Everything We Know So Far About the Scandal Surrounding Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert

As is often the case with scandals involving American politicians, the exact nature of former Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert's major alleged misdeeds isn't in the charges filed against him in court. The news-reading public sometimes has to read between the lines.

In the past few weeks, rumors and accusations have swirled alleging that Hastert had inappropriate sexual relationships with minors back when he was a high school wrestling coach. But when he appeared in court on Tuesday, he was only dealing with charges of illegally concealing large transactions by withdrawing deceptively small amounts, and lying about it when the FBI came sniffing around. The indictment quotes him as having said, "Yeah, I kept the cash. That's what I was doing." It's a line that has become notorious for its Tommy Flanagan–esque poetry.

Hastert, who was once third in the presidential line of succession, pleaded not guilty to the felony charges against him on Tuesday. And he might never face molestation charges thanks to the Illinois statute of limitations on such crimes.

In the late 1960s and 1970s, before Hastert got into politics, he was a high school teacher and wrestling coach in Yorkville, Illinois. He wrote in his autobiography, Speaker: Lessons from Forty Years in Coaching and Politics, that "the coaches who have the most success put their best and most talented people out front to achieve, and everyone else comes together to work." He claimed that this was one of the guiding principles in his political career. According to the New York Times, in addition to coaching wrestling and football, Hastert was a Boy Scout leader, and a chaperone for male students on field trips to Utah, the Grand Canyon, and the Bahamas.

Politically speaking, his record was that of an uncompromising right-wing Republican. Around the time Hastert attained the speakership, Bob Kemper of the Chicago Tribune wrote critically of the Illinois congressman's politics, remarking:

During his tenure as Speaker of the House, which lasted through most of George W. Bush's administration, Hastert was instrumental in the passing of the Patriot Act, beat the drum of war for the US invasion of Iraq, and advanced the Defense of Marriage Act, the federal law allowing states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages that was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2013.

He was also known for his avowed disinterest in allowing Democrats to have any say while the GOP held a majority in the House of Representatives. He ensured that this practice persisted by implementing the controversial "majority of the majority" rule, which discouraged GOP House leaders from allowing Democrats to pass any bills, even if they had help from dissenting Republicans.

In late 2007, Hastert resigned from Congress, and soon after joined a lobbying firm called Dickstein Shapiro, which worked to sway Congress on behalf of a variety of corporate clients, including Lorillard Tobacco, ServiceMaster, and Maersk Inc. According to the Chicago Tribune, Hastert's lobbying disclosure reports show that he pulled in $11 million for the firm before resigning in the wake of his indictment.

That indictment came down on May 29. As I mentioned, nowhere in the seven pages of allegations is there a mention of sexual misconduct. Instead, nearly all of the ink spilt goes toward describing how Hastert violated 31 U.S. Code § 5313, which concerns properly reporting financial transactions, and makes for exceptionally dull reading.

But the indictment also mentions a shadowy figure called "Individual A," the who allegedly received about $1.7 million from Hastert, $952,000 of which was illegally withdrawn over the course of at least 106 bank withdrawals. (The agreed-upon final amount was meant to be $3.5 million). Individual A, the indictment explains, made arrangements to receive the cash during one of a series of clandestine meetings. At these meetings, Hastert and Individual A "discussed past misconduct by defendant against Individual A that had occurred years earlier."

Later on May 29, while the public was still reeling from the news of Hastert's alleged white-collar crime, anonymous law enforcement officials quietly let the press in on a little secret: they claimed that the charges were tied to sexual abuse. The still-unidentified leakers allege that one of Hastert's old students—a male—had received hundreds of thousands of dollars to conceal the fact that he had been "inappropriately touched" by the then-high school coach. That male student is, they explained, Individual A, but they didn't leak his identity.

In other words, Individual A was apparently extorting Hastert, but given that the anonymous former student appears to be cooperating with the feds, he's unlikely to face charges.

Then, on June 5, a woman named Jolene Burdge appeared on Good Morning America to accuse Hastert of molesting her brother, Steve Reinboldt, one of the boys Hastert had taken to the Bahamas. Reinboldt, who died of AIDS in 1995, had been the equipment manager for Hastert's wrestling team back in the seventies. His family had held onto a yearbook Hastert had signed, calling Reinboldt, "a great righthand man." Burdge told Good Morning America that Hastert "damaged Steve, I think, more than any of us will ever know," and that the relationship had continued "all through high school."

According to the indictment, Individual A was still receiving payments as of last year, making Reinboldt the second alleged victim. With Hastert a possible serial offender, currently free and not facing charges for sexual misconduct, the Survivor's Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) stepped in, calling for Hastert's portrait to be taken off the wall of the Capital Building, and asking other victims to step forward.

Hastert's been very quiet through all of this, hiding out at home for 12 days before his court appearance this week. He has hired a lawyer named Thomas C. Green, a political scandal specialist of sorts, who has defended clients allegedly involved in Watergate, the Iran-Contra Affair, and Whitewater. According to the New York Times, Hastert's defense is going to be a tricky double axel. Green might aver that Hastert's lying to the FBI didn't impede the investigation. But if he wants to get away with his sketchy bank withdrawals, Hastert will likely have to sit down on the witness stand and explain himself.

On Tuesday, Hastert waded through one of those courthouse media ambushes, and then meekly walked into the courtroom, while the journalists in attendance scrutinized the 73-year-old's newly decrepit posture. After pleading not guilty, he was allowed out on bond, but only after being asked to give a DNA sample, and hand over his passport along with any guns he might have.

The whole debacle has also resurrected a nine-year-old controversy over Hastert's handling of accusations against Mark Foley, a congressman who sent text messages to 16- and 17-year-old male pages, asking them questions about their penises, and later, blamed booze. It was later revealed that Hastert got wind of Foley's conduct, but didn't discipline him, and Hastert was forced to apologize.

"I'm deeply sorry that this has happened," Hastert said at the time, adding, "and the bottom line is we're taking responsibility because ultimately, as someone said in Washington, the buck stops here."

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