Foley Investigators Want Pelosi's Help

January 09, 2008 8:36 AM

Vic Walter and Krista Kjellman Report:

Florida law enforcement officials investigating former Republican Rep. Mark Foley, whose e-mails and instant messages to teenage former congressional pages shocked the country, are hoping Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi will grant them access to Foley's House computers.

"We are respectfully requesting access to any and all computer equipment that the U.S. Government possesses that former Representative Foley utilized during his time in office," Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Gerald Bailey wrote to the speaker last month.

A spokesman for Pelosi told ABC News her office "is in the process of preparing a response to Commissioner Bailey's request," after receiving the letter only last week due to security precautions taken with her mail. 

Spokesman Brendan Daly also said the office wants to cooperate with Florida investigators and will consult with House lawyers.

But back in August, lawyers for the U.S. House of Representatives, citing constitutional exemptions, denied Florida law enforcement officials access to the former congressman's computers. Investigators believe Foley may have used the machines to send illegal sexually explicit messages to former congressional pages.

"Access to these computers is critical to the Department's ability to move this case forward," Bailey said this week.

Federal officials turned the case over to Florida after concluding that Foley did not engage in any actual sexual contact until the former pages had turned 18, and had therefore not violated federal law. Washington, D.C. law defines the age of consent as 16.

Under Florida law, it is a third-degree felony both to use the Internet "to seduce, solicit, lure or entice" a minor "to commit any illegal act...relating to lewdness and indecent exposure" and to transmit any "information or data that is harmful to minors...via electronic mail," which includes instant messages.

Foley resigned Sept. 29, 2006, hours after ABC News questioned him about sexually explicit messages with former congressional pages, some of whom were under the age of 18 at the time of the exchanges.

Calls to Foley's attorney were not immediately returned.

Click Here for Full Blotter Coverage.

January 9, 2008 in Mark Foley Internet Scandal | Permalink | User Comments (13)

Foley Unlikely to Be Prosecuted; Lewd Internet Messages Too Old

September 14, 2007 8:26 AM

Vic Walter and Krista Kjellman Report:

Disgraced former Congressman Mark Foley, whose e-mails and instant messages to teenage former congressional pages shocked the country, may avoid criminal prosecution in Florida because of the state's three-year statute of limitations.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement did not start a criminal investigation of Foley until November 2006, making it nearly impossible to prosecute what some officials regarded as the best case, an explicit instant message sent by Foley to a 17-year-old high school student in February 2003, when Foley was in Pensacola, Fla.

"Barring any extraordinary circumstances, it is very unlikely for charges to be filed in a case once the statute of limitations has run its course," said Aya Gruber, a former federal public defender and professor of law at Florida International University.

Federal officials turned the case over to Florida after concluding that Foley did not engage in any actual sexual contact until the former pages had turned 18, and had therefore not violated federal law. Washington, D.C. law defines the age of consent as 16.   

Under Florida law, it is a third-degree felony both to use the Internet "to seduce, solicit, lure or entice" a minor "to commit any illegal act...relating to lewdness and indecent exposure" and to transmit any "information or data that is harmful to minors...via electronic mail," which includes instant messages.

The statute of limitations hasn't been the only hurdle in the Florida investigation. Last month, lawyers for the U.S. House of Representatives denied Florida law enforcement officials access to the former congressman's computers, as previously reported on the Blotter on ABCNews.com. Investigators believe Foley may have used the machines to send illegal sexually explicit message to former congressional pages.

A Florida Department of Law Enforcement spokeswoman told ABC News at the time that House lawyers denied their request to turn over the computers, citing the Speech or Debate Clause of the Constitution, which protects congressional papers. The House claims Foley's computers are the equivalent of congressional papers, and that only Foley can waive his congressional privilege and grant access to them. 

At the time, the spokeswoman, Kristen Perezluha, had said the department was working with Foley's lawyers to obtain access to the computers. This week she would neither confirm nor deny they had been granted access.

Perezluha did tell ABC News the investigation was almost done. "They (investigators) hope to have it wrapped up soon," she said.

Calls to Foley's attorney were not returned.

Foley resigned Sept. 29, 2006, hours after ABC News questioned him about sexually explicit messages with former congressional pages, some of whom were under the age of 18 at the time of the exchanges.

This post has been updated.

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September 14, 2007 in Mark Foley Internet Scandal | Permalink | User Comments (28)

House Lawyers Refuse to Turn Over Foley's Computers

August 23, 2007 4:04 PM

Vic Walter and Krista Kjellman Report:

Lawyers for the U.S. House of Representatives have denied Florida law enforcement officials access to former Congressman Mark Foley's office computers. Investigators believe Foley may have used the machines to send illegal sexually explicit messages to former congressional pages.

Instant messages reviewed by ABC News last October indicated the one-time Florida representative interrupted a House vote to engage in Internet sex with a high school student who had served as a congressional page and had been 18 for just six weeks at the time of the exchange.      

The message, according to its time stamp, was dated April 2003, at approximately 7 p.m. -- the same time the House was voting on H.R. 1559, Emergency War Time supplemental appropriations.

Maf54: I miss you
Teen:  ya me too
Maf54: we are still voting
Maf54: you miss me too

The exchange continues in which Foley and the teen both appear to describe having orgasms in sexually explicit terms.

Maf54: ok..i better go vote..did you know you would have this effect on me
Teen:  lol I guessed
Teen:  ya go vote…I don't want to keep you from doing our job
Maf54: can I have a good kiss goodnight
Teen:  :-*
Teen:  <kiss>

Click Here for Full Blotter Coverage.

But a Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) spokesperson told ABC News that House lawyers denied the agency's request to turn over the computers, citing the Speech or Debate Clause of the Constitution, which protects congressional papers. The House claims Foley's computers are the equivalent of congressional papers, and that only Foley can waive his congressional privilege and grant access to them. 

Ken Boehm, chairman of the National Legal and Policy Center, a conservative anti-corruption watchdog group, said at the time of the FBI's raid on Rep. William Jefferson's Capitol Hill office, he was very opposed to then Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., and current Speaker Nancy Pelosi's, D-Calif., assertion that House offices cannot be searched. A federal appeals court ruled earlier this month that although the search of a congressional office is constitutional, the FBI violated the Speech and Debate Clause in searching Rep. Jefferson's office because the agents gained access to all of the congressman's records without giving him the chance to argue some of his records concerned legislative business.

"There's nothing that distinguishes a congressional office from any other office," Boehm said. "If you have something privileged, a letter from your attorney, investigators can't take that letter."

But the House's refusal to turn over Foley's computers appears to grant congressional offices special privileges -- something Boehm says no longer exists. 

