UPDATE: The Los Angeles Times has reported that two federal law enforcement officials said that Hastert was covering up sexual misconduct from his time as a teacher in Yorkville.
From the LA Times:
One of the officials, who would not speak publicly about the federal charges in Chicago, said “Individual A,” as the person is described in Thursday’s federal indictment, was a man and that the alleged misconduct was unrelated to Hastert’s tenure in Congress. The actions date to Hastert’s time as a Yorkville, Ill., high school wrestling coach and teacher, the official said.
“It goes back a long way, back to then,” the source said. “It has nothing to do with public corruption or a corruption scandal. Or to his time in office.” Thursday’s indictment described the misconduct “against Individual A” as having “occurred years earlier.
Asked why Hastert was making the payments, the official said it was to conceal Hastert’s past relationship with the male. “It was sex,’’ the source said. The other official confirmed that the misconduct involved sexual abuse.
Former Republican Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert has been indicted on one charge each of structuring currency transactions to evade currency transaction reports and making a false statement to the FBI, NBC News reported.
Haster is accused of “withdrawing $952,000 and paying an unidentified person in Yorkville [Illinois] to ‘compensate for and conceal his prior misconduct’ against that person.’” He was also accused of “structuring the withdrawals to evade banking reporting regulations.”
While exactly what prior misconduct Hastert is trying to cover up is unknown, POLITICO reported that there had been rumors in Washington DC over the past few weeks about his “legal troubles.”
Watch NBC News’ coverage of Hastert’s indictment.
