Dennis Hastert
The scandal surrounding former House Speaker Dennis Hastert's indictment for attempting to conceal bank withdrawals to pay off an extortionist has reached the stage where, in the absence of major news, we're watching the effects of what we do know play out. The biggest news, if it holds up, is that there is
reportedly a second alleged victim of abuse by Hastert during his days as a high school teacher and coach. That makes a lot of sense, since abusers don't typically stop at one, but we just don't know a lot about it yet. Beyond that, Hastert faces a barrage of (deserved, if the allegations are true) humiliations.
The search is on for every piece of hypocrisy Hastert committed during his time as a House Republican, and this is a major one:
“It is important to have a national notification system to help safely recover children kidnapped by child predators,” it said. “But it is equally important to stop those predators before they strike, to put repeat child molesters into jail for the rest of their lives, and to help law enforcement with the tools they need to get the job done.”
So will he be volunteering to take the punishment he proposed?
Meanwhile, Hastert's alma mater stripped him of an honor:
“In light of the charges and allegations that have emerged, the college has redesignated the center as the Wheaton College Center for Economics, Government and Public Policy at this time,” the school said in a news release that was updated on Sunday. The center had been called the J. Dennis Hastert Center for Economics, Government and Public Policy.
Hastert also resigned from the center's board of advisers, as he had resigned from his job as a lobbyist. Presumably this is not the end of organizations and allies distancing themselves from Hastert, who is due to be arraigned this week.
11:32 AM PT: In what passes for good news for Hastert these days, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said it would be "premature" to talk about removing Hastert's portrait from the Capitol.
