Former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert pleaded guilty to illegally structuring bank withdrawals and is facing six months in federal prison. Making headlines now, though, is the reason behind the illegal transactions – hush money for sexually abusing at least five young boys while teaching and coaching wrestling at Yorkville High School from 1965-1981.
Five things jumped out at Glenn as particularly bothersome regarding the story.
#1 Sexually Molesting Children
Prior to coming to Capitol Hill in the late ’80s, Hastert, 74, was a wrestling and football coach at Chicago’s Yorkville High School. At Yorkville, according to comedian Andy Richter, who attended the school from 1980 to 1984, the former congressman had a “'Lazyboy’-type chair in direct view of the shower stalls in the locker room where he sat while the boys showered.”
"He was a wrestling coach and a teacher at Yorkville High School before being elected to Congress. Prosecutors detailed sexual encounters with teenage boys, which included inappropriate touching and oral sex. The actions at the core of this case took place not on the defendant's national public stage, but in his private one-to-one encounters in empty locker rooms and a motel room with minors that violated the special trust between young boys and their coach," Glenn read.
#2 How Did Everyone Miss This?
With so many details coming to light now, Glenn wondered why no one noticed or spoke up.
“How did everybody in the town, everybody in the school, how did everybody miss this for so long?” Beck asked. “This predator is there, and, I mean, you could let your imagination run wild here on this guy. And how was that missed by everyone?”
#3 How Did No One in Congress Know About This?
Becoming Speaker of the House necessarily includes background investigations. It involves being elected in the first place to enjoy the privilege of becoming Speaker. How did Congress and the American voters miss this?
“Then how did we not see it? He’s elected into Congress. He becomes the Speaker of the House. None of us had an inkling that this guy was a slimeball,” Beck said. “How did he become the Speaker of the House with people doing deep investigations into his conduct without anyone seeing it?”
#4 How Did a Former Teacher Get Rich?
Hastert was a high school teacher who held elective office from 1981 to 2007. When he entered politics, he was worth $275,000. How did he leave Congress with an estimated $4 to $17 million-dollar fortune? It just shows the corruption in Washington, D.C.
“Seventeen million dollars! I have built a giant company, and I don't have $17 million. How does a man go to Congress and have $17 million?" Glenn shouted incredulously. "He was a teacher, and he left teaching to go to work in Congress,” Beck said. “And he had $3.5 million? We know he had more, because he’s not on Poverty Row now. He had $3.5 million that he took out of the bank for hush money.”
#5 Going to Jail for the Wrong Thing
Hastert is facing sentencing for financial missteps instead of for the alleged sexual misconduct. The former speaker has since apologized for those “transgressions.”
“Those aren’t mistakes — you molested — that’s not a transgression,” Beck said. “You molested a child. I don’t care how — you know, that’s not a misstep, a transgression. You molested a child.”
Enjoy this complimentary clip from The Glenn Beck Program:
Featured Image: Surrounded by U.S. Marshals, former Republican Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert leaves the Dirksen Federal Courthouse on October 28, 2015 in Chicago, Illinois. Hastert plead guilty to bank fraud charges after he was accused of intentionally evading federal reporting requirements involving bank transactions. Hastert is alleged to have withdrawn more than $1.5 million dollars in several installments from bank accounts to make payments to an 'Individual A' to cover-up sexual abuse that reportedly took place when Hastert was a teacher and wrestling coach at Yorkville High School. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