"The type of all-purpose you-can-never-search-our-offices position is out," Boehm, who has advocated for a narrower interpretation of the Speech and Debate Clause, told ABC News. 

FDLE spokesperson Kristen Perezluha said the department has moved on and is currently working with Foley's attorney and the FBI to gain access to the computers.

Even without access to Foley's government computers, Perezluha says her department is "hoping to wrap up its investigation in seven to 10 days," at which time it will be up to the state attorney in Pensacola, Fla., to press charges. Unlike federal law, the Florida statute makes it a crime simply to use lewd or explicit language that is harmful to minors. 

Foley resigned Sept. 29, 2006, hours after ABC News questioned him about sexually explicit messages with former congressional pages, some of whom were under the age of 18 at the time of the exchanges.

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August 23, 2007 in Mark Foley Internet Scandal | Permalink | User Comments (31)

Foley, GOPers Pay for Scandal Lawyers With Campaign Funds

April 16, 2007 12:14 PM

Justin Rood Reports:

Former Congressman Mark Foley has spent more than $250,000 of his campaign funds on lawyers since he was exposed for having inappropriate sexual conversations with minors online.

The law allows Foley to pay Zuckerman Spaeder LLP from his pot of over $1.5 million in campaign funds that he had amassed prior to the scandal.  Federal politicians can spend campaign money on their legal defense if they are facing charges relating to their conduct in office.

Curiously, neither David Roth nor Gerald Richman, the two lawyers who have been cited in news articles as representing Foley, appear to be associated with Zuckerman Spaeder. Foley's campaign has been dissolved, and neither Zuckerman Spaeder nor the two men immediately returned calls for comment.

Foley is not the only figure in the scandal to run up a hefty bill with his lawyers using campaign funds.

Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., has racked up over $130,000 in legal fees, Federal Election Commission filings show.  Some lawmakers and aides involved in the scandal said they had warned Hastert and his staff about questionable behavior by Foley years before sexually suggestive electronic conversations between Foley and young male pages surfaced.

Click Here for Full Blotter Coverage.

Moreover, the House Ethics Committee found that Hastert's use of private lawyer Randy Evans to represent him and two of his key aides in the scandal came dangerously close to obstructing justice.

Hastert has paid over $80,000 in funds raised for his re-election to the firm of McKenna, Long and Aldridge, which employs Evans. The former GOP leader's campaign still owes the firm $52,128, his election filings show. Hastert's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

And retired lawmaker Jim Kolbe from Arizona took a big hit in legal fees, paying out $120,000 in cash from his old campaign war chest to Wilmer Hale. The law firm employs former White House counsel Reginald Brown, whom Kolbe retained in December to represent him in twin investigations by the House Ethics Committee and the Department of Justice.

The ethics committee concluded that Kolbe had discouraged a teenage House page from coming forward after the young man forwarded Kolbe a communication from Foley that made reference to the page's penis size. Kolbe has said he could not open the e-mail attachment containing Foley's message, and that the page had already decided not to report the incident.

Kolbe has faced a separate inquiry from the Department of Justice over a 1996 trip to the Grand Canyon the congressman took with his sister and two teenage former pages. One of the pages has since complained to a reporter of "fawning, petting and touching" by the congressman and said he was "creeped out" by it.  Kolbe has said there is "no basis and no truth" to any allegations of inappropriate behavior on the trip.

Former House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, has paid out $47,500 in legal fees from his campaign coffers recently. A staffer told ABC News the fees are unrelated to his role in the Foley scandal; he has been engaged in a legal battle with  Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., whom Boehner has accused of acting illegally in connection with a surreptitious recording of a 1997 conversation among GOP lawmakers.

McDermott has called Boehner's efforts "frivolous."

Boehner, now the House Minority Leader, said he warned Hastert about questionable, though not sexually explicit, e-mails between Foley and a male page months before the scandal broke. Hastert has disputed that.

Legal fees also piled up for Rep. Tom Reynolds, R-N.Y., former head of the House GOP's political arm, who was also implicated in the scandal. Reynolds, like Boehner, said he warned Hastert about Foley after he learned of the questionable e-mail sent to a former page, which Hastert has denied.  Reynolds has paid over $21,000 in legal fees from his campaign account. Reynolds'
office did not immediately respond with a comment for this article.

One figure from the scandal shows no legal fees being paid from his campaign war chest: former House Page Board Chairman Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., who the House Ethics Committee blasted for failing to properly investigate early warnings about Foley.

April 16, 2007 in Mark Foley Internet Scandal | Permalink | User Comments (5)

Foley Back From Rehab; Florida Considering Charges

March 28, 2007 5:00 AM

Brian Ross and Vic Walter Report:

Florida law enforcement officials are building a possible criminal case against disgraced former Congressman Mark Foley, R-Fla., based on sexually explicit instant messages that were sent from Pensacola, Fla., to an underage high school student, thereby falling under the state's tough law on Internet sexual predators, ABC News has learned.

"It's a broad statute, and it encompasses a lot of activity," said Maureen Horkan, the director of the Child Predator CyberCrime Unit in the Florida Attorney General's office.

Foley has begun to re-emerge publicly in Palm Beach, Fla., after spending weeks at an Arizona rehabilitation center for what his lawyer described as issues involving substance and his own alleged sexual abuse as a minor.

He was seen last week bicycling along South Ocean Boulevard wearing a helmet and bike racing outfit.

Unlike federal law, the Florida statute makes it a crime simply to use lewd or explicit language "that is harmful to minors."

Click Here for Full Blotter Coverage.

In several of the Foley messages, reviewed by ABC News, the former congressman urges or describes certain sexual acts.

"How my favorite young stud doing," Foley, using the screen name Maf54, asks at the beginning of the exchange.

"Did any girl give you a hand job this weekend," Maf54 asks a few minutes later.

The 17-year-old boy responds, "lol no."

"Good so your getting horny," Maf54 says, adding later, "i am hard as a rock...so tell me when your reaches rock." 

Later, Maf54 writes, "um so a big buldge [sic]."  "Love to slip them off of you and gram [sic] the one eyed snake."  "get a ruler and measure it for me."

"I can't say specifically what the outcome of that particular case would be, but I can say that having looked at that language, there are elements of that language that would certainly qualify it, if a jury were to believe that, it would be criminal," said Horkan who has reviewed the messages.

"If the child listens and complies and follows someone else's instruction, even though they are in totally separate places, that crime has been committed," said Horkan.

She says her unit has prosecuted a number of such cases.

Federal law enforcement officials say they have had difficulty bringing charges against Foley because they have not been able to prove actual sexual contact with a minor, as required under federal law. Washington, D.C. law defines the age of consent as 16.

Since the messages were first revealed by the Blotter on ABCNews.com last September, leading to his resignation, Foley has consistently denied sexual contact with any of the underage former congressional pages with whom he exchanged explicit language about sex acts.

