NP: Beck, The Information

One of the reasons I flagged the current furor at the GOP leadership as allegations and not facts came from some radio interviews on Chicago's WBBM in Hastert's district. Now, this looks bad to a lot of people, but I still think that underestimating the power of denial is something you do at your own risk, and his constituents seemed to be reserving judgement until somebody is, say, under oath on all of this.

I bring this up because lots and lots of people are pointing to the revelation that Hastert's Chief of Staff and Washington roommate Scott Palmer knew of the Foley situation in 2003 as irrefutable evidence that Hastert has known about it since then. The problem is that it is refutable, in that Palmer may have been explicitly trying to keep his boss out of it. I'm not saying this is the case, only that there's a hint of daylight there that I'd expect the Republicans to make a run for if they can keep their story straight.

That, of course, is a big if, and the piece I had been missing is flagged over at TPM Muckraker, coming from Newsweek:

A "knowledgeable source familiar with Fordham's account" told Newsweek that after the meeting, Fordham called Palmer to see how it went. Palmer told him that he "dealt with it" and that he "informed the Speaker." This source told Newsweek that Fordham would say the same thing to the ethics committee.

When TPM called up Fordham's lawyer Timothy Heaphy about this, he declined to confirm that Palmer had said he'd spoken to the Speaker about it, citing the ongoing investigations.

The bigger question here is whether or not Hastert is willing to let his chief of staff get thrown under the bus, and if anyone can corroborate Fordham's story. If the answer to either of those is "yes," then Hastert is definitely toast. Or maybe a more burnt toast than he already appears to be.