dennis hastert, better known as denny hastert, became the speaker of the house after the '98 midterms. he served as speaker of the house until the democrats took back the majority in the house in 2006 and nancy pelosi became speaker. that tenure makes denny hastert the longest serving republican house speaker ever. plucked from obscurity to hold that incredibly high-profile job and chosen for the job in part because he was so darn noncontroversial, nonscandalous. as they say, squeaky clean. today denny hastert was indicted by a federal grand jury in what appears to be an elaborate hush-money scheme, maybe a blackmail scheme? john stanton at buzzfeed was first to report this indictment today, and although apparently there had been rumors in washington for a few weeks that denny hastert was maybe in some kind of legal trouble, for most people, the news late today came as a bolt from the blue. and the indictment is short. it's only seven pages. i print them two pages to a sheet so for me it's even shorter. but it's a dramatic and mysterious indictment. it describes a series of meetings t

hastert was also a wrestling and football coach in yorkville. today, former coaches he worked with and students he coached were coming to his defense. gary matlock was hastert's first state champion wrestler. >> the gentleman was a super professional as a teacher, as a coach, as a human being. i would refer to him as my second father. >> reporter: anthony hule was hastert's assistant coach. >> there isn't anything that happened in the six years that i worked with denny that would ever make me believe that there was anything improper. >> reporter: prosecutors say hastert had withdrawn $1.7 million from four of his banks to make the payments but cut back on the size of the withdrawals to illegally evade federal bank transaction rules. former congressional colleagues expressed surprise at the charges. both republicans and democrats. >> it's surprising, i think that would be a universal response. and of course remains to be seen what comes forth now. but it's very sad for him and sad really for the congress. >> reporter: there's been no comment from

but but denny hastert? former speaker of the house, mr. low key denny hastert? nobody saw this coming. lynn, great to see you. thanks for your time tonight. >> hi rachel. >> i have heard today since the news broke there were some rumors that something might have been swimming around denny hastert in terms of legal trouble. were you surprised today when you heard about this indictment? >> everyone was surprised by the nature of this indictment and the indictment itself with all this mysterious person a, potential blackmail plot going on here. i talked to many of his friends and acquaintances, stunned and puzzled about what was going on and what could possibly be at issue that would have led him to be in fact be part of what looks like either an extortion or blackmail scheme. but hastert, according to the indictment, was agreeing to go along with it. this is such a sad end. i was in the chamber that day in 1998 you talked about earlier in the show when i saw how quickly he put together the votes to become the speaker. like that he was able to do it. and to have th

dennis hastert. >> stunned and stupefied is the way i describe it. he hasn't been in office for eight years. he had a big influence on capitol hill when he was speaker. longest serving republican speaker in history. think about the time period he was in control of. he took it from basically clinton impeachment through 9/11 through the start of two wars and a flip in control of congress from republican to democrat. you know, it really -- a real interesting and sort of accidental figure in washington in that he wasn't really angling for this job. but it happened when newt gingrich was kicked out. when bob living ton had to resign in the late '90s. our friends at "the new york times" put it he got his job through a sex scandal, lost his speakership because it was thrown by a sex scandal mark foley and now he's got his own sex scandal. >> stunned and superified. that sums it up. let's talk about the patriot act. the nsa bulk data collection expires. the senate coming in for a rare surn session tomorrow. what are the political stakes for the white house a

denny hastert comes out of what's called the illinois combine. the combine was republicans and democrats, who controlled the political structure, and it was a mix of business and contractors and politicians, all of whom seemed to do extraordinarily well within the political confines. remember denny hastert spent four years in the illinois house, as a representative then six years, did a number of years in congress and he as speaker, was one of the key figures in the illinois combine. this is a combine that basically takes care of contractors and business people and politicians. so he is no stranger to the rough and tumble and often corrupt world of illinois politics. remember, one of his closest friends, former governor ryan went to jail on corruption charges. there have been a number of le-level allegations over the years against denny hastert, one involving the congressional officer that your previous guest rfrd to, another involving a land deal near his home that he profited on and even in '05, there was an allegation in the "vanity fair" arti

