Dennis Hastert reportedly tells friends: 'I am a victim, too'
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CBS' local affiliate in Chicago reports that former House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) is telling friends that he, too, is the victim of a burgeoning scandal surrounding his alleged payment of millions of dollars to a former student to keep quiet about Hastert's "prior misconduct," in the words of federal authorities.
It has subsequently been reported that Hastert allegedly sexually abused this student at the high school where he worked in Yorkville, Illinois, before entering politics.
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Hastert was neither been seen or heard from publicly on Friday, but he has told close friends that he was sorry people had to go though this ordeal."I am a victim, too," Hastert told them. [CBS 2]
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Ryu Spaeth is deputy editor at TheWeek.com. Follow him on Twitter.