Officials say the text in the Foley instant messages make it clear he was in Florida and knew he was dealing with someone under the age of 18.

People familiar with the case said one instant message in particular, from Pensacola, could serve as the foundation of the case because it would allow charges to be brought in a county far from Foley's Palm Beach, where he was a popular figure.

Law enforcement officials say any decision to bring charges is still a month or two off and also depends on testimony from the former pages who received Foley's messages.

Stephen Jones, a lawyer for one of the former pages, says his client has been questioned extensively by Florida state agents. 

March 28, 2007 in Mark Foley Internet Scandal | Permalink | User Comments (26)

Bush Signs Act to Revise House Page Board

February 02, 2007 1:37 PM

Maddy Sauer Reports:

With little fanfare, President Bush signed an act today revising the House of Representatives Page Board, which is responsible for the oversight of the teenage congressional page program that was at the center of last year's Mark Foley scandal.

The board will now include a member representing the pages' parents as well as a member representing former pages.  ABC News' "The Blotter" first reported on the sexually explicit communications between then-Congressman Mark Foley and former congressional pages after being contacted by numerous former pages.

Read the Full Coverage of the Foley Internet Scandal on "The Blotter."

Following Foley's subsequent resignation, numerous members of the page board were questioned about what they knew and when about Foley's behavior.

Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., Chairman of the House Page Board, was criticized in the House Ethics Committee report on the Foley matter for not being more aggressive after he first learned of over-friendly e-mails between Foley and a former page.

Shimkus and then-Clerk of the House Jeff Trandahl confronted Foley over the e-mails, which were not sexually explicit in nature, but the matter was never shared with the other page board members.  Foley later resigned after more sexually explicit instant messages were reported by ABC News.

Discretion Advised: Read an excerpt from the instant messages that forced Foley to resign.

Sixty-six high school juniors and seniors serve as Congressional pages during school semesters and over summer break. The pages live in a dormitory near the Capitol and spend the majority of their day functioning as messengers, delivering legislative material between Capitol offices.

February 2, 2007 in Mark Foley Internet Scandal | Permalink | User Comments (1)

FBI: We Flubbed Foley E-mails

January 22, 2007 11:58 AM

Jason Ryan and Brian Ross Report:

The FBI should have done more to investigate the Mark Foley e-mails or, alternatively, notified House authorities in charge of the congressional page program, the FBI's inspector general,  Glenn A. Fine, said in a report today.

Read the Mark Foley e-mails.

In effect, the report finds the FBI's inaction contributed to the failure of officials to detect Foley's inappropriate behavior, which eventually led to his resignation when ABC News revealed more sexually explicit e-mails and instant messages to current and former pages.

While finding no official misconduct on the part of FBI officials, the inspector general said "the e-mails provided enough troubling indications on their face" to have warranted follow-up steps.

Instead, the inspector general found, the supervisory agent decided there was no evidence of criminal wrongdoing and  "placed the e-mails in her in box and took no further action" even though she found the e-mails "odd."

The e-mails were provided to the FBI in July 2006 by the non-profit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).

Click Here for Full Blotter Coverage.

The inspector general said the FBI "at a minimum" should have told CREW it had decided against an investigation because "CREW was relying on the FBI to pursue the matter and as a result had not notified anyone else about the e-mails."

Melanie Sloan, the executive director of CREW, says the FBI's handling of the Foley e-mails was irresponsible.  "They should take investigating potential, child sexual predators much more seriously," says Sloan.  "Attorney General Gonzales said this is one of their top priorities, but their conduct in this case shows that clearly that is not the case."

The inspector general also concluded that widely reported comments by FBI officials on the e-mails provided by CREW were "not accurate."

Unnamed officials were quoted as saying "the reason that the FBI did nothing further at the time" was because CREW had provided heavily redacted e-mails and refused to provide information about the source of the e-mails.

Sloan says the agency owes her organization an apology.  "The FBI didn't fail to take any action on the e-mails because of any of CREW's actions," she said.  "What CREW gave the FBI, they failed to investigate all on their own."

The inspector general said it was unable to determine who was responsible for making the inaccurate statements to the media.

Read the Blotter's Full Coverage on the Foley Internet Scandal.

January 22, 2007 in Mark Foley Internet Scandal | Permalink | User Comments (56)

ABC Exclusive: No Prosecution Likely for Foley

December 08, 2006 7:38 PM

Pierre Thomas Reports:

Jason Ryan contributed to this report:

According to Justice Department officials, it is unlikely that the U.S. Attorney's office in Washington will press forward on a prosecution in the Foley case.

According to several sources, prosecutors have had difficulty establishing probable cause of a crime. The barrier in getting past the probable cause threshold was the statute on transmitting obscene materials to minors. Under federal law, the age of minors receiving obscene materials is 16.

December 8, 2006 in Mark Foley Internet Scandal | Permalink | User Comments (67)

Democratic Leadership Knew About Foley E-mails

December 08, 2006 5:51 PM

Rhonda Schwartz Reports:

The House Ethics Committee Report includes new information that top Democrats were also aware in 2005 of Mark Foley's inappropriate e-mails to congressional pages at about the same time as outgoing Speaker Dennis Hastert's office was informed.

While the report is critical of Hastert and his staff for not taking sufficient action, nowhere is there any evidence that the Democrats followed up. 

According to the Committee's report, "the communications directors for both the House Democratic Caucus and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee" in the fall of 2005 also had copies of e-mails written by Mark Foley to a congressional page, which the high school student described as "sick, sick, sick, sick."

While Foley's staff and members of the House Republican leadership originally sought to downplay the original e-mails, describing them as overly friendly, the Ethics Committee report concluded, "The e-mails reflect inappropriate communications between a middle-aged congressman, through his private e-mail account, and a young male who had just left the employ of the House."

The Ethics Committee found the "e-mails clearly provided a sufficient basis to at the very least confront Rep. Foley, demand an explanation" and "make him aware he could face serious consequences if the conduct did not stop."

Click Here for Full Blotter Coverage on the Brian Ross Homepage.

But while the report is highly critical of the shortcomings of Hastert and the Republican leadership, there is no follow-up to the brief one sentence mention on page 76 that powerful Democratic committees also knew about the e-mails except to note that Matt Miller, the House Democratic Caucus staff member, sent the e-mails at some pont to various news organizations.

December 8, 2006 in Mark Foley Internet Scandal | Permalink | User Comments (20)

Willful Ignorance But No Rules Broken

December 08, 2006 5:29 PM

Jake Tapper Reports:

The House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct released its report investigating the scandal surrounding the inappropriate contact former Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) had with congressional pages, finding that "a pattern of conduct was exhibited among many individuals to remain willfully ignorant" of Foley's behavior though no "current House Members of employees violated the House Code of Official Conduct."

