Doesn't it seem like the media is two steps ahead of the facts? Obviously Foley did something wrong otherwise he wouldnt have resigned but how do we know these allegations are in fact, fact!? In this country youre tried by the media before you even get a chance at trial. Its pathetic.

Well, that should do it. Its all a question of how much the GOP leadership knew and when. Is there any indication that any of these new three pages told anyone about Foley's behavior at the time? in 1998 or 2000?

Bully! Great reporting Brian Ross and ABC!

Has ABC news asked any of these (or other) pages whether they have been approached by other congresspeople? Or whether they know of anyone who was?

It seems to me that a serious interest in this problem doesn't begin and end with Foley.

Foley's toast, and so is Hastert. I'm a GOP'er but this is ridiculous.

As far as i am concerned any congressman or senator,indeed anyone who knew what this scum was doing should not only be fired but prosecuted.The attitude seems to be whatever we need to do to keep republicans in office is acceptable.If dems knew the same applies to them.When is this country going to actually give a damn about its children,child molesters dont change their sexual preference just as we have finally accepted that gays dont.Wake the hell up America and keep these scumbags in prison forever when they molest a child.the recidivism rate is astronomical and i would bet its 100 percent, just some dont get caught again.When will our government quit worrying about the aclu and other organizations.These pedophiles wont ever change.Its past time our laws did

Wow...it just never ends. How this could go on for eight years "unknown" is just too far-fetched to be believable. I'm calling "BS" on Hastert's claims....

Have you asked these pages whether they know of any other congresspeople who have approached them? With 535 to choose from, including hundreds of both Republicans and Democrats, it seems to me that this is a fair question.

I hope your intent is to genuinely find out what is happening here, not to just nail Foley and call it a day.

Foley is a scum. He is nothing more than a predator on children and anyone that would cover this up for political purposes is disgusting.
We need criminal charges brought against Foley.
This is how we protect our children?

The Republican Party must think that the American public is asleep. This "Grown Man" is ignorant to the fact that we are not looking the other way when it comes to "Sexual Child Abuse". What are they thinking? I am outraged at the "mess" that is coming off the Hill. The Republicans need to STOP making excuses and call for this "man" to step down and take legal responsibility for his actions. The law make sure that everyone else does. If this "man" does not step down, it makes a joke of the laws of this country concerning our children!!!

Who are they and where's the proof? Can anyone just ring up Ross with a story and it's suddenly reported as factual news?

I don't get this.

Where there's smoke, there's fire.

I don't buy Hastert's assertion that no one knew about this. People talk about this sort of thing, and the house leadership was told long ago about Foley's behavior. All they're doing now is covering their behinds, too concerned with power to overn effectively or wisely.

As for Drudge, I'm not sure why ABC and the rest of the media give him so much attention. Besides the Lewinsky scandal, he's never broken significant original news on his own, and as a partisan operative, it's to his benefit to make legitimate news organizations look bad. Why help him?

I don't read anything in the article that exactly substantiates the three "former pages" claims. How does ABC News know they are not lying? Has it been checked out? Are there copies of these messages linking these three to Foley? Just because they say it happened, how do we know? Unfortunately, sometimes in cases like these people want to be associated with the scandal. John Karr ring a bell. Hopefully a follow up article will give more details. Thanks.

i wish you would release the names of the people who knew all this was going on,this is great journalism because you are serving the public,isn`t that what its about.peace

How do we get these bumper stickers?

SUPPORT FAMILY VALUES
VOTE DEMOCRATIC

PROTECT YOUR CHILDREN
VOTE DEMOCRATIC

Where is your proof? When someone makes this type of allegation they should be willing to reveal their name and their proof. Kind of like a rape victim. I could say my neighbor did something to me ....but can I proove it and is it true. Before revealing these things, you should back these things up with fact!

This is the last straw.
I'm a loyal Republican, but I've had enough. You know what they say, sometimes you just have to show a little "tough love."

Looks like I'll be holding my nose and voting Dem on election day.

this is a nuclear bomb for the repubs.....

Hasert should resign to save his party....otherwise they may well find themselves facing a super-majority of dems in congress and much, much more trouble on the horizon.

If ever there was a time for maximal damage control it is now. This may be the bigggest scandel they have faced since watergate.

Thank you abc for directly addressing the misdirectional lying spin coming from Matt Drudge.

And thank you for this amazing and honest gutsy reporting.

The facts are coming out, no matter how much the republicans wish they were otherwise.

