That was then Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert advocated for the impeachment of President Bill Clinton in 1998, saying no one is above the law. (C-SPAN).
On Dec. 18, 1998, Hastert — a month away from taking the gavel as speaker — rose to address the topic.
Mr. Speaker, I am saddened that there is clear and convincing evidence that the president lied under oath, obstructed justice and abused the powers of his office in an attempt to cover up his wrongdoing. I regret that the president’s behavior puts me in the position of having to vote in favor of articles of impeachment and pass this matter on to the U.S. Senate for final judgment. In facing this solemn duty, I looked to the wisdom of our founding fathers.
According to Alexander Hamilton in Federalist 65, impeachment concerns offenses with proceed from the misconduct of public men — or in other words, from the abuse or violation of some public trust. The evidence in President Clinton’s case is overwhelming, that he has abused and violated the public trust. In this nation, all men are created equal. Simply put, the president in our representative democracy is not a sovereign who is above the law.
Tomorrow, I shall cast a difficult vote. The president’s inability to abide by the law, the Constitution and my conscience have all led me to the solemn conclusion that impeachment articles must be passed.
That was then and this is now. The chickens come home to roost for Hastert. Now Hastert is convicted felon and child molester. And the judge that sentenced Hastert had some very choice words for Hastert. From Thinkprogress:
Former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert was sentenced in federal court today to 15 months in prison and a $250,000 fine, in addition to two years of supervised release, on the condition that he get treatment as a sex offender. Last year, Hastert pled guilty to breaking banking laws by making illegal withdrawals — which he then lied about to the FBI.
Hastert took out $1.7 million in small amounts to avoid suspicion, according to the indictment, which he then used as hush money to prevent a victim of sexual abuse from going public. The victim, identified only as “Individual A” in the court papers, was a 14-year-old on Hastert’s wrestling team when Hastert was a teacher and wrestling coach at Yorkville High school in Illinois. When the allegations become public, three other victims came forward and said that they had been molested by Hastert while he was their wrestling coach. While the statute of limitations on the sexual crimes ran out long ago, the judge can take any behavior surrounding the banking crimes into account when sentencing.
One of Hastert’s victims, now 53-year-old Scott Cross, came forward publicly for the first time before today’s sentencing. He testified that he was molested by Dennis Hastert while on the wrestling team in 1979. He was 17 years old at the time.
Cross’ brother, Tom Cross, is a former Republican House Minority Leader in the Illinois legislature and a former Hastert political ally. Hastert mentored Cross and helped him get into politics.Hastert asked his former protege for a letter of support earlier this year, but by then Tom Cross knew of his brother’s allegation and declined.
The sister of another alleged victim, Stephen Reinboldt, also testified. At the sentencing, Hastert admitted to wrongdoing and apologized to the boys he “mistreated,” including Reinboldt. He also said that he didn’t remember abusing Cross — but that he accepted his allegations.
In sentencing, Judge Thomas M. Durkin called Hastert a “serial child molester” and noted that any sentence he would be able to give would be far less than what Hastert would have received for his sexual crimes.
And the difference between scandals between Bill Clinton and Dennis Hastert is that Clinton’s indiscretion was consensual and not rape. Clinton is only guilty of morals and cheating on his wife. Hastert, on the other hand, is a convicted felon and now sex offender when he molested underage boys when he was a teacher decades ago.
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