the man they picked instead was denny hastert. they picked him to become speaker instead and he served eight years as speaker of the house, longer than any other republican house speaker before or since. another shoe drops that frankly nobody was waiting for until it dropped. now we know who and what brought to light the denny hastert scandal that didn't end his political career but it has resulted in a federal criminal indictment of denny hastert years after he left congress. last night we found out he was being charged with structuring large amounts of cash withdrawals from his bank accounts in a way designed to avoid the rules and was charged about lying to the fbi about what those cash withdrawals were for. the indictment spells out in detail the prosecutor's view about what denny hastert was using that cash for, $1.7 million so far, less than half of what he apparently agreed to pay. what he was doing with all that cash was allegedly paying it to someone to compensate and conceal his own misconduct toward this unnamed person

hastert lying and concealing and paying hush money.oining us jeffrey toobin joining us on the phone and psychiatrist and columnist dr. gale salts. jeff the word that there is alleged sexual abuse at the core of this how could that impact the federal case against dennis hastert when centers on the huge sums of money with -- withdrew. >> well technically this case is about what he did in terms of getting cash out of the bank. he is alleged to have structured and to have planned his transactions so that the bank wouldn't file these reports that they are required to do for these large cash transactions. this is called structuring. it is a well established crime and he's also accused of lying to the fbi about why he did this. now the reason he did this leads back to the claim of sexual abuse. he is alleged to have been paying this individual a. this person who has not been identified $3.5 million. and he was doing so in cash. if he pleads guilty the government will never disclose the name of this person. but if he goes to trial, the whole m

much more to the hastert story. l.a.cial spoke to a second man who accused hastert of similar allegations. l.a. times reporter tim phelps spoke to cnn's wolf blitzer about the second man. >> there were no payments going on between hastert and the second official reporting. >> this occurred when hastert was a teacher and a wrestling coach at that high school? >> well, we believe that's the case. we don't have a lot of detail on this second victim but in general, the charge is made clear it goes back before the time that hastert was in office. >> and the school where hastert taught during the alleged sexual abuse says it had no knowledge whatsoever of these accusations. let's bring in cnn senior political analyst ron brownstein and cnn legal analyst paul callan to talk about more about this. ron, to you first, done this threaten to destroy hastert's legacy? >> sure. i mean this is just an extraordinary story, especially when you consider the way hastert was introduced to the country. i mean he really was for house republic

hastert has not commented publicly. we've been reaching out to him but he abruptly resigned from a washington, d.c. law firm as well as from a chicago derivatives firm. this indictment focuses not on this misconduct but more on the former wrestling coach's money and how he moved that money and allegedly paying often this former student. prosecutors saying he agreed to pay an unnamed individual "$3.5 million to cover up his past misconduct" according to court records. the investigations started two years when the fbi started investigating mystery transactions made by hastert and bang withdrawals of more than $950,000. the fbi alleges that several of these withdrawals were less than $10,000, so that he could evade irs detection. prosecutors say when the fbi asked hisastert about a pattern of withdrawing, he said he was keeping it for himself. he was lying's he was paying off this other individual as hush money. >> could be a court appearance as early as next week? >> reporter: hearing that and important to point out he wa

and you have dennis hastert who is the flip. you have the person looking for money, millions of dollars at one point, if it's true was the victim of sexual abuse. >> on the abuse allegations, i want to be clear the sexual misconduct, sexual abuse allegations, i'm sourcing them from anonymous leaks. if those leaks today are accurate that the underlying past misdeed here is some sort of sexual conduct, some sort of sexual abuse between dennis hastert and a student or students when he was a teacher, when he was a coach, what does go into the determination about whether or not that conduct should be charged as a crime? >> it's a calculus. we don't know exactly what the mis conductconduct was. however, if you look at the indictment, the wording where it lists he was a teacher and a coach at the high school in a certain period of time. federal prosecutors don't put in language of that kind unless it's relevant. you could argue misconduct that was worth millions of dollars to mr. hastert to keep quiet. so there is a logic to what peopl

a car sped past reporters last night outside dennis hastert's home. the former house speaker still has not commented on allegations he agreed to pay millions of dollars to silence a long-time acquaintance and that he lied to the fbi. according to a federal indictment hastert agreed to pay $3.5 million in order to compensate for and conceal his prior misconduct against individual "a." >> it sounds like it would be the equivalent of hush money. he was paying money in exchange for this person not coming forward. >> the indictment does not describe the misconduct and doesn't name the person hastert gave the money to. the court paper says the person is from yorkville, illinois, the same town where hastert was a high school teacher and wrestling coach from 1965 to 1981. according to the indictment from 2001 to 2012, hastert made 15 withdrawals of $50,000 cash from his local bank in illinois and then started withdrawing money in smaller increments. by the end of last year hastert had allegedly withdrawn more than $1.7 million. prosecutors allege he lied to t