I hope the speaker now will step down. 1998, you have to be kidding me that no one knew about this

I think both Democrat and Republican leadership should be under oath answering questions and I think that all Congressmen in both parties should have their computers seized and examined. I think Freeh was a good choice to investigate for the House - makes me wonder what Pelosi was afraid of to have blocked him,

Let's throw every rotten one of them out (DEMS & REPUBS) and start over from scratch.

As a Democrat, I never dreamed that something this horrid could happen--we are surely witnessing the meltdown of the Republican party. I can't say that I'm sorry, as I think that a Dem majority is the only thing that will save us now, but geez, guys, this is a new low even for the GOP.

Asking people to resign without knowing all the facts is ludicrous. Obviously Foley had good reason too, but otherwise it's just blood in the water now, and there is a partisan effort to sink the GOP.

Talk about an October surprise, this is dirty politics at it's worst...

Note that this story doesn't say whether or not any of these former pages reported Foley's advances. I'd bet not... and how can you blame the gov't officials for not doing something if these incidents aren't reported??

It is time to rid the country of the current congressmen/congresswomen, along if a lying president and his staff.
Our leaders do not have the moral right to lead this county.
Congress should impeach the president, and then they should resign. New people should be elected.

This inappropriate action of Mark Foley should be punished to the fullest extent of the law, as should and circumstances that involve other people in the scandal. Democrats that try to turn this into a political issue need to back off. WE, THE GOP, DO NOT SUPPORT THIS PEDOPHILE IN HIS ILLEGAL ACTIONS.

God Bless Justice.

This is disgusting and I think if there are any other congress people that have done things like this, now is the time for pages and interns to spill their guts!!!! Lets start cleaning up "OUR" House!!!! Get all the scum out of there now...Make them sweat!!!! If any of you pages or interns have what it takes, start opening your mouths and report any and all of these Holier then thou Represenatives that are suppose to be doing our business up there on that hill....

Unfortunately, the Republicans have become so used to being in power, that they have no moral compass anymore and cannot regulate themselves anymore than they can the President! Although I wish to God there was a viable third option, I'm giving my votes to the Democrats next time around. Gridlock is better than unchecked arrogance and corruption!

But Shimkus and Hastert didn't take the logical next steps. The communications that Shimkus and Hastert knew about were serious enough to ask Foley to cease contact with the former page. But the Republicans didn't pursue the matter any further and didn't inform the Democratic member of the House Page Board about the matter. That lack of action is indefensible.

This country is is in serious trouble. Both parties are a joke and only care about their little country club in DC. We need another party who really care about doing what is right.

Ok, Ok, its a travesty and a scandal for Foley, but the bigger problem is the GOP protecting a predator like Foley because they want to win an election.....that's what is wrong with the new GOP...no ethics.

You say that one pages reported that Foley "arranged a sexual liaison after the page had turned 18". Did this liason actually occur, or did Foley just try to "arrange" it?

Foley claims he never actually had sex with any of these pages, so it seems to me the distinction is important here.

I'll stipulate that there's plenty of Republican *and* Democratic sex scandal under the rocks in Washington. But you know what the difference is? The Republicans -- as a party, as a political movement, as a class of people -- are simultaneously trying to jam their family values and religion crap down my throat 24/7. Ted Kennedy and Bill Clinton have never tried to sell me their church religion along with their politics.

Ouch, this has to hurt for the Republicans. They were hoping this would get out after the elections, but I guess that backfired! Rush Limbaugh compared this to the Clinton scandal, and he predicts this will backfire against the Dems. Ok ok, Clinton vs. Foley. One guy cheats on his wife with an adult female (pathetic, and the lying as well), but do not compare that to a pedophile. Dems will take back the house and senate, and hopefully we can return to something resembling a functioning government.

JUST TO SHOW HOW SICK SOME REPUBLICANS ARE, THEY EQUATE CHILD MOLESTATION TO CONSENSUAL SEX BETWEEN ADULTS.

this is ridiculous. i mean my god. and they dump on democrats for "immorality" and "having no morals". what the hell? they cover for each other so much and then when they get busted, they backpeddle like crazy and try to STILL blame their screw ups on anyone but themselves. absolutely pitiful.

Why is the House Minority Leader, Democrat Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco, objecting to an outside investigation by former FBI Director Louis Freeh? Is she afraid some of her Democrat colleagues may be swept up in the scandle?

How about investigating ALL congressmen and congresswomen for inapproprite contacts with pages and interns. I bet there are more from both parties. How about it, ABC news

Drudgereport should be ashamed for the huge headlines earlier today trying to convince us GOPer's that Foley's parter was of legal age. Weak Drudge, Weak.
I am a republican but no more 'republican news machines' for me.
back to the goold ole 'liberal media' for me, a.k.a. the truth.

