Hastert Could Be Removed From Wrestling Hall Of Fame; Hastert Gets 15-Months, Called "Serial Child Molester".
COOPER: Join the national Wrestling Hall of Fame is considering whether to remove Dennis Hastert from its list of honorees after the former House speaker won second in line to the presidency admitted in federal court yesterday to abusing boys after denying the allegations for months. The judge did not hold back, calling Hastert a serial child molester. Now the abuse happened when Hastert was a wrestling coach at an Illinois high school in the 1970s, decades before he moved to Washington. Prosecutors detail allegations from four boys who are now adults. Yesterday the judge sentenced Hastert to 15 months in prison not for the abuse itself, because he is protected by the statute of limitations, instead Hastert pleaded guilty to breaking banking laws to pay out more than a million dollars in hush money to one victim. Now seriously the ugly truth in 1999, in 2007 United States had a child molester two heart beats away from running the country. A man that showed stunning arrogance, incredible hypocrisy, he actually often supported tough laws against molesters, releasing statements like this one in 2006 saying, "We've all seen the disturbing headlines about sex offenders and crimes against children. These crimes cannot persist." Three years earlier, he said, "It is equally important to stop those predators before they strike, to put repeat child molesters into jail for the rest of their lives. Talking a different tune now. Tough talk from a molester who escaped the law. Several of his former colleagues have come to his defense and wrote letters asking the judge for leniency. The question tonight do they still regret that -- or did they regret that support? Joining me with that is senior investigator correspondent Drew Griffin. Drew, given the now confessed allegations that he actually molested student athletes, boys, it is hard to believe he has any support in Congress at all.</s>DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATOR CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, the case is stunning. He not only molested boys while he was a coach, he was able to keep it secret for decades. And the only reason he got caught was lying to the FBI over secret payments he was making to one of the victims to keep that victim quiet. So this former speaker of the House truly was leading a dual life, and he may have fooled these five Congressmen who wrote letters of support. That's because the reputation Hastert had while in Congress literally one guy referring in his letter to a federal judge, calling Hastert Mr. Main Street America.</s>COOPER: But I mean, a lot of the secret life was known when these congressmen wrote these letters of support, right? So what did they actually say?</s>GRIFFIN: The five letters, all former congressmen, no current elected officials, were written in February, they were in a stack of the 60 letters sent to the judge on behalf of Hastert, they basically asked for leniency. But some passages really stand out. Porter Goss, former congressman, former director of the CIA, he's the one who said Hastert was known as Mr. Main Street America and that he was a rock solid guy with center of the country values. Goss even went on to lumen how much better things were with Hastert in Congress, sadly he wrote, "Without his good influence, today's House of Representatives appears diminished. But perhaps the most stunning letter, Anderson, is from Tom Delay, the former Texas congressman who had his own issues in Congress. Delay never mentioned the victims, the lies, the secret payoffs. He wrote this. "He, Hastert, has never disappointed me in anyway. He is a man of strong faith that guides him and then adds this. We all have our flaws, but Dennis Hastert has very few. He doesn't deserve what he is going through."</s>COOPER: I mean, yeah. That boggles the mind, I mean that he's never disappointed Tom Delay in anyway? I mean he molested children. These letters were written in February. Now that Hastert has essentially confessed, do any of these former congressmen, you know, wish they perhaps had said something different, especially Tom Delay, saying Hastert doesn't deserve this?</s>GRIFFIN: Tom Delay wouldn't comment on the letter he wrote, so I guess he's sticking by it. But Anderson, we did heard from Porter Goss, he called me directly to say he is stunned by all of this. The former head of the CIA doesn't apologize for the letter he wrote in February, he said he thought it was important for the sentencing judge to weigh the good and the bad in Hastert's life, but concerning the details that have now come out, he said this. "I think everybody is recalculating their view of the speaker. He called Hastert's actions inexcusable, not acceptable to any of the parties involved." And I would say he is mostly shocked that none of this came out while Dennis Hastert was in office in such a powerful speaker's position, and therefore would have been such a huge target. Goss couldn't believe that secret could be kept secret that long.</s>COOPER: At least Goss stepped up and calls you back and answered, I mean good for him. But these other guys, it is incredible. Drew, thanks</s>GRIFFIN: Thank you.</s>COOPER: We'll be right back.