Speaker of House Hastert Allegedly Bribed

Democracy Now, NY
Aug 4 2005

A new story in Vanity Fair is alleging that Turkish-Americans may have
attempted to bribe a group of U.S. lawmakers including Republican
Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert. The allegation appears in
an extended piece in the magazine about FBI whistleblower Sibel
Edmonds. According to the magazine, Edmonds was helping the FBI
translate tapes surrounding an investigation of Turkish nationals.

She was fired from her job after she complained about corruption
at the agency. Edmonds is under a federal gag order not to publicly
discuss what she heard on the wiretaps. But sources told the magazine
that Edmonds has testified that she heard wiretaps of individuals
boasting that they had covert relationships with Speaker of the
House Dennis Hastert and that Turkish interests had given tens of
thousands of dollars in small donations to Hastert. The donations
were reportedly given around the time that the House was considering
passing a resolution condemning the Turkish genocide of Armenians.

Hastert originally backed the resolution but then withdrew it minutes
before it was scheduled to go up for a House vote. Hastert’s office
has denied receiving any such payments and Vanity Fair reports that
there is no evidence that any payments were made. Edmonds is suing the
government over his dismissal but the Bush administration is attempting
to have the lawsuit squashed claiming it would reveal state secrets.