Sure the media makes Iraq look bad, and the president looks bad, and the issues we are representing look bad... and the reason I conclude it cause it is looking bad. Gay Marriage and Abortion. Weak GOP, Weak. whatever happened to honest fook like Colin Powell and John Mccain? Whoops look like our leadership stomped on them to get the idiots like Bush, Delay, Hassert in power.

Foley is a pig.
So glad he is gone! But to try and blame Hastert for the actions of Foley is pathetic.
I wish Foley wouldn't have resigned so soon, maybe wait a week and then be forced out.
The dems want blood, Foley's resignation just isn't good enough for them.

I'm just so over the nasty, political arena going on these days. I'm so tired of one party steps down (as they should) and the other party appearing to condon actions of members of their party. Prosecute those who did anything to hurt any child under the age of 18...Prosecute anyone who held these messages for, what 3 years, before doing anything about it. In my opinion, those who knew about these IM's and didn't come immediately forward should also be prosecuted for endangering a child. "We the people" are no longer being heard.

Mary

Anyone who is serious about preventing this kind of thing in the future should advocate an investigation of all emails and ims to pages from all house members of both parties. Who is on board for that?

Anybody who had any inkling and sit on it- allowing it to continue should be toast - whether for fear of seeming to be a homophobic or political gain. Republican here with three sons... and the anger is palpable.

It's funny listening to the Republican spin once the shoe is on the other foot. There is nothing anyone, including Hastert, can do to sugarcoat this. The sad fact is, by Spring 2006, Hastert's office had been told at least 4 times that Foley was a predatory pedophile. How can Hastert respond with anything other than a resignation?

Denny Hastert should hang in there as Speaker. He's a shining example of the best and the brightest that Republicans have to offer America, and he should stay in the public eye to remind voters of that fact.

This will all blow over.

The misinformation forces of the dishonored
including Mr. Drudge and the hypocrite Mr.
Limbaugh along with the Fox Propagandists
owe the Citizens of the USA an explanation of their obivous lies. Thank you to ABC News for
bringing this forward and to Mr. Brian Ross and Staff for their efforts to bring this important issue before the Public before the election cycle.
CdR.

Its all silly! Foley is gone. Game over.

Dems always use scandal to detract from issues or ideas!

Why is it that Rush and Drudge defend this man

I've been a lifelong conservative Regan Republican, but this is just too much for me.

I live in Northern Virginia and both my incumbant Republican congresmen and my incumbant Republican Senator are in close races.

They won't get my vote.

How can they DO THAT! Covering up a pedephile and letting him continue to molest youg boys. Just to win an election?

I hate to do it, but I have to vote Democratic in 06. I hope America joins me.

This is the democrats fault, they are to blame because um...wait where did my conservative talking points go?

This is all minor compared to others.
If you would read Tranceformation of America by Cathy O'Brien you would see how the big boys operate.
There have been no lawsuits and she is still alive so you decide if it's true

All I hear is we cant even trust our children with congressmen WOW. Thats not a good sign to any party or anything at all. Where are we headed and how do we expect other people and cultures to be moral.

The Foley situation has nothing to do with Republicans vs Democrats. There is enough immoral activity out there to cover both parties.

A predator. That's what Foley was, and that is what the Republican leadership was protecting. It is telling that Alexander, who decided to report the original "overly friendly" emails, went up the political chain and never said "boo" to the House Page Board.

Republicans are toast. Remember when Republicans were all about personal responsibility?

i actually heard newt gingrich on a radio chat show today blaming the scandal on nancy palosi. unbelievable.

I'm close to as far left as they come, and I find it hard to believe this is anything but a cut and dry case of a man who was attracted to young boys. I don't think Hastert would have protected Foley, nor do I think anyone in the GOP leadership would allow this kind of thing to occur. This is the kind of stuff no one who can physically restrain themselves (Foley clearly couldn't) would touch with a ten foot pole. It sounds to me like appropriate action was taken when things first surfaced, and I hope Foley is treated the way anyone with his M-O is treated. This isn't a political issue. Fantasizing about underage boys has nothing to do with political alignment and I don't think of this case should either.

This man is one sick person and alcohol didn't make him do it. Its a shame this had to become a party issue;but considering the caliber of people in politics no big surprise. I just can't figure out why the cover up. It could have been done and gone a long time ago. The mass confusion continues and the kids continue to suffer.

bu$h just expressed full confidence in Big Denny, which is bu$hese for, "you're doing a heckuva job, Denny...you're outta here."