The chairmen of the ethics committee, Reps. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) and Howard Berman (D-Calif.), effusively praised each other and the bipartisan committee's work over the previous nine weeks, but would take no questions, preferring to let the 89-page report speak for itself. They said their investigation was completed after 50 interviews and depositions, 3,000 pages worth of transcribed interviews, and more than 100 hours of testimony and deliberations.

In what some critics see as a way of letting his colleagues' behavior off the hook, Hastings in prepared remarks said that "20/20 hindsight is easy" and that "doing the right thing...can be very hard and difficult."

Calling the report a "whitewash," Melanie Sloan, the executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said that the "House ethics committee has proven itself yet again to be entirely incapable of investigating wrongdoing by Members of Congress."

The report states that as "a general matter," the committee "observed a disconcerting unwillingness to take responsibility for resolving issues regarding Rep. Foley's conduct...Almost no one followed up adequately on the limited actions they did take." Other than one congressman and his staff, the committee says, no one in the House responsible for Foley's conduct actually saw any of the e-mails.

Click Here for Full Blotter Coverage on the Brian Ross Investigative Homepage.

Even without proscribed punishments, the report issues some harsh assessments. Regarding then-Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Rep. Tom Reynolds (R-N.Y.), the report states, "Like too many others, neither the Majority Leader nor Rep. Reynolds showed any curiosity regarding why a young former page would have been made uncomfortable by e-mails from Rep. Foley. Neither the Majority Leader nor Rep. Reynolds asked the Speaker to take any action in response to the information each provided to him, and there is no evidence that the Speaker took any action."

The report speculates as to why that may have been. "Some may have been concerned that raising the issue too aggressivelty might have risked exposing Rep. Foley's homosexuality, which could have adversely affected him both personally and politically," the report states, adding that "political considerations played a role in decisions" by both Democrats and Republicans.

Sloan said that at the very least members and their staffs violated Rule of the House ethics rules, which reads in part that "A member...officer or employee of the House shall conduct himself at all times in a manner that shall reflect creditably on the House."

"All you have to do is anthing wrong and you violated Rule 23," Sloan said. And while the report illustrates "that a fair number of people knew about Foley's behavior and didn't do anything, the committee just said 'everybody had bad judgment,' but they found basically no wrongdoing."

The report addresses that issue, saying that "the requirement that Members and staff act at all times in a manner that reflects creditably on the House does not mean that every error in judgment or failure to exercise appropriate oversight and sufficient diligence establishes a violation of House Rule 23."

In a statement, outgoing Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) said that he was "glad the Committee made clear that there was no violation of any House Rules by any Member or staff. As I said at the time -- and the Committee has now confirmed -- 'The Investigative Subcommittee uncovered no evidence that the IMs were provided to, or were possessed by, any House Member, officer, or employee, the press, or any political organization prior to September 28 and 29, 2006" when ABC News broke the story of salacious instant messages.

But the report doesn't let the Members of the House and their staffs off the hook entirely. It states that the committee "was distrubed by the conduct of those who dealt with allegations regarding the conduct of former Representative Foley. When confronted with such allegations, the response of some individuals was limited to that necessary to shift notice and responsibility to those they believed more responsible for dealing with such matters."

Every Member of Congress asked to testify did so though the report notes that outgoing Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.), who is openly gay and has been suspected of improper behavior himself, limited the scope of his testimony. Kolbe has denied any inappropriate behavior.

As to the fabled Watergate question, "What did they know and when did they know it?" the report states that a few people knew, and they've known for quite some time.

As early as the mid-90s, House Clerk Jeff Trandahl "repeatedly confronted" Foley about "becoming too involved with the pages and failing to keep a professional distance." He didn't consider Foley a threat to the pages, Trandahl testified, but rather thought Foley was taking a political risk because as a "closeted gay guy...he would be immediately presumed, in a political light," guilty unless he could prove himself innocent."

Trandahl told the committee that he spoke of his concerns about Foley "pretty often" to Ted Van Der Meid, who in addition to serving as the Speaker's counsel was also director of floor operations. Van Der Meid would tell Trandahl that "there is nothing wrong with people being mentors and caring about kids." Van Der Meid did not share Trandahl's concerns with anyone else in the Speaker's office, testifying that he was under the impression that Trandahl was handling it himself by discussing his concerns with then-Foley chief of staff Kirk Fordham.

Trandahl and Fordham both testified that in late 2002/early 2003, Fordham spoke of his concerns about Foley and the pages to Palmer, then-Speaker Dennis Hastert's chief of staff. Fordham says, "Palmer agreed that either he or the Speaker would talk to Foley about the matter." A couple days later, Fordham said, Palmer told him that "he had spoken to Rep. Foley," that Foley "understood the message," and that Palmer had "brought the Speaker into the loop." Trandahl testified that Palmer told him that he undertood the problem and was "on it."

But Palmer told the committee that he had no recollection of what Fordham and Trandahl said. Nor did he think he ever warned Foley about his behavior with pages. "I believe it didn't happen," Palmer said.

In 2005, after a page sponsored by Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-Tenn.) received an e-mail from Foley that made him "sick, sick, sick," Alexander was notified about the situation. Alexander staffer Royal Alexander briefed Hastert staffer Mike Stokke in November 2005 on this incident; Stokke responded, "We know," or words to that effect, Alexander said, which he took to mean "that the Speaker's office was aware of the issue and would take care of it." Stokke testified that he referred that matter to Trandahl and did not notify Hastert or Palmer.

Trandahl and Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) confronted Foley in his congressional office. Foley's new chief of staff Liz Nicholson recalled Trandahl possibly telling Foley, "Mark, you've been warned by Scott before." Nicholson later asked Foley what Trandahl had meant, and Foley "said something about -- that Scott Palmer had talked to him once before about...mentoring youths and things like that."

Over Memorial Day weekend, Rep. Alexander testified that he mentioned the incident with his former page to then-Majority Leader John Boehner. "Okay, we'll handle it," Boehner said, according to Alexander. Alexander also told Rep. Tom Reynolds then head of the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Boehner testified that he told Hastert about the issue almost immediately, and Hastert responded that the matter "has been taken care of." Reynolds testified that he too told Hastert about the incident.

Hastert testified that he "does not recall" any such conversations with Boehner or Reynolds.

Such differing recollections have some judging just who is telling the truth. CREW's Sloan says, after reading the report, that "it sounds like Hastert and Palmer lied."

