WASHINGTON — The FBI announced Sunday night that it is looking into whether former Republican representative Mark Foley, 52, broke federal law by sending inappropriate e-mails and instant messages to teenage House pages.
The announcement came hours after House Speaker Dennis Hastert asked for a Justice Department investigation into not only Foley’s actions but also Congress’ handling of the matter once it learned of the contacts.
Meanwhile, the executive board of the Florida Republican Party will meet today in Orlando to pick Foley’s replacement for the November election. State Rep. Joe Negron, R-Stuart, confirmed Sunday that he will be one of five who plan to take their case before the board.
In his letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Hastert, R-Ill., acknowledged that some of Foley’s most sexually explicit instant messages were sent to former House pages in 2003. That was two years before lawmakers say they learned of a more ambiguous 2005 e-mail that led only to a quiet warning to Foley to leave pages alone.
Foley, from Jupiter in the 16th District, abruptly resigned Friday, and Democrats have since been hammering Hastert and other GOP leaders. They have accused Republicans of covering up the matter and allowing Foley to remain as co-chair of the Congressional Missing and Exploited Children’s Caucus, instead of launching an inquiry into the 2005 incident and possibly uncovering the raunchier communications.
As the scandal broke, Hastert contended he learned of concerns about Foley only last week. But after Rep. Thomas Reynolds, R-N.Y., said Saturday that he had notified Hastert months ago of Foley’s e-mails to a 16-year-old boy, the speaker did not dispute his colleague, and Hastert’s office acknowledged some aides knew last year that Foley had been ordered to cease contact with the youth.
Republican leaders continued to insist Sunday that it was understandable that the “over-friendly” Internet e-mails they had seen did not set off alarm bells. But one House GOP leadership aide, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of losing his job, conceded Republicans had erred in not notifying the three-member, bipartisan panel that oversees the page system. Instead, they left it to the panel chairman, Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., to confront Foley.
Also Sunday, a former House page said that at a 2003 page reunion, he saw sexually suggestive e-mails Foley had sent to another former page.
Patrick McDonald, 21, now a senior at Ohio State University, said he eventually learned of “three or four” pages from his 2001-02 class who were sent such messages.
He said he remembered saying at the reunion, “If this gets out, it will destroy him.”
Foley has said nothing since announcing his resignation. A statement purportedly sent by Foley on Sunday to news organizations, including The Washington Post, said he has entered an alcohol-treatment facility in Florida. The Post could not confirm the statement’s authenticity, and none of Foley’s former aides has responded to messages since his resignation.
In his letter to Gonzales, Hastert said Foley’s electronic messages crossed state lines, so “there should be a complete investigation and prosecution of any federal laws that have been violated.”
FBI Special Agent Richard Kolko would not elaborate on his announcement of the agency’s investigation of Foley. A law-enforcement official who requested anonymity so he could discuss an ongoing case said the probe will be handled by the FBI’s cyber division and could involve agents from the Washington or Miami field offices.
Hastert also wrote that, because some of the more sexually explicit instant messages were written in 2003, “there should be an investigation into the extent there are persons who knew or had possession of these messages but did not report them to the appropriate authorities.”
The speaker asked that the probe extend to “all individuals who may have been aware of this matter — be they Members of Congress, employees of the House of Representatives, or anyone outside the Congress.” He said that “no one in the House Leadership was aware, to my knowledge” of the explicit messages from 2003 until ABC News reported on them last week.
In one instant-message exchange with a high-school boy, ABC News reported, Foley made repeated references to sex acts and body parts.
Former page Matthew Loraditch said Sunday that he has known for years about the “creepy” messages three 2002 classmates received from Foley. He said Foley sent them after the boys had finished the House program. Each began innocuously but took a turn in tone, said Loraditch, a senior at Towson University.
“They became explicit and similar to what we are seeing on the Web sites right now,” said Loraditch, 21, who runs the U.S. House Page Alumni Association’s Internet-message board. “They didn’t do anything beside telling other pages about it.”
McDonald and Loraditch said they received no improper messages from Foley. Loraditch said he had viewed several “cut-and-paste excerpts” of messages Foley sent to one of the three in their class. “Some went along with it; others cut it off,” Loraditch said. “I’m pretty sure none met with him.”
