Foley Lawyer Cites Alcohol, Childhood Abuse

The president, endorsing the investigations by the FBI and Congress, called Hastert "a father, teacher, coach who cares about the children of this country," who wants "all the facts to come out" while protecting the young people in the page program.

Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman offered an endorsement and rejected calls for Hastert to resign. "I support the speaker," he said in a telephone interview from California. "He's a good man. He's taken a very serious situation incredibly seriously and I think we need to figure out everything about this, including whether prosecution is warranted."

Republican strategists, worried about how the scandal will affect GOP candidates in the Nov. 7 midterm elections, said they hope Bush's public comments will help quell anger among conservatives about how the leadership has handled the matter.

"A loss has already taken place, and I don't think you can get that back," said one strategist, who asked not to be identified in order to speak candidly about the party's problems. "It's damage control and picking up the pieces from here. The president doing this today can be helpful."

A source close to Hastert said he thinks the speaker and the party at large are pulling past the worst of the damage. "The speaker is hearing from [GOP] members that we're all in this together," said the source, who would discuss the conversations only on background.

ABC News, which first reported the graphic instant messages, posted a new electronic exchange yesterday in which Foley allegedly had simulated sex with a former page during a 15-minute House vote in 2003.

Debates raged on the Web and elsewhere over the degree to which closeted and open gays in Washington knew of Foley's interest in teenage boys, and whether such knowledge extended to wider circles. Former Capitol Police chief Terrance W. Gainer said: "During my four years [as chief], I was totally unaware of any such allegation. And had I been, I would have opened a case."

One congressional source, meanwhile, said the FBI inquiry could put legislators in an awkward position if tips prompt agents to seek computer records or other items from lawmakers' offices. Five months ago, many House members protested an FBI raid on the office of Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-La.) as part of a public corruption investigation.

In his late-afternoon news conference, Roth said Foley "does not blame the trauma he sustained as a young adolescent for his totally inappropriate e-mails and IMs," or instant messages. "He continues to offer no excuse whatsoever for his conduct."

He said Foley "kept his shame to himself for almost 40 years. Specifically, Mark has asked that you be told that between the ages of 13 and 15 he was molested by a clergyman." Roth declined to name the clergyman's religion.

A coalition of conservative, pro-family groups issued a statement expressing concern that House leaders had not moved aggressively when first informed about the e-mail between Foley and the Louisiana youth.

The groups' leaders said they are concerned that the "integrity of the conservative majority has given way to political correctness, trading the virtues of decency and respect for that of tolerance and diversity." The statement stopped short of joining in the calls for Hastert to step aside and did not mention anyone from either party by name.

Staff writers Allan Lengel, Dan Eggen, Mary Beth Sheridan and Sari Horwitz contributed to this report.