Hastert had touted work against child abuse

Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), now under an indictment reportedly related to his sexual abuse of a student, previously touted his work against child abuse, BuzzFeed News reports. 

BuzzFeed News reports that as a state legislator, Hastert co-chaired a committee that authored the 1983 report “The Child Victim: Child Abuse in The Family and Society.” 

The report developed into a series of bills that Hastert co-sponsored, including increasing funding for care and creating teams to search for abused children. 

{mosads}And during his time as Speaker, his official biography touted this work. “Prior to Congress, during the 1980s, Hastert served three terms in the Illinois General Assembly, where he spearheaded legislation on child abuse prevention,” it read, according to BuzzFeed. 

Hastert was indicted Thursday on charges related to more than $1 million in payments to an unidentified person from Yorkville, Ill., where he had worked as a teacher and wrestling coach before entering politics.

The person, identified only as “Individual A” in the indictment, was a male who was sexually abused by Hastert, according to the Los Angeles Times, citing two law enforcement officials.

He oversaw multiple scandals involving Republicans during his tenure as Speaker, including ones involving then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (Texas) and former Rep. Mark Foley (Fla.), who resigned after it was revealed he had sent inappropriate text messages to male House pages. 

Hastert came under fire when reports emerged that he and the rest of the House GOP leadership failed to respond to warnings about Foley’s sexually explicit messages. The Foley scandal and other ethics issues fed a narrative that received some of the blame for the Republican Party’s losses in 2006. 

Hastert has resigned from his job at law and lobbying firm Dickstein Shapiro and has yet to publicly address the charges against him.