Dennis Hastert must pay the piper for
allegedly breaking the banking law he helped pass via the Patriot Act, even though there's a question as to whether it should really apply to the former Republican House speaker, Newsmax analyst John Fund says.
"Even though the law is an ass in this case, the law also has to be enforced and Dennis Hastert has to pay the consequences," Fund said Friday on "The Steve Malzberg Show" on
Newsmax TV.
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"Hastert actually passed this law as speaker of the House as part of the Patriot Act, so now he's being indicted on it.
"The real issue here is does this law really make sense if it's not involving drug laundering or something that's criminal activity. Common sense, prosecutorial discretion enters into it."
According to multiple reports, Hastert agreed to shell out $3.5 million in hush money to cover up past sexual misconduct dating back to his time as a high school teacher and wrestling coach.
In a federal grand jury indictment, Hastert, 73, was charged with skirting bank rules by withdrawing $952,000 in amounts of less than $10,000. He was also hit with a charge of lying to the FBI about the withdrawals. Each charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
As House Speaker, Hastert was instrumental in pushing through the $10,000 limit as a way of combating terrorism.
"I guess the principle here is this: if the FBI actually knew that he had structured those payments to evade the $10,000 limit, you're speaker of the House of Representatives, you're a lawmaker and I guess you have to be held to a higher standard," Fund said.
Fund — author of,
"Obama's Enforcer: Eric Holder's Justice Department," written with Hans von Spakovsky and published by Broadside Books — said that if, in fact, Hastert was the victim of extortion or blackmail, it’s unusual authorities aren't zeroing in on that perpetrator.
"The response would be well, what if it's true, what if he was an abused minor, let's say — prosecuting him is difficult in the public eye," he said.
"There you have another problem. The perception problem. My view is though if you have to make sure that the speaker of the House is held to a higher standard, just because someone is the victim or potential victim of sexual abuse — and by the way, it was 30-odd years ago — that doesn't mean what they did if they extorted a former speaker of the House of Representatives is right and probably both of them should be facing [the law]."
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