i'm just saddened by this story of denny hastert. i don't know all the facts but what we're hearing now looks like a case if he did something when he was a coach and he tried to cover it up. that's what it looks like and there may have been blackmail involved, we don't know, but the details of this charge against him is pretty graphic. >> no. this is a -- a terribly terribly sad story. it's -- it's sad for everyone involved and it's shocking to those of us who knew him. i ran, chris, the first race against him, the first democratic race against him when he ran for congress as a state senator, and it was a hard fought race on issues. there was -- but there was never any doubt about his character or about any of this stuff, so i think for everyone who knows him, this came out of the blue and let me add that for someone from illinois the thought of a scandal where the politician was actually paying out the cash instead of receiving it that's a whole new thing out here. >> you've got a hll of a queue of governors who all went into the bi

shocking new revelations about the former speaker of the house dennis hastert. now we know what he was trying to hide with millions in hush money. sources telling nbc news it's all about sexual misconduct with a male student. >>> mandatory evacuations being ordered as texas gets hit again. unrelenting rain and high water rescues. highways paralyzed by flash floods. >>> and nearly blinded by lasers by someone on the ground. a growing problem putting some flights in danger. >>> too close for comfort. we're in open water on the trail of great white sharks 40 years since "jaws." just how close they're coming to shore. >>> also our special salute to the class of 2015. "nightly news" begins right now. >>> good evening. the surprise criminal indictment of the once powerful speaker of the house, dennis hastert, on charges he lied about paying hush money to someone in his past glaringly left out the answer to the question so many were immediately asking -- what was that money supposedly buying? tonight we may know the answer. federal law enforcement sources are telling n

former house speaker dennis hastert says "i'm a victim too." amid allegations of sexual misconduct when he was a teacher. a heat wave overseas claims more than 2,000 lives. lives. new technology to keep u.s. borders safer. talk about a cliffside retreat-- the delicate operation to rescue a lighthouse from its perilous perch. >> if enough of the bricks cracked, it would be catastrophic. it could come tumbling down. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news." >> axelrod: good evening. i'm jim axelrod. the nation's deadliest natural disaster so far this year is not over yet. the floods in texas and oklahoma are now blamed for at least 28 deaths and sadly it probably won't stop there because 11 more people have been missing for a week in wimberly, texas, near austin. today a slow-moving storm threatened to dump as much as five more inches of rain on central and south texas where rivers are still rising. we begin tonight with don dahler who's in carrolton, texas. >> reporter: for the second day, dallas-area residents woke up to storm

hastert was seen as a relatively boring guy. the guy who most people thought had absolutely no skeletons in his closet. >> and that may not be true as it turns out. thank you, jon. we preernt it. paula, over to you. >>> now to a major air scare in the skies. a passenger plane was preparing to land at one of the country's busiest airports. a drone came frighteningly close to the plane. well, the faa is now investigating what that drone was doing thousands of feet in the air. linzie janis is at laguardia airport with the very latest for us this morning. hi, linzie. >> reporter: good morning, paula. luckily, the pilot of the delta shuttle coming in to land here at laguardia saw the drone and was able to avert disaster. but with drones becoming more and more popular, aviation experts say the chances of one colliding with a passenger jet is not a matter of if, but when. just as delta's shuttle america flight 2708 was coming in to land at new york's laguardia airport friday morning, officials say the crew spotted a drone in its path.