Some other findings:

Regarding the so-called "drunk dorm" incident, wherein Foley allegedly appeared intoxicated at the page dorm after curfew, the committee writes that a number of important players in the scandal -- Trandahl, Fordham, Van Der Meid and chief page superviser Peggy Sampson -- had heard about the alleged incident, but the investigative subcommittee of the Committee on Standards "heard no testimony from any person who actually witnessed this event," nor "any other direct evidence reflecting such an appearance by Rep. Foley at the page dorm." Though the report does mention an incident in June 2000 when Foley drove up to the dorm in his convertible BMW and picked up two or more pages and sped off, though the page superviser was not concerned and the pages returned not long afterwards.

Rep. Kolbe testified that one of his pages, having served in the 1999-2000 academic year, told him about an incident during his freshman year of college when he was instant-messaging with Foley and the then-congressman "made reference to the size of his penis." The page forwarded the IM in an e-mail to Kolbe and asked the congressman to "take care of it." Kolbe asked a staffer to reach out to then-Foley chief of staff Fordham to make sure Foley knew the IM had made the page uncomfortable.

In 2000, Fordham learned that Foley "used his own frequent flier miles to fly a former page to Washington to visit him." He also learned from Foley's information technology manager that Foley had been e-mailing former pages. But at that time, Fordham "did not attempt to view the e-mails or investigate the matter."

The committee did not obtain testimony from Foley. Foley's attorney told the committee that he would invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-recrimination before the committee, and the committee decided that compelling compliance with the subpoenas it had issued him "would unnecessarily delay the issuance of this report."

The report concludes with a number of recommendations to secure the integrity of the Congressional Page program, which unofficially began in 1827.

"This is why we need an office of public integrity," CREW's Sloan said, arguing in favor of an independent organization that would police Congress rather than having Congress investigate itself.

December 8, 2006 in Mark Foley Internet Scandal | Permalink | User Comments (11)

Former Page Says He Sent Foley's Sexually Explicit IM to Rep. Kolbe in 2001

December 08, 2006 4:21 PM

Maddy Sauer Reports:

A former congressional page told the House Ethics Committee that he received a sexually explicit instant message from then-Congressman Mark Foley (R-Fla.) in 2001, and the page says he forwarded that message to Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.), according to today's report released by the House Ethics Committee.

Around October 2001, while a freshman in college, the page said he sent Foley an IM saying that his girlfriend was coming for a visit. The page said Foley responded with a comment making reference to the size of his penis, according to the report. The page also testified that he then forwarded the IM as an attachment to Kolbe's personal e-mail address. The page had been sponsored by Kolbe, and he asked Kolbe to "take care of it."

About a week later, the page received an e-mail from Foley apologizing for making him uncomfortable. The page concluded that Kolbe had spoken to Foley about the message.

While Kolbe told the committee that he recalls having been contacted by the former page about Foley, he told the committee that he denies having seen the actual IM. Kolbe told the committee:

"I did not see any communication that [the former page] had received, and as far as I know Mr. Baugh [Kolbe's assistant] had not either seen that."

Click Here for the Brian Ross Investigative Homepage.

Kolbe told the committee that he asked his assistant to contact Foley's chief of staff Kirk Fordham to suggest that Foley cease contact with the former page.

The report goes on to say that following Foley's resignation, the page said he called Kolbe's cell phone to ask for advice on what he should do if asked about the 2001 IM by authorities. According to the page, Kolbe replied, "It is best that you don't even bring this up with anybody...there is no good that can come from it if you actually talk about this. The man has resigned anyway."

Kolbe confirmed to the committee that he talked to the former page, but he says the page simply told him he wasn't going to say anything, and Kolbe responded, "That's your decision."

The former Clerk of the House Jeff Trandahl also had some negative testimony about Kolbe. He testified that he thought Kolbe, like Foley, "spent far too much time socially interacting with pages. I was uncomfortable with it."

While the committee said it found Kolbe's former page's testimony to be credible, "given the absence of documentary evidence, the denial by Rep. Kolbe of having seen the communication, and the possibility that the instant message could have been attached to an e-mail sent to Rep. Kolbe but not opened and read," they could not definitively conclude that Kolbe saw the message.
They did go on to say, however, that Kolbe should have asked for the message if he didn't have it, "in order to make sure that his response was the correct one," according to the conclusions of the report.

The committee did not recommend further investigation into Kolbe in light of his imminent retirement and "the preliminary federal inquiry" into his actions.

Kolbe's office did not immediately respond to requests for comment from ABC News.

December 8, 2006 in Mark Foley Internet Scandal | Permalink | User Comments (20)

House Ethics Report Finds No Rules Broken

December 08, 2006 2:04 PM

Rhonda Schwartz Reports:

The House Ethics Committee Report released this afternoon  concludes that no House ethics rules were broken by members of the House leadership in their handling of the Foley congressional page scandal.

Outgoing Speaker Dennis Hastert was privately briefed this morning on the report's findings by Committee Chairman Doc Hastings in advance of the public release of the report expected at 2p.m. this afternoon.

Click Here for the Brian Ross Investigative Homepage.

Meanwhile Mark Foley, seen last week riding his bike in West Palm Beach, remains in seclusion in Florida, staying with friends. Foley faces ongoing criminal investigations at both the federal and state level.

A spokesman for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement told ABC News they are conducting "an active criminal investigation into incidents, which may have occurred in Florida with regards to inappropriate communications between Mr. Foley and former House pages."

December 8, 2006 in Mark Foley Internet Scandal | Permalink | User Comments (4)

House Ethics Committee Results of Foley Investigation to Be Released Today

December 08, 2006 12:48 PM

Rhonda Schwartz, Jake Tapper & Paula Cohen Report:

Two months after they began an investigation into who knew what when in the Republican leadership about Mark Foley's inappropriate e-mails and instant messages to former congressional pages, the House Ethics Committee is expected to release their findings today in a 2p.m. news conference on Capitol Hill.

The committee heard from several witnesses with contradictory testimony about the role of House Speaker Dennis Hastert and other members of the Republican Leadership.

Click Here for the Brian Ross Investigative Homepage.

Below is a recap of what some of the key witnesses are believed to have told the committee, as previously reported in the Blotter:

House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.): Hastert issued a statement saying neither he nor anyone in the Republican leadership knew about Foley's "vile and repulsive" sexually explicit instant messages to a former page until ABC News made them public on Sept. 29 and Foley resigned. 

Hastert says he has no memory of being told about a separate "overly friendly" e-mail exchange between Foley and another former page in the fall of 2005, but his office issued a statement indicating senior staffers were informed of it at that time.

Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.): In what appears to be the earliest known incident involving Foley, Kolbe says his office heard from one of his former pages about inappropriate instant messages from Foley as early as 2000. Kolbe's office tells ABC News the complaint was passed along to Foley's office and the then Clerk of the House Jeff Trandahl and that they believed "the issue was resolved."

