K.A. Paul: Hastert “Dupe” Claim “Ridiculous”I spoke — briefly — with a man who says he is the Rev. K.A. Paul, “spiritual adviser to the scum of the Earth,” who had a remarkable 40-minute prayer-and-discussion meeting yesterday with House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL).
I reached the man by calling a cellular telephone number provided by an anonymous tipster.
“He never said that,” Paul told me when I asked his reaction to the claim, apparently from Hastert’s office, that the embattled GOP leader had been “duped” into meeting with Paul.
I pointed out that it had been reported this morning in the Chicago Sun-Times. “I don’t dupe anybody,” he said. “That’s ridiculous.” Hastert was “gracious,” Paul said. “He welcomed me, he hosted me.”
“That’s why I think a lot of people don’t talk to the media,” he opined.
Paul said he’d met Hastert before, but not “in an extended way,” like the meeting yesterday. But he’s met with former House majority leader Tom DeLay “many times,” including dinner with The Hammer at his Texas home in early 2001, Paul told me.
Paul, whose ministry includes counseling world leaders in trouble — particularly despots, murderers and troublemakers — begged off the phone, but promised to call back later for a longer chat.