Wow! This story is certainly getting interesting! Would the Justice department deliberately lie to ABC News to put pressure on Hastert over his support of a fellow congressman? That seems really far-fetched:
House Speaker Dennis Hastert accused the Justice Department Thursday of trying to intimidate him in retaliation for criticizing the FBI's weekend raid on a congressman's office, escalating a searing battle between the executive and legislative branches of government.Read the rest here.
"This is one of the leaks that come out to try to, you know, intimidate people," Hastert said on WGN radio Thursday morning. "We're just not going to be intimidated on it."
Notice how ABC has given themselves an out:
Within minutes of that report late Wednesday, the department issued the first of two denials that it was investigating Hastert. The speaker demanded a retraction from ABC News, which stood by its story. Hastert on Thursday threatened to sue the network and reporters and executives for libel and defamation.
"We will take any and all actions necessary to rectify the harm ABC has caused and to hold those at ABC responsible for their conduct," wrote Hastert's counsels, J. Randolph Evans and Stefan C. Passantino. The letter was addressed to network President David Westin and reporter Brian Ross.
"Our response to the letter is our reporting on the story," said ABC News Vice President Jeffrey Schneider.
Correspondent Brian Ross stood by his report, saying he has checked with his sources who say the story accurately represents the facts "as they know them."
(Link via Drudge Report)
