ABC set off a firestorm Wednesday evening when it ran a report on World News Tonight claiming that Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert was "in the mix" of the Justice Department's congressional bribery investigation.
It appears that Brian Ross and ABC are going the way of Dan Rather and CBS.
Brian Ross' report
Federal officials say the Congressional bribery investigation now includes Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, based on information from convicted lobbyists who are now cooperating with the government.
Part of the investigation involves a letter Hastert wrote three years ago, urging the Secretary of the Interior to block a casino on an Indian reservation that would have competed with other tribes.
The other tribes were represented by convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff who reportedly has provided details of his dealings with Hastert as part of his plea agreement with the government.
The letter was written shortly after a fund-raiser for Hastert at a restaurant owned by Abramoff. Abramoff and his clients contributed more than $26,000 at the time.
The day Abramoff was indicted, Hastert denied any unlawful connection and said he would donate to charity any campaign contribution he had received from Abramoff and his clients.
A spokesman for Speaker Hastert told ABC News, "We are not aware of this. The Speaker has a long history and a well-documented record of opposing Indian Reservation shopping for casino gaming purposes."
It's early Thursday morning and ABC is still not retracting its story, despite statements by federal officials that its report is false.
The Department of Justice issued the following statement:
STATEMENT FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
WASHINGTON, D.C.
"Speaker Hastert is not under investigation by the Justice Department."
That seems very clear, very black and white.
Ron Bonjean, Hastert's Communications Director, released this statement:
"The ABC News report is absolutely untrue. As confirmed by the Justice Department, 'Speaker Hastert is not under investigation by the Justice Department.' We are demanding a full retraction of the ABC News story. The Speaker's earlier statement issued today accurately reflects the facts regarding this matter."
In response, to the denials issued by the DOJ and Hastert, ABC provides this update:
Despite a flat denial from the Department of Justice, federal law enforcement sources tonight said ABC News accurately reported that Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert is "in the mix" in the FBI investigation of corruption in Congress.
Speaker Hastert said tonight the story was "absolutely untrue" and has demanded ABC News retract its story.
Law enforcement sources told ABC News that convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff has provided information to the FBI about Hastert and a number of other members of Congress that have broadened the scope of the investigation. Sources would not divulge details of the Abramoff’s information.
"You guys wrote the story very carefully but they are not reading it very carefully," a senior official said.
...ABC’s law enforcement sources said the Justice Department denial was meant only to deny that Hastert was a formal “target” or “subject” of the investigation.
"Whether they like it or not, members of Congress, including Hastert, are under investigation," one federal official said tonight.
The investigation of Hastert’s relationship with Abramoff is in the early stages, according to these officials, and could eventually conclude that Abramoff’s information was unfounded.
Officials said the next logical investigative step would be for the FBI to seek a wide range of documents from the members of Congress named by Abramoff, including letters and business documents.
A spokesman for Hastert said the office had received no subpoenas or requests for documents.
What a crock!
Ross and ABC are clinging to the supposed accuracy of the story by dragging out unnamed "law enforcement sources" to prove its veracity. Rather than acknowledge the clearly misleading nature of the report and retract, Ross and ABC prefer to parse words.
That does nothing for the network's credibility. It is further evidence of the liberal bias that permeates ABC, home of executive producer John "Bush makes me sick. If he uses the 'mixed messages' line one more time, I'm going to puke" Green.
"It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is."
--BILL CLINTON
What a legacy!
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