we begin with late-breaking news, denny hastert the former speaker of the u.s. house of representatives, has been indicted on federal criminal charges according to court documents. hastert is accused of covering up big cash withdrawals he was making allegedly to be used as hush money the pay off someone he had wronged. congressional correspondent nancy cordes has the latest. >> reporter: hastert served as speaker for eight years from 1999 to 2007, but it's what he's done since that caught the attention of the f.b.i. according to the federal indictment, back in 2010, john dennis hastert agreed to provide someone referred to only as "individual a," $3.5 million in order to compensate for and conceal his prior misconduct against individual a. the indictment doesn't say what that misconduct was but it notes that the two have known each other for most of individual a's life and that the individual is from the same illinois town where hastert was a high school teacher and wrestling coach from 1965 to 1981. from 2010 to 2012, hastert made 15 $50,000 withdrawals of cash

the indictment says individual a confronted hastert in 2010 and hastert agreed to pay $3.5 million to compensate and conceal the alleged misconduct. the person grew up in yorkville, illinois the city next to hat hastert's hometown where hastert taught high school and coached wrestling. why do we say that? prosecutors say the alleged misconduct occurred years earlier than 2010 and the person has known hastert more than his or her life. hastert's past career in education, he was a teacher and wrestling coach, also mentioned in the first few sentences of the indictment which many legal experts say and reporters say is a clear sign that it is relevant to the case. as for how the case developed, prosecutors say hastert now 12r50e78 extremely wealthy, made $50,000 withdrawals at various banks between 2010 and 2012. when the bank questioned those equals, hastert started to take out less than $10,000 so the transactions would not have to be reported. but the fbi began investigating the withdrawals and interviewed hastert. prosecutors say he denied trying to security banking rules or that the

hastert has not returned our calls for comment. a friend of his who spoke with him this morning said he perceives himself as being the one being wronged right now. >> all right. thank you very much. covering the story. joining me now on the phone, tom davis, former congressman from virginia who served 13 years in congress with dennis hastert. i appreciate your time. did you have any idea about this before today? >> of course not. none of us did. these allegations are true, it goes against the grain of everything we knew him to be. he was chosen for speaker because he was above reapproach after we had two previous leaders that had sexual scandals. >> and congressman davis, according to the new york times, the shocking news is about a specific teenage boy. do you think that there could be others out there if these allegations are true? what are you thinking at this time? >> i just have no idea. i think we have speculation at this point, you can give him a presumption of innocence. the thing you have to ask is if he was being black ma

a growing scandal for the former speak are of the house, dennis hastert. the former speaker of the house, claims he sexually abused a minor years ago and lying to the fbi. and there may be another alleged victim. >> reporter: tonight the allegations of sexual abuse by dennis hastert are growing. sources say there may be a second victim. sources say that hastert is surprised by the indictment. >> he's baffled by it. but maybe it will all work out in the long run. >> reporter: once the most powerful man in congress he's now charged with bank fraud and lying to the fbi after he allegedly promised to pay $3.5 million in hush money to cover up his past misconduct. sources say the man he was paying was a former student in northern illinois where hastert was a teacher and wrestling coach, but sources say it's unlikely the mystery man who received the payments will be charged with extortion. >> in this situation, at least to date hastert has denied that he is a victim of extortion. >> reporter: sources say the second alleged but unknown victim received any money f

one is dennis hastert is not charged with sexual misconduct. he is charged with violating two federal laws one that is sort of one step removed from the law. the law that says that banks have to report any large financial transactions. and then one step removed from that if you try to frustrate the bank's ability to do that that's also illegal and that's the first thing that the government says dennis hastert did in making these payments. and secondly they say when the fbi asked about it he claimed that he kept the money himself. there's no charge of sexual misconduct and there won't be because this conduct happened so long ago that the statute of limitations have long since expired. another thing that i think is becoming a little clear here that many people have wondered is well, why isn't individual a charged with extortion if this was a shakedown of dennis hastert, and what law enforcement officials say is that it was close to that they decided but that it was more on the side of an agreement they had, that mr. hastert would make this paymen

he says he's spoken to hastert. about allegations that the former speaker paid to conceal sexual abuse involving a male during the time before he got into politics when he was a wrestling coach and high school teacher. let's get more on this now from jon karl who is in washington. jon, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, dan. hastert has said nothing publicly about any of this. he told the old friend he's baffled by these charges. new details emerging about the allegations against dennis hastert. once the most powerful man in congress. sources briefed on the investigation tell abc news the alleged past misconduct mentioned in the indictment is sexual misconduct. involving a male during the time he was a teacher and wrestling coach at yorkville high school in illinois. hastert allegedly agreed to pay $3.5 million in hush money to this individual. overnight, hastert reacted to the charges on a call with a close friend and political mentor. >> under the circumstances, he's doing okay. i mean he's a little b

