This morning, former House Clerk Jeff Trandahl testifed before the House ethics committee. What did he say?
In a statement, his lawyer would only say that Trandahl “has cooperated fully” with the investigation being conducted by the FBI and the House ethics committee, and that “he answered every question asked of him.”
According to various accounts, Trandahl, a Republican, knew for several years that Foley had a problem of pursuing House pages.
In 2000 or 2001, Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-AZ) says he notified Trandahl after a page told him he’d received inappropriate messages from Foley.
According to Foley’s former chief of staff Kirk Fordham, Trandahl warned him several times, starting in 2001, of Foley’s worrying interest in the pages. Fordham says that in 2003, he and Trandahl agreed to go to the Speaker’s office about the problem.
And then in 2005, Trandahl was again central when a page received emails from Foley. Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL) says that he and Trandahl sat down with Foley to talk about the problem.
So amidst all that back and forth, did Trandahl ever mention anything about the earlier run-ins to Speaker Hastert’s staff or other members of the leadership? We’ll have to wait to find out.
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