In a clever move, Hastert has asked the Justice Department to investigate anyone with knowledge of the sexually explicit instant messages sent by Rep. Foley to former pages, inside or outside of Congress.
Note this: the request does not cover the first set of emails described as "overfriendly." The main stream media are already confusing the nature of the request to the JD and are saying that Hastert is asking for a full investigation of everything by the JD. This is not so. Hastert is asking for a full investigation of only the highly explicit IMs, and he wants to know who leaked them to the press.
This is a diversion. Hastert is setting up an artificial distinction between Foley's initial approach to pages ("overfriendly," "warm," mildly inappropriate, slightly creepy) and the later result of his approach (highly sexually explicit). He is seeking to divert attention from the fact that the House Leadership knew that Foley had a sexual interest in pages, and failed to act to protect the pages. He is trying to set up two distinct issues, the "innocent" emails, and then the explicit IMs. He is trying to set up a defense that says: we only knew about the "innocent" emails. We knew nothing of the explicit IMs.
This is patently false on its face. If there was nothing wrong with the emails, then why was Foley told to stop them? The Republican leadership cannot escape the fact that they knew they had a sexual predator, and that the so-called "innocent" emails would inexorably lead to the highly explicit IMs that have been discovered.
But Hastert has his exit strategy lined up. You watch. The Justice Department will find "no illegal activity on the part of anyone in Congress" and it will do so quickly. This will divert from the real issue: the issue of judgment, the issue of failing to protect pages from sexual predators.
Sorry for the short diary. This is discussed at
Talking Points Memo