Kirk Fordham (then Rep. Foley's chief of staff): Fordham says, as far back as 2002 or 2003, he alerted "senior staff at the highest level of the House of Representatives" about his concern over Foley's "inappropriate behavior."  Sources tell ABC News that Fordham did so after hearing that Foley paid an after-hours visit to the page dorm.  Fordham says Speaker Hastert's Chief of Staff Scott Palmer then met with Hastert. 

Scott Palmer (Speaker Hastert's Chief of Staff): Palmer issued a statement saying Fordham's version of events "did not happen."

Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-La.): Rep. Alexander contacted Hastert's office in the fall of 2005, after one of Alexander's former pages complained about getting inappropriate e-mails from Foley.  Hastert's office says this is the first time they heard of concerns about Foley.

Jeff Trandahl (former Clerk of the House): Notified of Foley's e-mails to the former Louisiana page by a member of Hastert's staff in the fall of 2005, Trandahl told Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.), chairman of the Page Board, and the two of them met privately with Foley and warned him to stop contacting the 16-year-old.

Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.): Shimkus says the conversation with Trandahl in the fall of 2005 was the first he ever heard of problems with Foley.  He says in retrospect, "There's stuff that everybody would have done differently."

Ted Van Der Meid (Speaker Hastert's Counsel and Floor Manager): Van Der Meid has not given his account publicly, but Trandahl is believed to have testified that he regularly informed Van Der Meid of "all issues dealing with the page program," including a "problem group of members and staff who spent too much time socializing with pages."

Rep. Tom Reynolds (R-N.Y.): About six months after it happened, in the spring of 2006, Reynolds says he learned of Foley's inappropriate e-mails to the Louisiana teen and personally raised the issue in a meeting with Speaker Hastert.  Hastert has said he does not recall the conversation but does not dispute Reynolds' account.

Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio): His accounts have been contradictory.  Boehner initially told the Washington Post he learned about the e-mail last spring, discussed it with Hastert, "and he told me it had been taken care of."  Boehner then called the Post back to say he wasn't sure he'd spoken to Hastert after all.  In subsequent interviews, he said he was "99 percent sure" he had talked to the speaker, and he "believed it had been dealt with."

Read The Blotter's Full Coverage of the Foley Internet Scandal.

December 8, 2006 in Mark Foley Internet Scandal | Permalink | User Comments (4)

Congressman Jim Kolbe Testifies Before House Ethics Committee

December 05, 2006 3:21 PM

Rhonda Schwartz Reports:

Congressman Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.) appeared before the House Ethics Committee in late November, sources with knowledge of the investigation told ABC News.

Kolbe is believed to have testified that sometime in early 2000, a congressional page from Kolbe's home district of Arizona, asked for help from Kolbe in dealing with inappropriate e-mail contact from then-Congressman Mark Foley.

Kolbe passed the complaint to Foley's office and the clerk of the House at the time and assumed the matter was resolved, a spokeswoman for Kolbe's office told ABC News.

The spokeswoman said today, "I can confirm that Congressman Kolbe testified before the Ethics Committee at the end of November. However, the nature of the testimony is subject to the Committee's rules of non-disclosure."

December 5, 2006 in Mark Foley Internet Scandal | Permalink | User Comments (4)

Mark Foley Back in Florida

November 16, 2006 8:55 PM

Vic Walter Reports:

Mark Foley has interrupted his stay at an Arizona rehabilitation facility to return to West Palm Beach, Fla., to attend private funeral services for his 85-year-old father, who had been ill with cancer.

Foley also faces possible state criminal charges in Florida as a result of an ongoing investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, ABC News has learned.

"The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is conducting an active criminal investigation into incidents, which may have occurred in Florida with regards to inappropriate communications between Mr. Foley and former House pages," a spokesperson told ABC News today.

The Florida state criminal investigation was initiated at the request of Governor Jeb Bush on Sept. 30, the day Foley resigned from Congress, following the revelation of sexually explicit e-mails between Foley and underage congressional pages.

While state law enforcement agents have been assisting the FBI with the federal inquiry into Foley's conduct, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is conducting its own separate criminal investigation as well, a spokesperson confirmed to ABC News today.

The Palm Beach Post newspaper first reported that Foley had returned to Florida on Wednesday to attend his father's funeral.  WPTV, an NBC affiliate in West Palm Beach, published a photo of Foley leaving the home of friends.

Foley's attorney David Roth did not return phone calls from reporters, but issued a statement requesting the media permit the family to grieve privately.

November 16, 2006 in Mark Foley Internet Scandal | Permalink | User Comments (9)

Republicans Held Damage Control Calls Before Foley Scandal Broke

November 03, 2006 11:22 AM

Maddy Sauer Reports:

The National Republican Campaign Committee along with the Foley campaign team held conference calls to control the potential damage regarding an ABC News' inquiry into correspondence between then-Congressman Mark Foley (R-Fla.) and a former congressional page.

The calls were first reported today on the daily political blog of the New York Daily News.

NRCC Communications Director Carl Forti and Kirk Fordham, then the chief of staff to NRCC Chairman Tom Reynolds, participated in the calls, the first of which took place on Wednesday, Sept. 27, according to the reporter Ben Smith.

ABC News had called Rep. Foley's office earlier that week regarding an e-mail exchange between the congressman and a former page in which Foley had asked the page for a picture of himself. The page had become uncomfortable by the exchange and reported it to a congressional staffer.

A second conference call took place on Thursday, Sept. 28, the day The Blotter ran a report on the e-mails.

NRCC Communications Director Carl Forti confirmed to ABC News that the calls took place and that he participated in them but would not comment on who else took part in the calls.

"This is part of what the NRCC does, helping members and campaigns deal with potential problems," said Forti.

Forti said he was invited to join the call by Foley's campaign team.

The day after the second call, ABC News' The Blotter broke the story regarding the sexually charged exchanges, which were obtained earlier that day.

November 3, 2006 in Mark Foley Internet Scandal | Permalink | User Comments (6)

Foley Movie Flying off the Shelves Despite Lousy Reviews

November 02, 2006 9:55 AM

Maddy Sauer Reports:

While he was still in Congress, Mark Foley appeared in a B-action movie that went straight to DVD. Despite bad reviews, hard-to-find copies of the movie are now in hot demand as word is spreading of Foley's forgotten cameo.

In New York City, one Barnes & Noble sold all four of their copies in the last day alone.

The movie, formerly titled "The Librarians" and retitled "Strike Force," is a thriller about the hunt for a kidnapper in South Florida. Then-Congressman Foley played a bit part as a -- surprise -- congressman who is reunited with his daughter after she is kidnapped.

Viewer reviews on the website imdb.com are less than stellar.

