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By Rachael Bade (
mailto:rbade@politico.com
rbade@politico.com or @RachaelMBade)

STILL BUZZING: FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER, 'THE COACH,' INDICTED.Jon Seidel, Lynn Sweet and Natasha Korecki for the Chicago Sun Times: "He rose to one of the highest elected offices in the land, serving for eight years as Speaker...But past misconduct against a longtime acquaintance from the hometown where Dennis Hastert decades ago taught high school history and coached wrestling haunted the powerful Republican, federal prosecutors say."

"So between 2010 and 2014, Hastert allegedly withdrew $1.7 million in hush money from his bank accounts, handing it over to the acquaintance to keep quiet, according to a stunning grand jury indictment handed down Thursday. He'd agreed to ultimately pay $3.5 million, it's alleged. Then, when the FBI got suspicious and asked Hastert if he made withdrawals as large as $50,000 because he didn't trust the banks, he allegedly lied, telling the feds, 'Yeah . . . I kept the cash. That's what I'm doing... He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of structuring the alleged hush money payments to avoid detection, and of lying to the FBI."
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"EVERYONE IS IN SHOCK." That's how former Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) summed up the general reaction by Hastert's Beltway colleagues when reached over the phone by our John Bresnahan. Bres writes more about Hastert's very successful leadership role in Washington: "Hastert became the GOP choice for speaker almost by accident. Former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) stepped down after Republicans lost seats in the 1998 midterms amid voter anger at the House impeachment of then-President Bill Clinton... Hastert was popular with rank-and-file members and worked hard at the politics of the speakership, including keeping up a grueling fundraising schedule. But he was never good with the news media or in
explaining an overall policy rationale. Hastert saw his primary duty as presiding over and protecting a razor-thin House GOP majority, and this he did for eight long years."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b402cd593c4c9d9d780bc2a74347b8daa1288cb39ab2f62d52be49240a56d138
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--"Sources: Hastert Lawyers Asked U.S. Attorney To Withhold Details Of Alleged 'Misconduct,'" by BuzzFeeds' John Stanton, Andrew Kaczynski and Evan McMorris-Santoro: "U.S. Attorney Zachary T. Fardon agreed to withhold details of ... Hastert's alleged 'prior misconduct' ... in part because of a request from Hastert's attorneys."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b402cd593c4c9d9db8706e183bfeb236d9557fe6ba9b7291d99bf126e35a0dea
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WHAT IS HE HIDING? Justin Wm. Moyer and Fred Barbash ask that question that's on everyone's mind in a column for The Washington Post: "We may never know... What we do know: Prosecutors say he was willing to pay $3.5 million to cover it up....The indictment's allusion to Hastert's tenure as a wrestling coach and teacher was provocative. So was its reference to Individual A. Individual A claimed to have known Hastert 'most of' his or her life. Individual A met with Hastert repeatedly 'in or about 2010' and 'discussed past misconduct' by Hastert against him or her that 'had occurred years earlier.' And, allegedly, Hastert paid Individual A off."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b402cd593c4c9d9d95218fb280f812759624a225539e234af29943df238f2768
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b402cd593c4c9d9d95218fb280f812759624a225539e234af29943df238f2768

UMM, WHAT IS STRUCTURING? As a former tax reporter, I'm glad you asked: Structuring is when taxpayers deposit or withdraw cash in increments of less than $10,000 to deliberately skirt automatic transaction reports to the fed. Any deposits or withdraws over that amount trigger these transfer reports to the government, which watches the money to ensure it's not part of a drug ring or tax-evasion scheme. "Structuring" only became illegal because drug lords were deliberately keeping payments under the threshold to avoid suspicion.

Funny thing: Congress (both parties, mind you) recently lambasted Justice and the IRS for being too liberal in seizing the assets of small business owners who had done no criminal wrongdoing but were keeping payments under $10,000. Now, the two entities are rethinking the whole practice, and courts are asking if law enforcement should bring charges against someone for "structuring" if there's no criminal activity behind such schemes.

WEEKEND'S HERE!--IT'S MAY 29, 2015. And we're just dying to know what Hastert is hiding. Huddle has tickets to see the Scottish Ballet in "A Streetcar Named Desire" at the Kennedy Center (clip:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b402cd593c4c9d9df91ce4baa6d2450f12859024e329852323d3344c935fcd99
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b402cd593c4c9d9df91ce4baa6d2450f12859024e329852323d3344c935fcd99 ) -be oh-so jealous. Talk next week:
mailto:rbade@politico.com
rbade@politico.com , or Tweet: @RachaelMBade.

