Conflicted Federal Judge To Stay On Hastert's Case

It's an outrage that it's happening, but the Obama Justice Department has agreed to let Judge Thomas Durkin, a long-time campaign supporter of former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, to preside over the criminal case federal prosecutors have brought against him. Durkin's brother, James Durkin, is the Illinois House Republican leader. Judge Durkin publicly disclosed his conflict of interest at Hastert's arraignment hearing on Tuesday and offered to recuse himself from the case unless otherwise instructed by the parties.

Judge Durkin acknowledged $1,500 in campaign contributions he made to Hastert's past campaigns, as well as the fact he also worked as a partner at Meyer Brown, the same law firm where Hastert's son, Ethan, is also a partner. Durkin told lawyers in the case he believed he could still be an impartial judge in the case and gave them until today to waive his offer to disqualify himself from the case, which they acted upon today. It's probably no accident the case wound up in Judge Durkin's courtroom in the first place.

Someone asked me today why the feds would be going after Hastert all these years later after he was no longer a member of Congress. The answer is very clear to me. Whenever the Clintons' backs are against the wall, terrible things start happening to members of the Republican Party. During the Clinton impeachment process, successive Republican members of Congress were hit with allegations of infidelity, including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Rep. Bob Livingston, Rep. Henry Hyde, and Rep. Dan Burton. Gingrich and Livingston were both forced to resign from Congress, while Clinton survived impeachment despite the fact that he obstructed justice and lied under oath to cover up an inappropriate relationship he had with a White House intern. Hyde's and Burton's infidelity charges dated back many decades earlier when they served as state lawmakers in their respective states of Illinois and Indiana.

A recent Florida civil case brought by a woman who claims to have been a victim of sexual abuse by billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, a close friend and political supporter of the Clintons, was proving to be quite embarrassing to the Clintons and the Obama administration. The Obama Justice Department covered up evidence that Epstein had been exploiting underage girls in a sex trafficking ring he allegedly ran for many years, and that many prominent politicians and businessmen participated in sex orgies with these underage girls at Epstein's expansive island retreats and on his luxury jet, including Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew, among others. This nasty problem was in addition to the problems plaguing Hillary Clinton's controversial tenure at the State Department, including the exploitation of the office to benefit financial supporters of the Clinton Foundation, the Benghazi debacle and the use of a private e-mail account for official business in violation of State Department rules.

Rumors about Hastert's sexual abuse of young boys while he was a teacher and wrestling coach at Yorkville High School have been around for decades, notwithstanding the media's pretense of being shocked about the nearly four decade-old allegations. Investigative reporter Wayne Madsen wrote about it extensively nearly a decade ago during the House page scandal when members of Congress were accused of sexually exploiting underage congressional pages, charges that surfaced right before a contentious mid-year election. Madsen's reporting was immediately met with scorn and derision by other members of the media. The same media folks reacted similarly when Madsen reported on long-rumored stories in Chicago circles that both Rahm Emanuel and Barack Obama had a history of engaging in sex with men on the down low while putting on a public pretense of being straight, married men. The Secret Service even raided a Chicago bathhouse frequented by gay men, Man's Country, after Madsen reported that both Emanuel and Obama had purchased life-time memberships at the club as a warning to the club's owners to keep quiet if they knew what was good for them.

It's my belief that many members of Congress, including House Speaker John Boehner, have been and are being blackmailed by the Obama White House. Hastert's unusual prosecution for charges unrelated to the underlying allegations of child sex abuse is meant to serve as a warning of what compromised  members of Congress will face if they don't capitulate to Obama's demands on matters that Republican members should be viewing skeptically, particular the controversial Trans Pacific Trade Agreement. The secrecy surrounding key provisions of the agreement President Obama negotiated calls into question whether the Republic established under the U.S. Constitution even exists anymore. U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan's suggestion that members should pass it and wait to find out what's in it until after it becomes law was too reminiscent of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's infamous words at the time of the passage of the Affordable Care Act. All indications are that the trade pact will be at least as devastating to American workers as virtually every other major trade pact enacted over the past 50 years has been.

Members of Congress who should be viewing the trade pact with healthy skepticism seem way too anxious to get it passed and behind them with little concern about how badly average Americans will be harmed by its provisions. The timing of Hastert's indictment just as Congress took up consideration of the controversial trade bill is suspect. Hastert will likely spend little, if any, time in jail, assuming things go as planned. The government will likely reach a favorable plea agreement with Hastert, whose reputation will forever be left in tatters. Hastert will have at least avoided the embarrassment of a public trial and, more importantly, escaped the criminal consequences for his more serious crimes. The Clintons will, once again, come out on top because compromised Republican leaders in Washington will get the message and lie low about what they really know about the Clintons' long-running criminal enterprise.