"This is a ludicrously horrible movie," wrote one reviewer. "It is not bad in a funny way, just painful to try to endure. Don't waste your time."

"Be warned," wrote another, "if you place this in your DVD be prepared to put your toe on the trigger of the shotgun you'll soon have between your teeth."

Local press at the time of the filming in 2000 said Foley donated his $466 daily union-scale earnings from the film to the Dreyfuss School of the Arts.

Foley also reportedly worked as an extra in the steamy 1981 hit "Body Heat" starring Kathleen Turner and William Hurt, but he ended up on the cutting room floor.

November 2, 2006 in Mark Foley Internet Scandal | Permalink | User Comments (5)

Foley's Stay in Rehab Extended

November 01, 2006 7:14 PM

Vic Walter and Paula Cohen Report:

Former Congressman Mark Foley's stay at an Arizona rehab center has been extended beyond the standard 30 days.

Sources close to Foley tell ABC News he is still at the Sierra Tucson treatment center and is still going thru "the healing process."

The Florida Republican checked into Sierra Tucson on Oct. 1, two days after he resigned from Congress in disgrace.  Today Foley's attorney told the Associated Press that Foley will stay longer but did not specify how long.

Sierra Tucson offers treatment for "Sexual Addiction/Compulsivity" and other psychiatric and behavioral issues as well as alcohol and drug abuse.  In a statement released by his lawyer Oct. 2, Foley said, "I strongly believe that I am an alcoholic and have accepted the need for immediate treatment for alcoholism and other behavioral problems." 

At Sierra Tucson, patients take part in daily group therapy sessions.  The center also offers lectures, meals and recreational activities, like hiking and horseback riding.  A 30-day stay costs about $30,000.

In addition to the former congressman, Sierra Tucson has treated a number of celebrities and is well-known in Hollywood circles.  Actor Michael Douglas has talked about undergoing treatment there for alcohol abuse in 1992; Julie Andrews says she checked in for grief counseling in 1997.

November 1, 2006 in Mark Foley Internet Scandal | Permalink | User Comments (4)

Foley Checked into Pricey Arizona Rehab Center

October 25, 2006 5:34 PM

Vic Walter and Heather Nauert Report:

Former Rep. Mark Foley checked himself into the Sierra Tucson Treatment Center in Arizona two days after he resigned from Congress in disgrace, ABC News has learned.

Lawyers for Foley confirm he's been an inpatient at the facility since Oct. 1.

Sierra Tucson advertises itself as a place where "pain is met with compassion, fear is met with reassurance, and anger is met with understanding." In addition to treating drug and alcohol abuse, it is "licensed to facilitate healing for psychiatric issues," including "Sexual Addiction/Compulsivity."

A typical 30-day inpatient program costs about $30,000.

As he approaches the end of that period, Foley could be expected to go through "family week" where close friends and family members are invited to join him and meet with counselors.

Foley resigned from Congress Sept. 29 after ABC News obtained sexually explicit instant messages he sent to two former pages who were still in high school.

Read the Press Release from Foley's Lawyers.

Click Here to Check Out Sierra Tucson.

October 25, 2006 in Mark Foley Internet Scandal | Permalink | User Comments (45)

FBI's Six-Page Questionnaire for Congressional Pages

October 25, 2006 2:22 PM

Rhonda Schwartz Reports:

FBI agents are using a detailed, six-page questionnaire sent from headquarters to interrogate former congressional male pages about everything from Mark Foley's e-mails to his visits to the  page dorm, according to a former page who was questioned by the FBI for nearly three hours last week.

"Where and when did I first meet him? Did he visit the page dorm? Did he ask about my birthday? Did he offer to help me with recommendations?" the former page, who asked not to be identified, told ABC News.

"The agents were most focused on what happened while I was in the page program and any contact with Foley before I turned 18," said the former page from the class of 2000 who had received sexually explicit e-mails from Foley.

"They asked for a list of all of my past screen names and e-mail accounts" to help them search Foley's computer, which they said would happen very quickly. The agents also asked if any other members of Congress had made similar overtures, the former page said.

When the former page revealed he had a sexual encounter with Foley, after he turned eighteen, the agents were "polite and professional but requested specific details of everything that happened."

"It was intimidating. The agents interviewed me in their office sitting at a long conference table surrounded by the American flag, a photo of President Bush and Attorney General Gonzales. They told me that while this was still a preliminary inquiry, I might be subpoenaed to testify in the future," he said.

"Before I left, they cautioned me about talking to reporters and, in particular, to watch out for phone calls from a female reporter from ABC News," the former page said. 

Read the Blotter's Full Coverage on the Foley Internet Scandal.

October 25, 2006 in Mark Foley Internet Scandal | Permalink | User Comments (17)

Who Knew What When? Timelines of Key Players Don't Match Each Other on Foley

October 25, 2006 12:07 PM

Paula Cohen Reports:

The House Ethics Committee will have to sort through contradictory testimony about what House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) knew about the Mark Foley scandal and when he knew it. 

Speaker Hastert gave his account behind closed doors yesterday and said he hopes the committee will "continue to move forward to get to the bottom of this." 

But over the past two weeks, the committee has heard from a number of witnesses whose public statements do not match up.

Here is an overview of the key players in the investigation and the accounts they have given about what they knew, when they knew it, and who they told:

House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.): Hastert issued a statement saying neither he nor anyone in the Republican leadership knew about Foley's "vile and repulsive" sexually explicit instant messages to a former page until ABC News made them public on Sept. 29 and Foley resigned. 

Hastert says he has no memory of being told about a separate "overly friendly" e-mail exchange between Foley and another former page in the fall of 2005, but his office issued a statement indicating senior staffers were informed of it at that time.

Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.): In what appears to be the earliest known incident involving Foley, Kolbe says his office heard from one of his former pages about inappropriate instant messages from Foley as early as 2000. Kolbe's office tells ABC News the complaint was passed along to Foley's office and the then Clerk of the House Jeff Trandahl and that they believed "the issue was resolved."

Kirk Fordham (then Rep. Foley's chief of staff): Fordham says, as far back as 2002 or 2003, he alerted "senior staff at the highest level of the House of Representatives" about his concern over Foley's "inappropriate behavior."  Sources tell ABC News that Fordham did so after hearing that Foley paid an after-hours visit to the page dorm.  Fordham says Speaker Hastert's Chief of Staff Scott Palmer then met with Hastert. 

Scott Palmer (Speaker Hastert's Chief of Staff): Palmer issued a statement saying Fordham's version of events "did not happen."

Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-La.): Rep. Alexander contacted Hastert's office in the fall of 2005, after one of Alexander's former pages complained about getting inappropriate e-mails from Foley.  Hastert's office says this is the first time they heard of concerns about Foley.

