I saw it reported on the CBS Evening News that House Speaker Dennis Hastert among other Republicans in the House have alledgedly known about Foley's behavior for some time. If proven to be true, this is going to be a scandal of tremendous proportions. The following is an excerpt from an article I found on CNN.com a few minutes ago. No way to spin this one.
Washington ethics group: FBI knew
The Washington watchdog group that first published the inappropriate e-mails between Foley and a Louisiana teenager said Wednesday that it told the FBI in July about Foley's communications. Those messages were deemed by a congressman who oversees the page program inappropriate but not sexually explicit.
The FBI contends that Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington did not provide enough information -- including the pages' identities and e-mail addresses -- to pursue the case. The FBI reviewed copies of the messages, government officials said, but did not have enough information to move forward with an investigation or seek subpoenas.
CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan disputed that account, saying the FBI was given the teen's full e-mail address July 21. CREW received the e-mails that day from "a third party who had gotten them from a congressional staffer," she said.
Sloan said they were sent via e-mail to the FBI.
"The agent called me to follow up to say, 'So, these are e-mails from Mark Foley?' And I said, 'Yes.' And that was the end of our interaction," she said.
CREW has questioned whether the White House helped "cover up Rep. Foley's conduct and leave a potential sexual predator on the loose." The group also asked the Justice Department's inspector-general to investigate why the FBI didn't take further action.
The scandal has rocked the Republican leadership of the House about five weeks before the November midterm elections. It also has triggered a call for House Speaker Dennis Hastert, an Illinois Republican, to step down, but his spokesman and fellow GOP congressmen have said that isn't going to happen.
Hastert asked the Justice Department on Sunday to investigate Foley's conduct and what steps were taken by House members and staff when concerns about the congressman came up.
Government officials said several former pages have been interviewed, and investigators are still trying to find and interview others. Part of this process is "getting real people to make real charges," one official said.
House leaders have acknowledged they were told in late 2005 that Foley was sending "overly friendly" e-mails to the Louisiana teen. Rep. John Shimkus, the Illinois Republican who chairs the board overseeing the page program, told Foley to stop, and said Foley claimed he would.
Rep. Tom Reynolds, a Republican from New York and head of the GOP's House campaign committee, has said he warned Hastert about Foley's e-mail in the spring. Hastert said he doesn't dispute Reynolds' account but doesn't recall the conversation.
Reynolds' chief of staff resigned Wednesday amid allegations he tried to protect Foley from congressional inquiries. Kirk Fordham, who previously had served as Foley's chief of staff, denied taking any inappropriate action on Foley's behalf. Fordham said he was merely reaching out to Foley "as any good friend would."
According to The Associated Press, Fordham claims he told Hastert's office three years ago about Foley's worrisome conduct with the pages, a claim Hastert's office denies.
LINK TO ARTICLE