Former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert was just indicted, and the circumstances are more than a little bizarre. Not only has he been accused of covering up `prior misconduct’ by paying $3.5 million to an unnamed person, he also tried to hide it by withdrawing the funds in amounts below $10,000 (also illegal) and lying to the FBI. Pat has the full story on radio and his reaction.
Get the latest from TheBlaze, and watch Pat's reaction below:
Below is a rough transcript of this segment:
PAT: Pat Gray in for Glenn on the Glenn Beck Program. He's back -- the show will be back together on Monday. 877-727-BECK.
A lot to talk about today as we get into the weekend. Of course, we have the former Speaker Denny Hastert being indicted on charges of -- this is bizarre. It's bank fraud, I guess, now to withdraw -- first of all, if you withdraw more than $10,000, it has to be reported to the federal government.
JEFFY: Right.
PAT: You know, they're looking for drug dealers. Terrorists.
JEFFY: But, my friend, if you withdraw less than $10,000 --
PAT: Then it still has to be reported because now you're skirting the law.
JEFFY: More times than one.
PAT: More times than one. Is that written into the law, that you can't withdraw more than $10,000 and you can't withdraw less than $10,000 more than once?
JEFFY: The indictment -- which is what he did -- the indictment charges him with one count of evading bank regulations by withdrawing -- well, he withdrew $952,000 in increments of less than $10,000 to skirt reporting requirements.
PAT: That's madness! How is that American?
JEFFY: It's not America.
PAT: It's my money. I can withdraw whatever increment I want and do with it whatever I want within the law.
JEFFY: Well, when the FBI comes to you, pal, and says, hey, Pat, what are you doing with that money? Why are you withdrawing it? And you don't tell them the truth, you can be indicted for it.
PAT: Well, the truth is, it's none of your business. I'm not going to tell you what I'm doing with my money. I'm doing whatever I want with my money. Shut up. That's not America.
JEFFY: One count of lying to the FBI about the reason for the unusual withdrawals.
PAT: Wow, that's bad. That is bad.
JEFFY: Each one of those counts, maximum penalty. Five years prison. 250,000 dollar fine.
PAT: Wow. That is crazy. So, anyway, he withdrew $950,000 in small amounts. So he did it over and over again. Now, I don't know what -- he's obviously being blackmailed by somebody.
JEFFY: Some kind of hush money. We don't know what for.
PAT: It would be interesting to know what he did to this unidentified person and they're blackmailing him and he's trying to silence them. So that's a separate issue. I don't know what he did. I don't know what happened there.
But the banking issue is outrageously ridiculous that you can't withdraw -- okay, so there is a regulation in place. We all understand it now. If you take out $10,000 cash, it's going to be reported to the government. But if I withdraw $9,999.99 cents in cash, it's none of your business what I'm doing with it. I don't have to report that. It's $10,000 or more. I didn't take out $10,000 or more. Get off me.
JEFFY: But you know --
PAT: And if I want to do that every day of the week for a year -- if I had that kind of money -- I should be able to.
JEFFY: Well, you can. You can.
PAT: They'll just visit you and ask you what you're doing with it. And it's none of your business what I'm doing with it.
JEFFY: All right. Put your hands behind your back.
PAT: That's exactly what would happen. That's why this is no longer America. That and so many reasons. That's a big one. I don't know what he's doing with the money.
JEFFY: Yeah, and it went way back to his hometown of Yorkville, I guess. Yorkville Illinois. Because it talks about the indictment -- it talks about the -- it said here that the federal prosecutors noted that -- about his ten-year in Yorkville. He was a teacher back in the mid-'60s into the early '80s. And it talked about individual A having known him for almost all his life. So it was something that happened, you know, early on in his life. We don't know what that was. I mean, it could be something someone related to him. It could be something about him. We don't know what that is. However --
PAT: We do know he's being charged with some kind of skirting bank regulation.
JEFFY: Right. Come on.
PAT: Which is madness. That's madness.
JEFFY: Come on.
PAT: We have to revisit that. We must revisit that law, I think.
JEFFY: Oh, my gosh.
PAT: I mean, if you're catching drug dealers, fine. How many drug dealers are --
JEFFY: Former Speakers of the House?
PAT: Not many. No, not many. If the transactions are -- if you're transferring money from the United States to Mexico and on your account it says, Gulf Cartel, maybe we look into that, I don't know.
[laughter]
But American citizens need to be left alone.