now, dan, hastert has nonbeen arrested yet. the u.s. attorney's office says it's because they don't consider him a flight risk. >> he's been charged with bank fraud and lying to the fbi. what about the person to whom he allegedly gave the money. any charges of blackmail or extortion? >> there's no mention of extortion or blackmail. the past victim who hastert paid all the money to is not charged with with with anything to this point. it's interesting. the person he spoke to last night, the old friend he said that in his view this is a clear case of plaque mail and extortion. which may be a little bit of a window into h hastert is seeing this. >> he was seen as i remember, as a calming force. how is washington overall greeting this new this is morning? >> reporter: well with shock and disbelief. i mean as you remember he came in replacing robert livingston who was chased out with his own sex scandal. livingston had replaced newt gingrich who had his own sex scandal as well. hastert was seen as a relatively boring guy with no skeletons in

hastert has all in returned calls for comment.ut a friend who recently spoke to him said that he perceives himself as the one being wronged. >>> there is also a potential second development in this case this morning. the "l.a. times" which first revealed the sexual misconduct allegation in the case has reported there could be a second person making sexual allegations. watch. >> a top government official and one that we consider very reliable. >> so, in other words, not just one individual who allegedly was sexually abused by hastert, but two individuals, is that correct? >> that's right. >> although there were no payments going on between hastert and the second, we're reporting. >> and that was hastert was a teacher and wresting coach at that high school? >> well, we believe that's the case. we don't have a lot of detail on the second victim, but in general, the charges made clear that it goes back before the time that hastert was in office. now, now, whether any new information could come out, alleging misconduct, while in office

by the end of last year hastert had allegedly withdrawn more than $1.7 million. prosecutors allege he lied to the fbi when questioned about withdrawals. he told regulators he didn't trust the banking system. there's no word yet on any possible charges against that person allegedly on the receiving end of hastert's payments. anne-marie? >> susan mcginnis in washington. thank you, susan. >>> it is shaping up to be another severe day of severe thunderstorms across the central plains. just south of ft. worth powerful storms are reported. there are flash flood warnings and at least 30 roads are already closed because of high water. following this week's record rainfall, many cities in texas and oklahoma remain in danger. this week's storms and floods left at lease 22 people dead and 14 are still missing in texas. chris martinez reports on the search efforts from wimberley, texas. >> reporter: drones in the air and dogs on the ground. search crews in wimberley are using every tool available to find people still missing after the flood. >> we'll be able to get into area

the developing story about indicted house speaker denny has hastert hastert.e subject of a two-count indictment that shocked the political world on thursday. first count alleged that he structured bank withdrawals to avoid bank trip wires required to report large cash withdrawals. hess tartwise incrementally paying $3.5 million to an unknown individual for quote, past misconduct. hastert is charged with lying to the fbi when agents asked why he withdrew the money. joining me now is lynn sweet for the chicago sun times. i know you have followed denny hastert and other politicians for a long time and dogged reporters in chicago for sure. how big a surprise was this? >> total surprise. usually we get some whif there's an investigation going on. certainly by the time the federal investigation of now former congressman aaron schock became known, there was questionable spending wasn't a surprise. before rob blagojevich got in trouble, there were issues. so this is a different type of scandal. it has nothing to do with politics. it seems to be something personal. and

captions by: caption colorado comments@captioncolorado >> rose: former house speaker dennis hastert is indicted on federal criminal charges including lying to the f.b.i. and hiding big cash withdrawals. where did the money go? also tonight, was james holmes insane as he claims when he opened fire on a colorado movie theater? what an expert told jurors today. drones joined the hunt for flood victims. >> we may be getting into areas we can't get people into. >> rose: and a contest named for hemingway helps write a new chapter in u.s.-cuba relations. >> there it is! got one! captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> reporter: good evening. scott is on assignment. i'm charlie rose. and this is our western edition. denis has tert the was indicted today on federal criminal charges. according to court documents republican from illinois is accused of covering up big cash withdrawals he was making allegedly to be used as hush money to pay off someone he had wronged. congressional correspondent nancy cordes has the latest. >> dennis hastert served as speake

so let's be clear on the dennis hastert bio here. this is a man who was famously high school teacher and wrestling coach, right, and every profile you ever read about him was front and center the guy was an everyman just a smalltown high school wrestling coach and teacher. the indictment says that individual a, the person that hastert was allegedly paying this money to, is someone who knew him quote, most of his life. isn't that correct? >> correct, someone who is a longtime acquaintance. >> obviously we have no idea what denny hastert could have possibly done to individual a such that he decided to pay $3.5 million, but the mind reels at the thought of what the original infraction could have been that he would pay this. >> the idea that it's hush money is fascinating. i spoke with a former virginia congressman, former committee friend of hastert's, and i said what was the most defining thing about hastert in the house? he said "he was coach," that's how he thought of him, coach and teacher, a quiet man but always telling stories abo

. >>> and dennis hastert indicted. why did he agree to pay someone millions of dollars in coverup money. let's go outfront. >>> and good evening. i'm erin burnett. outfront tonight we begin with breaking news the anthrax scare. tonight at this hour, 22 people at a u.s. base in south korea, four more in the united states undergoing treatment for exposure to lethal anthrax spores. 22 air force personnel are undergoing treatment about an hour south of seoul going through post exposure treatments. but these air force personnel received a shipment that contained live specimens of anthrax. it's a potent biological weapon. this shipment though, came from the united states military itself. the anthrax was shipped according to one defense official via fedex from an army lab in utah to the base. and commercial laboratories in nine other american states also received the deadly bioagent. they were supposed to contain what's called a dead agent of anthrax. it was a lab in maryland that was the first to report that this anthrax was

hastert hastert. just yesterday he was charged with disguising payment that's were going to a person from his past to uncover and cover-up misconduct. we now know that the nature of that misconduct was sexual and the gender of the alleged victim, too. here is what we're learning now. a law enforcement source has told pete williams hastert was making the payments to a man to conceal a relationship they had while that man was a student at yorkville high school in illinois. according to the tribune company reporters that relationship took place while heartastert was a teacher and wrestling coach there. we also know this misconduct had nothing to do with his time in congress. the tomorrow republican house speaker is now a lobbyist here in washington. as we said, lots of new information coming out by the minute here. steve handelsman will join us from capitol hill at 4:30 with much more on this investigation. from the live desk, i'm jim handly, pat and chris back to you. >>> we're also watching showers and

what do you make of the hastert story? >> this is one of those times when the state prosecutors are high fiving each other and saying we did a good job. to go back--we can say that this is about dennis hastert misusing money, but really this is getting after what is a 30-year cold case of possible sexual abuse. i think that's what they're really trying to get through. they're very proud of themselves at this point. >> the statute of limitations had passed on misconduct allegations, so they see him withdrawing money and violating wire transfer laws and figure this is how we can get him. >> this is how all the great criminal master minds and gangsters in the 20's were caught. when i said this indictment, it was interesting. the fbi did not pursue the gentleman he was making payments to for extortion. that's telling that they didn't think someone who was being paid $3 million was extorting dennis hastert. obviously what he did was so heinous they thought that that was the greater crime than him having to to pay $3 million. >>

i expect the result in this case that hastert will plea. it's going to be very hard to defend against. he's probably guilty of the crimes but it doesn't mean he would have -- >> if he pleas can he avoid jail time? possibly. >>> we'll turn now to the newest candidate for president, maryland's martin o'malley he starts out as a long long shot. but as he told me, he believes that many democrats are looking for a fresh candidate. >> i declare that i am a candidate for the president of the united states. >> why you why now? >> because i believe our country is facing some deep challenges and i believe we're not going to overcome our problems without new leadership. what i offer in this race 15 years of executive experience. the most difficult challenge we have restoring the truth of the american dream, making wages go up and economy work for our people. >> we have had democratic presidents 16 of the last 24 years, how would a martin o'malley's presidency be different from president clinton and president obama's? >> because of president obama's ch

if convicted though, hastert faces up to 10 years in prison.> in other news, the united states officially removed cuba from its list of state sponsors of terrorism. secretary of state john kerry signed the order which came 45 days after president obama first announced plans for it 6789 u.s. lawmakers did not do anything to block the move. federal officials can now move forward with plans to open embassys in havana and washington d.c. removal from the terror list was a key demand from cuba as part of the ongoing negotiations between the two countries. >>> new york city residents and visitors once again have a beautiful view of the city. today the one world trade center observatory opened to the public officially. the main public viewing space is on the 100th floor with restaurants on the 101st floor. sight lines stretch 50 miles past the manhattan skyline. the building is the nation's tallest at a symbolic 1776 feet. >>> world news tonight with david muir will have much more on the opening of one world trade center's observatory as well as the b

