Alleged Hastert abuse victim identified

A man who was allegedly abused sexually by former Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) has been identified in an interview released early Friday morning.

Before he died, Steve Reinboldt purportedly told his sister, Jolene Burdge, that he was abused by Hastert throughout his four years of high school, she said in an interview with ABC News.

{mosads}“I asked him, when was your first same-sex experience. He looked at me and said, ‘It was with Dennis Hastert,’ ” Burdge told ABC News. “I was stunned.”

Her brother was a student manager on the Yorkville High School wrestling team while Hastert was a coach, and the pair reportedly also traveled together as part of an Explorers troop.

Burdge said she learned of the abuse in 1979, eight years after her brother graduated from high school. He died of AIDS in 1995, and Hastert attended his funeral, according to ABC News.

“[A]fter he had gone through the line I followed him out into the parking lot of the funeral home,” Burdge said. “I said, ‘I want to know why you did what you did to my brother.’ And he just stood there and stared at me. He didn’t say, ‘What are you talking about?’ you know, [or], ‘What? I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ He just stood there and stared at me.”

ABC News reported that it was approached by the woman about the allegations in 2006, who also wrote to some advocacy groups and The Associated Press.

Hastert denied the claim, ABC reported Friday, noting it could not corroborate the allegations at the time.

Current Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), who served with Hastert for 16 years in the House and was briefly on his leadership team, said this week he had “no inkling whatsoever” about the allegations of sexual abuse.

“I was shocked and dismayed by the reports that I read,” Boehner told reporters on Thursday.

But he said he wasn’t prepared to pull down Hastert’s portrait, which is prominently displayed in the Speaker’s lobby just off the House floor. A sexual abuse survivors group has called on Boehner to take it down.

“I think it’s important for us to have the facts before we make decisions,” Boehner said.

Hastert, 73, is set to be arraigned next week in federal court in Chicago on charges he withdrew $3.5 million in cash to conceal past misconduct, and he has been accused of lying to the FBI about the withdrawals.

Law enforcement sources have been quoted in media reports since his indictment saying that the past misconduct involved a former student and was sexual in nature.

Money payments to “Individual A” started in 2010, after Hastert left Congress to be a lobbyist.

Burdge, who said she was approached by the FBI two weeks ago, said she did not know the “Individual A” mentioned in the indictment.

But she said she believes that person is familiar with her brother’s experience.

— Scott Wong contributed.