What's with the ultra-conservative suggestion that the sexual conversations between Foley and the page are the fault of the page because he "initated" the sexual conversation or because the whole thing was a "prank"? Aren't we looking at what Foley did, how he responded with his pradation? As far as I'm concerned, this "spin job" demonstrates complicity.

I remember a young student one confided to me that one of the muckety mucks where i worked was harrassing her and making innappropriate comments.

i went to my boss, told him this student needed advice about what options she had for filing a complaint. And I let me boss know that the issue wasn't taken seriously and handled 'right', i would quit - I couldn't work for an outfit that permitted that kind of abuse to take place.

hastert, reynolds, shminkus, and the others should have had the exact same attitude.

This is just so gross. How can a Congressman get away with this kind of filthy, disgusting behavior for YEARS?????

I say don't rush to judgement on Hasert, (I'm a big liberal, but believe in fair play unlike my Neo-Con friends) but if he knew that Foley was engaging in sexually charged relationships with minors and did nothing, he should be penalized just as much as Foley. Well, maybe a bit less than Foley...

Ok let's not jump to conclusions. 3 kids coming out and speaking to an ABC investigation line? No emails, nothing written? Come on.

Everyone MUST REMEMBER that is about a congressional leader who is accused of PREYING ON UNDERAGED teens for sex. He should be treated as any other sex offender and arrested if the accusations are true. People should be outraged by this, and any politician who tried to cover this up should be arrested for aiding and abetting a sex offender.

Republican or Democrat, a pedophile is a pedophile and in an affiliation all thier own - stop blaming parties, Hastert did not lure in young male pages, Foley did - place blame where it should be placed, with the individual who is and should be held accountable for his individual actions.

This is a horrifying story. Those poor, young men - I beseech them not to be permanently damaged by this, and to press on to bring good into this world. “We, the people, care about you.” In this case, our government does not speak for us.
No doubt these Pages are smart, respectful, diplomatic, young men interested in politics. Foley is apparently a pedophile. It is horrifying that Foley was able predate on them with such ease under the nose the federal government. I do not believe for a second that Foley's peers were not aware of his behavior to some degree. Look at them scramble to cover themselves. They blame Dems, they blame gays. It’s disgusting. They (mostly the GOP) let a pedophile run loose in congress - the sacred place of American Democracy.
I am so angry the Pages were subjected to this treatment by our very own federal government, and it was permitted to go on. I am also disgusted at the defensive posture adopted by the GOP. It is plain they don't actually care about the people (especially the children) they serve; moreover they haven't learned anything about PR either.

This whole thing is very amusing. Foley is a just a punch line for office jokes now. ABC can keep printing more IM's every day and people will be bored of it by the time the election comes around. This is not significant, nobody was harmed and Foley has resigned.

If any Republicans are looking for a moral compass as a result of the transgressions of one gay congressmen they are not going to look across the aisle at the Democrats for hope. Liberals don't get it . Disappointment or disgust with Bush, or Hastert or Foley does not suddenly make Hillary, Pelosi or Barney Frank people we want to elect.

I'm a Florida republican and I hope the Democratic plan is to keep this Foley thing in the news every day, dishing out more salacious details and trying to bring down more GOP leaders. When the vote results come in they will once again be saying "Why didn't we gain control? The GOP base was upset over this. The polls showed it!!"
I'm glad Foley is gone and we do not miss him. But none of this has me looking seriously at Democrats as a viable alternative.

Hmmm.

This amusing interlude is going to end up biting the Democrats right in the butt. Give it another couple days.

Question:
Did all pages receive warnings about Foley or just selected pages?

Foley's Attorney mouthpiece news conference the other day shows Foley is still in denial albeit 3 days into "recovery". He has the mind of a person who is a psychopath, unable to truly feel real feelings for another and has been one his entire life. NO glory or position of power in life can overcome it---deep deep emotional and mental therapy might. But 3 days into treatment he marches out an attorney to give us this baloney that he was always drunk when these occurred, and never actually met one in person. These recent Pages accounts are starting to get closer to showing us that there probably was in fact in person encounters. Give it time, someone will surface with it as being a sexual deviant going back to at least 1998, there is no way he couldnt.

Do these Pages have any proof of these Instant Messages and emails?

where the the actual IMs from these three pages? Proof please!

