This case is an absolute joke. He didn't do anything wrong. It sounds like he certainly did something wrong 35 years ago with regard to his student. I wouldn't defend him on that. But that is not what he is in trouble for. The statute of limitations has expired on that.
What he is in trouble for is that the bank got suspicious that he was making big withdrawals. It is no crime to make big withdrawals from your own bank account. When the bank questioned him about it, he decided to make more frequent, smaller withdrawals in order to avoid scrutiny. But if it appears to the bank that you are making smaller transactions to avoid scrutiny, they can report you to the feds. The whole purpose of these laws is to catch drug dealers, money launderers, and terrorists.
In this particular case, the bank reported Hastert's unusual banking activities to the feds. So the FBI called Hastert in and asked him why he was making all of these withdrawals. He obviously did not want to tell them that he was paying hush money to avoid an embarrassing scandal. So he just made something up about wanting to keep a lot of cash because he was worried about the banks. So now he is being charged with lying to the FBI. But the truth of the matter is that it was none of the FBI's business what the withdrawals were for. It would be their business if it involved something illegal such as drugs or money laundering. But since it had nothing to do with anything like that, it was really none of their business.
They are charging him with lying to the FBI and they are also charging him with making frequent, small withdrawals to avoid scrutiny. That is absurd. They have those laws so they can nail people who deposit small amounts of money to try to hide income and also to catch criminals who make smaller transactions to stay under the radar. Hastert was not trying to hide income and he was not trying to conceal criminal activity. The government is trying to nail Hastert on laws that are meant for something totally different. I think it is outrageous.
I'm not defending his behavior from 35 years ago. I wish they could prosecute him for that, but they can't because the statute of limitations has expired. It sounds like he definitely committed a crime 35 years ago. But what they are charging him with is a joke. It's not a crime to withdraw large amounts of money from your bank.
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