Abramoff snitched on Hastert

We all pretty much knew that there was some deeper reason as to why Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert came to the defense of a Democratic Congressman William Jefferson, whose property was raided because he illegally took a bribe from an undercover FBI informant.  Think about it: with all the hyper-partisanship in today's political era, why would a Republican Speaker, whose party is facing the possibility of an election defeat this November, help a Democrat facing an ethical scandal?

Hastert tried to give the excuse that he opposed the search because it demonstrated a dangerous increase in Executive power.  But if that was the case, then how come he was not up in arms when the USA Today story broke the story that telephone companies handed over to the NSA personal phone information of millions of Americans?  Consistency has often been an issue with this GOP majority.  So there had to have been some sort of deeper motive that pushed Hastert to condemn these kinds of government raids, like the kind against Rep. Jefferson.

Late last night, we got our answer.  Brian Ross of ABC News broke the story that Dennis Hastert himself is under investigation for links to Jack Abramoff, who is in the midst of a bribery scandal:

Part of the investigation involves a letter Hastert wrote three yearsago, urging the Secretary of the Interior to block a casino on anIndian reservation that would have competed with other tribes.

Theother tribes were represented by convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff whoreportedly has provided details of his dealings with Hastert as part ofhis plea agreement with the government.

The letter was writtenshortly after a fund-raiser for Hastert at a restaurant owned byAbramoff. Abramoff and his clients contributed more than $26,000 at thetime.

Almost immediately after this story broke, the Justice Department issued a denial that Speaker Hastert was under investigation:

"The story is wrong. Hastert is not under investigation."

Then ABC News issued a second report elaborating on the investigation a bit more.  It turns out that Abramoff snitched on Hastert:

Despite a flat denial from the Department of Justice, federal lawenforcement sources tonight said ABC News accurately reported thatSpeaker of the House Dennis Hastert is "in the mix" in the FBIinvestigation of corruption in Congress.

Speaker Hastert said tonight the story was "absolutely untrue" and has demanded ABC News retract its story.

Law enforcement sources told ABC News that convicted lobbyist JackAbramoff has provided information to the FBI about Hastert and anumber of other members of Congress that have broadened the scope ofthe investigation. Sources would not divulge details of the Abramoff’sinformation.

Therefore, don't expect this Congressional bribery investigation to end with the Speaker.  Being that this Abramoff investigation is on the mind of Hastert, it certainly does explain why he reacted so aggressively against the government raid on William Jefferson's property.  It was not the well-being of the constitution that Hastert was worried about, it was himself.