The former clerk of the House of Representatives, Jeff Trandahl, who testified for more than four hours before the House Ethics Committee today, is believed to have testified that a top aide to House Speaker Dennis Hastert was informed of "all issues dealing with the page program," according to a Republican familiar with the investigation.
The Republican source said Trandahl planned to name Ted Van Der Meid, the speaker's counsel and floor manager, as the person who was briefed on a regular basis about any issue that arose in the page program, including a "problem group of members and staff who spent too much time socializing with pages outside of official duties." One of whom was Mark Foley.
Trandahl's testimony before the House Ethics Committee could provide additional evidence that key members of the speaker's staff were aware of problems involving the page program for years.
Van Der Meid declined to comment to ABC News, but a source close to Van Der Meid says he expects to be called to testify before the House Ethics Committee next week and plans to answer all questions.
Last week, Foley's former chief of staff, Kirk Fordham, testified before the Ethics Committee about his public allegations that the speaker's chief of staff, Scott Palmer, was told about problems with Foley at least three years ago.
Palmer has said that Fordham's version of events "never happened."
What I find amazing here with this story is that the congressional staff members are now contradicting themselves--perhaps even under oath before the House Ethics Committee. Foley's former chief of staff, Kirk Fordham, testified that he told House Speaker Dennis Hastert's chief of staff Scott Palmer about Foley at least three years ago. Palmer denies that this conversation with Fordham ever happened. Now we have this former clerk to the House, Jeff Trandahl, testifying that a top aid to Hastert was informed of all issues regarding the page program, which could also be a reference to Foley. Trandahl plans to name Hastert's counsel Ted Van Der Meid, as to being informed on the page program and Foley. You can bet that the House Ethics Committee will be calling on Van Der Meid soon to determine whether Palmer or Hastert knew beforehand about Foley. The end result is that not only are the Republican congressmen refusing to fall on their swords for the good of the GOP, but their staff members are refusing to fall on their own swords for the good of the party in this Foley cover-up fiasco.
More to come.
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