Jeff Trandahl (former Clerk of the House): Notified of Foley's e-mails to the former Louisiana page by a member of Hastert's staff in the fall of 2005, Trandahl told Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.), chairman of the Page Board, and the two of them met privately with Foley and warned him to stop contacting the 16-year-old.

Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.): Shimkus says the conversation with Trandahl in the fall of 2005 was the first he ever heard of problems with Foley.  He says in retrospect, "There's stuff that everybody would have done differently."

Ted Van Der Meid (Speaker Hastert's Counsel and Floor Manager): Van Der Meid has not given his account publicly, but Trandahl is believed to have testified that he regularly informed Van Der Meid of "all issues dealing with the page program," including a "problem group of members and staff who spent too much time socializing with pages."

Rep. Tom Reynolds (R-N.Y.): About six months after it happened, in the spring of 2006, Reynolds says he learned of Foley's inappropriate e-mails to the Louisiana teen and personally raised the issue in a meeting with Speaker Hastert.  Hastert has said he does not recall the conversation but does not dispute Reynolds' account.

Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio): His accounts have been contradictory.  Boehner initially told the Washington Post he learned about the e-mail last spring, discussed it with Hastert, "and he told me it had been taken care of."  Boehner then called the Post back to say he wasn't sure he'd spoken to Hastert after all.  In subsequent interviews, he said he was "99 percent sure" he had talked to the speaker, and he "believed it had been dealt with."

Read The Blotter's Full Coverage of the Foley Internet Scandal.

October 25, 2006 in Mark Foley Internet Scandal | Permalink | User Comments (5)

'Get To the Bottom of This,' Hastert Tells Foley Investigators

October 24, 2006 5:58 PM

Z. Byron Wolf Reports:

House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) has wrapped up two-and-a-half hours of testimony before the House Ethics Committee investigating the Mark Foley scandal.

He made a brief statement thanking the committee for taking prompt action and said, "I answered every question they asked fully and to the best of my ability.  I encouraged them to continue to move forward to get to the bottom of this, including finding out who was aware and when they were aware of the sexually explicit instant messages" that Foley sent to underage former pages.

Next up to testify is Hastert's Deputy Chief of Staff Mike Stokke.

October 24, 2006 in Mark Foley Internet Scandal | Permalink | User Comments (10)

House Speaker Testifies on Foley Scandal

October 24, 2006 2:35 PM

Jennifer Duck, Dean Norland & Paula Cohen Report:

What did the speaker know, and when did he know it?  House Speaker Dennis Hastert gives his own answer to that question today, as he testifies before the House Ethics Committee on the Mark Foley scandal.

Hastert went behind closed doors with the committee at 1:30 p.m., following two other key figures in the investigation.

Rep. Tom Reynolds (R-NY) spent nearly three hours before the committee earlier today.  He wouldn't comment on the specifics of his testimony, saying "the committee asked me not to."

But earlier this month, Reynolds said he personally told Speaker Hastert last spring about concerns over Foley's "overly friendly" e-mails to former pages.

"When I found out about this whole instance for the first time in the spring of '06, I reported it to my supervisor, like anyone would in an office circumstance," Reynolds said three weeks ago.  "I took it to the speaker of the House."

Speaker Hastert has said he has no memory of such a warning.

Reynolds' former chief of staff, Kirk Fordham, who previously worked for Mark Foley, said he also brought their concerns to the attention of Hastert's staff.

Hastert's Chief of Staff Scott Palmer has denied Fordham's account.  Palmer wrapped up more than six hours of testimony last night, and his attorney said that while he couldn't discuss the substance, it was "consistent with the position he has taken all along."

Read the Blotter's Full Coverage of the Foley Internet Scandal.

October 24, 2006 in Mark Foley Internet Scandal | Permalink | User Comments (10)

Foley Campaign Money Could Become His Legal Defense Fund

October 24, 2006 1:12 PM

Anna Schecter Reports:

Disgraced former Congressman Mark Foley has almost $2 million in campaign funds to play with, and he can use the money to defend himself if it comes to that.  The money can cover the cost of travel or any other expenses having to do with being a congressman, according to the Federal Election Commission.

Foley's campaign committee currently has $1,865,386 of "cash on hand," according to the latest FEC report.

Foley can use the money to cover the costs of "winding down his office, make unlimited transfers to national, state and local party committees and contribute to other candidates," said Michelle Ryan, a spokeswoman for the FEC.

Another former congressman, Randall "Duke" Cunningham, who is now in prison for taking bribes, used his campaign funds for legal fees incurred during the federal investigation against him.

The FEC takes requests to use campaign funds for legal fees on a case-by-case basis.  There is no information that Foley's campaign committee has made such a request. 

The "Friends of Mark Foley" Committee did not return calls for comment.   

The loophole through which congressmen could transfer campaign finance funds to their own bank accounts was closed in 1993, before which such transfers were widespread, according to Gary Ruskin, Director of the Congressional Accountability Project, a nonprofit group which monitors congressional spending and ethics.

Read the Blotter's Full Coverage of the Foley Internet Scandal.

October 24, 2006 in Mark Foley Internet Scandal | Permalink | User Comments (6)

Turmoil in Hastert's Office as Key Staff Testifies

October 23, 2006 1:37 PM

Rhonda Schwartz Reports:

Top aides to Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) are expected to testify this week in the House Ethics Committee investigation of the Foley page scandal.

Hastert may also appear, according to Chicago Sun-Times political reporter Lynn Sweet.  Today Chief of Staff Scott Palmer entered the room to testify before the committee around 2p.m.

The investigation of how the Republican leadership handled the issue has provoked turmoil and finger-pointing in Hastert's office, congressional sources say. 

Some of Hastert's principal aides have hired criminal defense lawyers to represent them during the investigation. Ted Van Der Meid, Hastert's chief in-house counsel, has retained Washington, D.C.-based attorney Lee Blalack, who also represents convicted former Congressman Duke Cunningham.

A key focus of the congressional investigation is the timing of when Hastert and his top staff first learned of Foley's problem behavior toward congressional pages.

The results of an internal review conducted by the speaker's office, released on Sept. 30, said Hastert's staff only learned of complaints about Foley in the fall of 2005 after a congressional page complained about inappropriate e-mails.

But former House Clerk Jeff Trandahl as well as Kirk Fordham, Foley's former chief of staff, have both told associates, and are believed to have testified before the House Ethics Committee, that top staff in Speaker Hastert's office were informed several years ago about Foley's inappropriate behavior toward congressional pages.

Read the Blotter's Full Coverage on the Foley Internet Scandal.

October 23, 2006 in Mark Foley Internet Scandal | Permalink | User Comments (40)

Exclusive: Former House Clerk's Testimony

October 19, 2006 3:11 PM

John Yang and Brian Ross Report: