There's More To The Hastert Story Than Meets The Eye.

Dershowitz on Hastert Indictment: 'This Case Just Smells'

Friday, 29 May 2015 08:15 PM

By Cathy Burke

• 
  
• 
  

Dershowitz noted the federal "structuring statutes" Hastert is accused of breaking "were intended to prevent money laundering, to prevent drug dealing, to prevent income tax evasion. "

"Paying hush money is not illegal," Dershowitz said. "He didn't want anybody to know about it, so he took money out in small amounts and the banks wouldn't report it. That is not within the heartland of what this statute was intended to cover – and then to have an indictment which essentially reveals that which Hastert was trying to conceal puts the government in the position of essentially being part of the blackmail – and it's just not right."

Dershowitz called the case "an abusive prosecutorial discretion" for using the structuring statute "to try to go after somebody who was trying to solve a rather personal problem...."

And, he predicted, the feds won't win this one.

"When they go after politicians, whether it be Tom DeLay or … several other of these high-profile cases, they lose them all," he said. "I suspect they're going to lose this one."

Related Stories:

• Friends, Ex-Colleagues of Hastert Shocked Over Indictments
• Perry Seeks to Win over Iowa, a Handshake at a Time

© 2015 Newsmax. All rights reserved.