. >>> lot of mystery today surrounding former house speaker dennis hastert. he was indicted by a grand jury found that he violated banking laws all in a bid to pay millions of dollars of hush money. craig boswell has an update. >> reporter: the federal indictment alleges former house speaker dennis hastert paid millions of dollars in hush money to keep someone from his past quiet about previous misconduct. the indictment says a person identified as individual a. received payments from the congressman. the individual was from the same town where hastert was a high school teacher and wrestling coach from 1965 to 1981. prosecutors say in 2010, hastert met with the individual multiple times and agreed to pay $3.5 million. the fbi got involved last year after banks reported hastiest's large crash -- hastert's large cash withdrawals, he told agents he was taking the money out because he didn't trust the banking system. [ applause ] hastert was the longest serving republican house speaker holding the leadership and second in line to the presidency from 1999 to 2007.

john dennis hastert.n withdrawing cash from banks and providing the cash to individual a in amounts of $50,000 or $100,000 to satisfy the agreement he made with individual a to provide $3.5 million in order to compensate for and con seem his prior misconduct against individual a. the indictment goes on to say this -- "specifically, in response to the agent's question confirming whether the purpose of the withdrawals was to store cash because he did not feel safe with the banking estimate as he previously indicated, john dennis hastert stated yeah. i kept the cash. that's what i'm doing. whereas in truth, the indictment says and in fact as john dennis hastert then well knew this statement was false." major breaking news. a formal indictment against the former speaker of the house of representatives dennis hastert. much more on this story coming up. that's obviously a very very disturbing development. we'll stay on top of it for you. other breaking news coming into "the situation room" right now as well. ne

hastert allegation he. s. to silence a sex abuse allegation. new documents and allegation of forgery in an emotional case of a mother who says her baby was ton plus john pizzarelli, his surprising collaboration with paul mccartney. >> considering how long the two takings have been at odds, the relations in the last two weeks are remarkable. relations once strained are now close to normal. washington dropped the country from its list of state sponsors of terrorism. reaction was swift and as you will see subdivided especially over the issues of fugutives from justice wanted by cuba or the u.s. morgan radford is in miami tonight, morgan. >> that's right john. as you mentioned a lot still has to be done when it comes to the exchange of wanted and accused criminals. but at the heart of the reaction right here in little havana is one question, what has cuba done to warrant being taken off that list? i talked to one mother and she says even if the title isn't removed, doesn't mean it isn't warranted. >> she's like any other mother but she is bragging

revisiting hastert in the era of hastert brings to mind a myriad of scandals that plagued republicandership. there was the foley scandal where he was sending inappropriate maleessages to a male page. how much do you think the republican party is going to have to deal with this again? >> i don't think the republican party will have to. >> or congress? >> it would be better for them if he were a democrat. but it is interesting that the party of family values does seem to have -- >> a family values problem. >> a family values program. to me, though, jond thebeyond the reasons for his apparent blackmail, the fact that a guy after -- who left high school teaching unable to become an assistant principal for politics, and served 20 years in politics, made millions of dollars as a congressman, and then has made many millions more as a lobbyist enough to pay this guy, whoever it was, the $3.5 million, that's a shocking thing. more than any sexual misconduct he did when he was 30. >> and apparently -- so he tapered the sides of the cash withdrawals to avoid financial oversight. said at one poi

they say hastert agreed to pay $3.5 million to someone.2014 hastert tomorrow the fbi he was storing cash because he did not feel safe with the banking system. prosecutors believe that was a lie. many of hastert's colleagues are stunned. >> really was shocked that this indictment came forward. >> the gentleman's retired from multiple, multiple years. he's 73 years old and now this is coming out. >> reporter: hastert quit his job at a lobbying firm and friday resigned from the board at a christian college in illinois. he has not returned numerous requests for comment. craig boswell, wusa9. >> hastert is charged with two counts, each of which could bring five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. >>> the list of candidates running for president is about to get longer. tomorrow former maryland governor martin o'malley will launch his presidential campaign with a speech in baltimore. among his opponents will be fellow democrat hillary clinton, someone he campaigned for back in 2008, but o'malley has geared up for the campaign a while. over the p

