Indicted Former House Speaker Hastert Concealing Sexual Misconduct, According To Source

By Rachel Cromidas in News on May 29, 2015 7:20PM

Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, who is now facing a federal indictment, was paying someone to conceal sexual misconduct, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Officials told reporters that "Individual A," one subject of Thursday's federal indictment against Hastert, was a man, and that Hastert's alleged misconduct took place years ago, during his time as a Yorkville, Ill. high school wrestling coach and teacher.

The unnamed source suggested that Hastert's goal in making the payments was to conceal a past relationship with a man. Another official told reporters that the misconduct involved sexual abuse.

"It has nothing to do with his time in office," the source said.

Hastert was indicted this week after the FBI found that he was paying $3.5 million in "hush money" to cover-up something in his past. He later lied to FBI agents about the suspicious cash withdrawals he made from several banks to make payments to "Individual A." The indictment of the longtime Republican politician stunned constituents Thursday.

Hastert's assistant wrestling coach from his time in Yorkville, Anthony Houle, told Buzzfeed News that he had nothing to hide:

“He was a straight arrow, nothing was hidden. It was a small town, if you farted it was going to be big news.”

Yorkville School District said they had no knowledge of the case against Hastert.

Hastert, 73, was accused of structuring currency transactions to evade Currency Transaction Reports and making false statements to the FBI, according to the federal grand jury indictment.