just not going to be intimidated on it."


Hastert denies involvement in corruption scandal By Holly Yeager in Washington
Wed May 24, 9:05 PM ET



Dennis Hastert, the speaker of the US House of Representatives, on Wednesday night denied he was under investigation by the FBI as part of its ongoing corruption probe of Congress.

ABC News - citing unnamed justice department sources - on Wednesday said information allegedly implicating Mr Hastert was developed from lobbyists who have already pleaded guilty and are co-operating with the government.

Following the report, the a spokesman for Mr Hastert issued a statement calling for the retraction of the story,

"The ABC News report is absolutely untrue. As confirmed by the Justice Department, 'Speaker Hastert is not under investigation by the Justice Department," the statement said.

Mr Hastert's alleged involvement in the corruption scandal would further taint congressional Republicans, who have already seen Tom DeLay, their former majority leader, step down amid allegations of wrongdoing.

At the centre of the broad federal corruption probe is Jack Abramoff, a powerful Washington lobbyist with ties to top Republicans in Congress.

ABC said the FBI investigation of Mr Hastert involves a letter he allegedly wrote three years ago urging the secretary of the interior to block a casino on Native American Indian reservation that would have competed with tribes represented by Mr Abramoff.

Mr Abramoff has pleaded guilty to providing gifts and trips to members of Congress and their staff members in exchange for favourable treatment for his clients. He is co-operating with government investigators as part of his plea agreement.

The ABC report said Mr Hastert's letter was written shortly after a fund-raiser for the Illinois Republican at a restaurant owned by Mr Abramoff. When Mr Abramoff was indicted, Mr Hastert said he would donate to charity all contributions he had received from Mr Abramoff and his clients.

In recent days, Mr Hastert has been an outspoken critic of the FBI's raid of the Capitol Hill office of William Jefferson, a Louisiana Democrat who has been implicated in a separate investigation. He and other congressional leaders have charged that the executive-branch search of a congressional office violates the Constitution's separation of powers.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060525/pl_ ... MlJVRPUCUl

Hastert lawyer may sue ABC over Abramoff report By Andy Sullivan
56 minutes ago



House Speaker Dennis Hastert might sue ABC News for libel and defamation for a news report that said he was "in the mix" in a corruption investigation, according to a letter sent by Hastert's lawyer on Thursday.

The letter from Hastert counsel J. Randolph Evans said statements in ABC's report constitute libel and defamation, and asked who could "accept service of process to remedy this intentional falsehood."

Citing anonymous law enforcement sources, ABC News reported on Wednesday that Hastert was under scrutiny in an FBI corruption investigation centered around former lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

ABC updated its story later to say Hastert was not a formal "target" or "subject" of the investigation, but was "in the mix."

Hastert's spokesman called the story "absolutely untrue" and demanded a retraction, and the Justice Department said the story was wrong.

At the Capitol, Hastert told Reuters: "They made an accusation. The Justice Department denied it."

Abramoff pleaded guilty to corrupting members of Congress in January and is cooperating with investigators as they examine his links to several Republican lawmakers.

Three former Republican aides have also pleaded guilty in the probe.

"With regard to reports suggesting that the speaker of the House is under investigation or 'in the mix,' as stated by ABC News, I reconfirm, as stated by the department earlier this evening, that these reports are untrue," Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty said in a statement late Wednesday.

ABC News reporter Brian Ross said he stood by his story.

"The people we're talking to feel very strongly about what they told us," Ross said in a telephone interview.

ABC has not yet been served with legal papers from Hastert's attorney, Ross and ABC News spokesman Jeffrey Schneider said.

In his letter to ABC, Evans said, "We will take any and all actions necessary to rectify the harm ABC has caused and to hold those at ABC responsible for their conduct."

Evans was not immediately reachable for comment.

The ABC News report said investigators were looking at a letter Hastert wrote three years ago, urging the secretary of the Interior Department to block a casino on an Indian reservation that would have competed with casinos of tribes represented by Abramoff.

Hastert wrote the letter shortly after he held a fund-raising event that took in $26,000 from Abramoff and his clients, the report said.

Bush is just giving these guys a little nudge in the "right" direction. This is an accepted practice in modern organizations. Jefferson had a payback coming anyway over the Katrina FEMA fiasco. So he got to be the example. Somebody screwed up bad messing with Haskert.