TODAY IN CONGRESS: Nada.

MORE SCANDAL: "EX-SCHOCK AIDE DISHES TO FBI." by Jake Sherman and Bres: "A onetime aide to Aaron Schock told the FBI this week that the embattled ex-congressman and two employees flew on a private jet with an insurance company executive last year, prompting the adviser to raise concerns about the legality of the trip. If Schock accepted travel on a private jet from an individual or corporation without accounting for the trip, it could be a violation of federal law."
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BACK TO WORK NEXT WEEK: First up when lawmakers return to recess: The Senate will try to determine what the h-e-double-hockey-sticks to do about the PATRIOT Act before midnight Sunday. Just in time, Charlie Savage at the New York Times writes a "reality check" on the surveillance debate, suggesting both sides' arguments are flat-out wrong because A.) the program has "never thwarted a terrorist attack," and B.) "no evidence has emerged that the program has been misused for political or personal gain." Read it and sound smart:
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http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6604d16784d7cbbe6e3d5733e12f6cdeac41a55768361955729e95c7f0a10282

Coming soon to the House: trade wars. Lauren French and Bres have a look at the dozen Democrats who'll decide the fate of Obama's trade deal, including: Reps. James Clyburn of South Carolina, Collin Peterson of Minnesota, Doris Matsui of California, Derek Kilmer of Washington, Cheri Bustos of Illinois and Terri Sewell of Alabama. Read up:
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http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6604d16784d7cbbe674fbbd9fd308eb78646afc95f3e2f5e76b6a23ff5731078

WHAT THEY WON'T BE DEBATING: AUTHORIZATION FOR USE OF MILITARY FORCE. Burgess Everett reports: "Lawmakers in both parties asked the president to send them an AUMF proposal tailored to the modern fight against Islamic militants - one that would give the current president and future ones latitude to take on the sudden threat with the explicit imprimatur of Congress. The president did that in February, sending a perfunctory draft targeting the Islamic State."

"But after an all-out lobbying push this winter, the proposal was spurned by Republicans as too restrictive and by Democrats as too open-ended. The White House now argues that its job is finished, and any further action on a war vote must come from within Congress. But other than the row between Boehner and Pelosi there's been barely a peep on Capitol Hill over the past two months. Meanwhile, on Wednesday the U.S. coalition launched 26 airstrikes on Iraq and Syria."
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DESSERT, FIRST HELPING: CRUZIS A VIDEO GAME ADDICT. The Daily Beast's Tim Mak: "Long before Ted Cruz became a senator from Texas, he was a gamer. He's known for being pugilistic on the Senate floor, but sometimes he'd rather be fighting cartoon zombies on his iPhone...At the moment, Cruz is playing 'Plants vs. Zombies,' a game where users collect sunlight points to feed plants who fight off waves of zombies; 'Candy Crush,' the puzzle game where he claims he's in the 217th level; and 'The Creeps!,' a tower defense game. His video game addiction is so severe, Cruz says, he has to proactively deny himself the ability to spend time on it.'"
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DESSERT, SECOND HELPING: RUBIO VISITS PAWN STARS. By John L. Smith of the Las Vegas Review-Journal (Will this be on an episode? Please!) "The Republican presidential candidate from Florida, who once lived in Las Vegas, made a stop Thursday at Rick Harrison's Gold and Silver Pawn Shop at 713 Las Vegas Boulevard South... It's the setting for the popular "Pawn Stars" reality television show, which features Harrison as the boss and eagle-eyed deal-cutter."
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http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6604d16784d7cbbebd1f545aa40a788681b4c1996f5f195c347a8f742660bfcc

EMAIL WE DID NOT OPEN. Subject: "Tinder for Legislation." A longwinded email about a "civic engagement ap." (H/t Lauren French)

THURSDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER. Patrick Sheridan was the first to answer that it was John Adams who tried to create the position of 'Usher of the Black Rod' - later, Sergeant-at-Arms.

TODAY'S TRIVIA. What was the word that Vanya Shivashankar spelled correctly to become the second co-champion of the Scripps National Spelling Bee? (Spell it correctly or I'll doc points.) Email
mailto:rbade@politico.com
rbade@politico.com .

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