This is just ridiculous. I voted Republican in the last 2 elections but I'm sitting this one out. The Republicans knew about this guy and they just sat on their hands? Power corrupts, folks, and these guys are now corrupted to the core. Unbelievable. These guys were supposed to restire dignity to politics, but between Jack Abramoff, this and the war (I have alot of family in the service and the news from Iraq is bad, bad, bad) these guys are unfit for command. What a stab in the back this Republican party has been.

Drudge and Limbaugh should be ashamed of themselves for trying to blame the victims for sexual predations of a United States Representative. Their hypocrisy knows no bounds, as has long been apparent, but this defense of Foley goes beyond the pale. Has their partisanship and self-serving bombast destroyed all sense of decency?

If you read the Drudge story referenced in this news report it's obvious that the young man caught up in this scandal is fearful of being outed as a homosexual. Whether he is or isn't gay is beside the point. His sexual preference does nothing to change the criminal intent of Foley in his email and IM exchanges with the boy. Hastert's address today accepting full responsibility and, quote, "the buck stops here", is so typical of the current GOP leadership. How many times have we heard this? They all accept full responsibility--for the Katrina disaster, for the Valerie Plame leak, for incorrect intelligence regarding yellowcake uranium and weapons of mass destruction, etc., etc. They accept full responsibility for their mistakes, but they never seem willing to step down. That IS NOT accepting full responsibilty. That is cowardice and hubris.

While I agree that Foley is a disgrace and it's good that he is gone, there are still many questions that need answered. Brian Ross needs to make public where this information came from. This gotcha politics crap needs to stop. If these pages knew years ago about this behavior, why are we only hearing about it now?

If they won't step down then it's time to fire all of them! This whole thing is sickening. Just imagine when you were a teenager and how you would have felt if this were done to you. Give our children a chance to grow up and make their own choices about sexual orientation and politics.

Funny how people forget the past. Anyone remember news about Dan Crane (R)(sex with a 17 year old female page) and Gerry Studds (D)(sex with a 17 year old male page) in 1983? Crane apologized but never won his seat again. Studds never apologized and kept hold of his seat until his 1996 retirement. Our political system is a complete farce that is run by a bunch of clowns. They know absolutely nothing about how everyday Americans feel about any topic. I'm finsihed voting for anyone unless my name is on the ballot. Thanks Congress; we are the world's favorite sitcom.

who cares? Do the dems? do the Pubs? It is all politics whith the prize being the aquisition/retention of power. This is not about kids. Has anyone heard anyone ask how the "victims" are doing? Did anyone actually have sex?

I am sure the newest batch of 3 pages have been checked and re-checked for verification by ABC.
Although Tom's post is showing some concern for child victims of these predators, Shamefully they are no longer the story. The violation of children has been reduced to a political food fight.
This is just the beginning. In the end, I think the bases will solidify and truth will win the day. We all know which side takes the higher road.

This is what happens when the Supreme Court puts a moron in the President's office and every fool in office gets the message that the law no longer applies.

What's child molestation compared to dropping bombs on thousands of innocent people?

The Party of Nixon does not honor human life in any form.

Maybe you Republicans who put these guys in office are finally starting to see the pattern the opponents of this administration have been seeing for a long time: no WMD but persist in maintaining there are until you can't get away with it any longer; no link between 9/11 and Iraq but keep fudging it till you can't get away with it any longer; maintain the position of "staying the course" in Iraq, maintain Dr Rice didn't know anything about the possibility of 9/11-type attack on 7/10, cover up sexual predators to stay in power etc etc...The depth of the desperation to maintain power at all costs is finally apparent. Please, Republicans, get rid of this bunch of people who are simply bad for our country, all of us.

In the past year we have seen 4 House Republicans facing prosecution or already in jail: Delay, Cunningham, Ney and now Foley. Meanwhile House Republicans continue to wait for federal prosecutors to uncover criminal behavior long after the problem is out of control. This sad case with Foley is just another example, with the problem first reported over 5 years ago.

Some Senators in response to the disclosure of the Abramoff and Delay scandal advocated an independent ethics watchdog, which could possibly detect some of these problems before they get to the stage of criminal behavior. Legislation was even drafted by these Senators, but was rejected by the Senate.

Perhaps an independent ethics watchdog deserves reconsideration - an independent office might have been contacted by these ex-pages years ago.

Foley's has resigned, Hastert is not the problem.

The problem is the drive-by media making up stories to sell the news - the news they want us to hear...and believe.

Get your news from a reliable source before judging others.

Warning: I'm a Democrat to state my bias but this goes beyond political biases. I mean look at George "state of denial" Bush what does he do today? He commends Hastert.... When will Bush ever acknowledge that both him and his political party are not infallible (as anyone with an IQ above 60 knows).