Chicago Sun-Times: Dennis Hastert’s Silence Unusual for High-Profile Case

The Associated Press
The Associated Press

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

In an interview with ABC, Jolene Burdge said her brother Steve Reinboldt was sexually abused by Hastert for years when he was a teen.

Reinboldt died of AIDS in 1995.

It was then that Hastert was in line at the funeral and Burdge said she couldn’t take it anymore. She followed him out to his car and confronted Hastert, she said.

“‘I want you to know your secret didn’t die in there with my brother. And I want you to remember that I’m out here and that I know,’” Burdge said she told him. “He just stood there and he did not say a word.”

Hastert got in his car and drove away.

Hastert’s silence “said everything,” she said.

Hastert has had a few weeks to digest the accusations — he started getting calls from reporters about this case before the indictment was made public. He was interviewed by the FBI last year.

What’s amazing about this high-profile case is that no one stepped forward on his behalf.

Not Hastert. No family member. No former colleague. No former spokesman.

And no attorney.

In fact, as of Friday, it was still a mystery who represented Hastert.

Read the rest of the story here.

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