Former U.S. Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia was a member of the House GOP leadership when Hastert became speaker.
He says that during the tumultuous days in 1999 when Republicans settled on Hastert to replace Newt Gingrich as speaker, they didn't research his background. Davis says ``there's no time for internal vetting'' during such a situation.
But looking back after last week's indictment, Davis says it's now obvious to him that Hastert was ``fighting some demons.''
Former Rep. Jack Kingston of Georgia says Republicans turned to Hastert to succeed Gingrich partly because ``there wasn't any inkling of anything'' hidden in Hastert's past.
Meanwhile, a Montana woman says the FBI interviewed her about her allegations that her brother had a sexual relationship with Dennis Hastert, the high school wrestling coach who became speaker of the House.
Hastert was charged last week in a federal indictment that alleges he agreed to pay $3.5 million to someone from Yorkville, the Illinois town where he taught and coached high school wrestling, so the person would stay quiet about ``prior misconduct.''
Jolene Burdge of Billings, Montana, told The Associated Press Thursday that the FBI interviewed her in mid-May about Hastert. She says her brother told her before he died in 1995 that his first homosexual contact was with Hastert and that the abuse lasted throughout high school.
In an interview aired Friday on ABC's ``Good Morning America,'' Burdge identified her brother as Stephen Reinboldt.