Former Speaker Hastert resigning from Congress
Former Speaker Dennis Hastert will be resigning from Congress before the end of his term according to news reports:
Former House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert will resign soon rather than complete his term 15 months from now, ending a 21-year career in Congress, Republican aides said Thursday.
The Illinois Republican had announced in August he would not seek re-election in 2008, but said he planned to finish his current term, which ends in January 2009. Republican aides, speaking on background only because Hastert had not yet publicly announced his new plans, said he now intends to leave office late this year or early next year.
Think Progress speculates on reasons Hastert may be retiring. He has been at least tangentially involved in numerous scandals over the past few years.
In 2006, CREW put Hastert on our members "to watch" list in Beyond DeLay.
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Hastert's links to the corruption probes were well publicized
A long time ago we learned that Hastert was "in the thick of things" with regard to the Abramoff corruption probe. Since the investigation is confidential, federal agents refused to say another word regarding Hastert.
It is just as illegal to not report crimes one has knowledge of to the FBI (in this case in depth knowledge of), as it is to commit them. By not reporting the crimes, as a minimum Hastert is facing conspiracy charges. As a person whose company and management were wronged by the parties being investigated apart of the Abramoff and Cunningham corruption probes...my gut says that Hastert's got a lot more coming his way than conspiracy charges!
Hastert's name has been dragged through the mud with regard to the Abramoff probe for more than 2 years. If he's leaving his office soon after sticking it out this long, he must be viewing that US DOJ charges are pending soon and are imminent.