hastert, the teacher.it's very surprising. yeah, it's a shock. his small town roots part of the hastert charm and seen as a salve for a gop wounded by ethics charges. >> one of the reasons he was chosen as speaker, it was a time in the republican party when there was a lot of controversy. they wanted a good guy who could bring people together. >> his time at yorkville high never far from the narrative. his auto biography featuring lessons he learned as a wrestling coach including one quote now read in a different light. there's no one to blame but yourself if you get pinned. born in aurora illinois he graduated from wheaton college. the school of economics and government is named after him and the administration said in a statement "the college is saddened to learn of these charges." eric hong, abc news, yorkville, illinois. >> another violent attack in baltimore after the city hit a somber record, experiencing its deadliest month in 15 years. a woman and her 7-year-old son were shot in the head becoming b

when asked why hastert was making payments an unnamed federal official said it was conceal hastert's past relationship with a male. the quote was, it was sex the source said. the other official confirmed the misconduct involved sexual abuse. the alleged actions date back to hastert's time as a yorkville illinois high school wrestling coach. the source said "it goes back a long way, back to then. it has nothing to do with public corruption or a corruption scandal." this development comes as a video of the former speaker hastert on c-span in november of 2014 is getting some attention. here's the clip. >> illinois is our next call. here's bruce. independent line. hi. >> hello, danny. >> hi how are you doing? >> pretty good. remember me from yorkville? >> bruce, you're on. go ahead. [ laughter ] >> we have no idea who that person was or if that's related to this story in the "l.a. times." but tonight there are still many questions. for more let me bring in timothy phelps the reporter for the "los angeles times" who broke this story. he joins us by phone tonight. mr. phelps i appreciate y

no response when cnn knocked on the hastert door in illinois. former colleagues announcing to the statement. >> i'm surprised that dennis found himself in a position he had to do something this drastic. obviously, he must have known it was illegal to do it in the way they structured it. so on a personal level shocked and dismayed. i hope they get it worked out. from the fbi perspective. lots of questions. was he extorted likely the way they wrote the indictment? it means likely to cooperated with the fbi at some point. i think there are a lot more to be told here. >> a lot more story. hastert one of the most liked and low key speakers in the last several generations. the 73-year-old resigned his position as a lobbyist yesterday. that's a job he held since leaving congress in 2007. >>> this morning, less than three days remain before major u.s. intelligence programs shutdown unless lawmakers find a compromise to reauthorize them. the white house says there is no plan b if the nsa expires. this does put pressure on congressional leaders who are sc

former house speaker dennis hastert indicted.the fbi about hush money withdrawals. the strange details ahead. >>> new storms targeting texas. the state devastated by historic flooding and the rain is not over yet. welcome back to "early start." i'm john berman. christine romans is off today. 30 minutes past the hour. happening now, the obama administration says it is fine tuning the isis stranktegy in iraq. the way to bring sunni tribes into the fight against islamic state militants. one consideration, arming sunni fighters directly to replace or supplement the current system where weapons go through the shi'ite dominated government in baghdad. this news coming as iraqi forensic teams try to identify nearly 500 bodies exhumed in tikrit. officials believe the bodies belong to iraqi military cadets that isis claims killed last year. also overnight in baghdad, at least nine people killed and 14 injured in twin car bomb blasts at two luxury hotels popular with officials and foreigners. a lot of developments overnight. standing by in

what happened here it appears is that the fbi was informed ptthe fbi went to hastert and hastert toldstory, using's money for himself and even more incredibly that he didn't trust the banking still. why he was taking out so much money. >> this alleged sexual misconduct against a former student. theoretically it might have been criminal. i suppose also a possible statute of limitations on such a charge? >> certainly there's, those are both possibilities. there's also a possible defense here which is an extortion defense, which hastert could say, look, this guy came to me making outrageous false accusations but to protect my family i decided to pay him this money. that is a theory a defense that could be tried in front of a jury. it's got plenty of potential problems you know why didn't you just go to law enforcement like david letterman did when he was extorted? why didn't you -- why did you have to lie to the fbi about it? but you know an extortion defense certainly is possible here. >> jeff do you expect former speaker hastert to do any jailtime if found guilty? >> you know i think a