Hastert update: Did ABC secretly change its story? (Update: DOJ says he’s not “in the mix” either)

posted at 9:27 am on May 25, 2006 by Allahpundit
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The screencaps don’t lie, baby. They’ll take a beating for this and they deserve to, but as far as the actual substantive change goes, I think Truth Laid Bear makes too much of it. Here, according to the Bear, is how ABC’s initial report originally began (emphases mine):

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dennis Hastert, is under investigation by the FBI, which is seeking to determine his role in an ongoing public corruption probe into members of Congress, ABC News has learned from high level government sources.

And here’s how it reads now:

Federal officials say the Congressional bribery investigation now includes Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, based on information from convicted lobbyists who are now cooperating with the government.

Sounds like a climbdown. But TLB neglects to mention that in its follow-up report last night, ABC said this:

ABC’s law enforcement sources said the Justice Department denial was meant only to deny that Hastert was a formal “target” or “subject” of the investigation.

“Whether they like it or not, members of Congress, including Hastert, are under investigation,” one federal official said tonight.

So they backed off the phrase “under investigation” … and then backed up to it again.

Confederate Yankee and I tried to parse the wording last night. I also floated a theory that someone in the FBI might have tried to burn Ross with bad information here as revenge for his report about the feds investigating journalists; Hastert himself is speculating about a revenge operation this morning, but with him as the target, not Ross. Two birds with one leaked stone!

Meanwhile, Dan Riehl congratulates Ross on a “scoop” that’s four months old. And some in Congress are backing slowly away from Hastert’s ridiculous, tin-ear “legislative privilege” defense of William Jefferson.

Update: Geraghty is so disgusted with Hastert that he’s ready to join the Tapscottians. Rick Moran has his eyes on the big picture: legalized bribery.

Update: No weasel words left for ABC to rely on now: Drudge quotes Deputy AG Paul McNulty as saying Hastert’s not “in the mix” either.

Update: NRO calls Hastert and company’s condemnation of the FBI raid “an unparalleled blunder.”

Update: I noted above how ABC had repeated the phrase “under investigation” in its follow-up piece. Well, Hastert’s lawyers noted it too — and they say it amounts to libel and defamation.

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