Bush Calls Foley's Conduct Disgusting

House Speaker Dennis Hastert walks away from the media after answering questions Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2006, in Aurora, Ill. Hastert said Tuesday he'll dismiss anyone on his staff found to have covered up concerns about ex-Rep. Mark Foley's approaches to former pages. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green) (M. Spencer Green - AP)

The contradiction between the staff aides is almost outdone by Hastert's conflicts with statements by two members of his leadership team: Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, and the House Republican campaign chairman, Rep. Tom Reynolds, R-N.Y.

Longtime conservative leader Paul Weyrich said Tuesday that Hastert had assured him that Boehner was wrong when he said that he had told Hastert months ago about the page problem with Foley.

"As to Congressman Thomas M. Reynolds, the speaker said, 'If he had mentioned this problem to me, I surely would have taken notice,'" Weyrich said in an e-mailed account of a phone conversation with Hastert.

Weyrich quoted Hastert as saying that Reynolds often came to him with numerous requests to help incumbents in trouble. "The speaker said he signs off on the majority of requests and only listens with one ear because the requests are repetitive," Weyrich said.

"Did Reynolds during such a session drop the bombshell about Foley in the speaker's lap without the speaker's comprehending what was being told to him? 'That is possible but unlikely,' the speaker said. In any case, he has absolutely no recollection," Weyrich said.

Boehner's spokesman, Kevin Madden, said slightly different accounts were not surprising because the events took place four months ago.

A spokesman for Hastert had no comment. A Reynolds spokesman, L.D. Platt, said Hastert had already said he didn't recall the conversation.

The FBI, trying to determine whether any crimes were committed, on Tuesday questioned a former page in Oklahoma City who received salacious messages from Foley.

Former page Jordan Edmund and his attorney, Stephen Jones, met with agents for 2 1/2 hours.

Retiring Rep. Jim Kolbe of Arizona, the only openly gay Republican House member, pushed the timeline on Foley's e-mails back to possibly 2001, the earliest year in the timetable.

Recounting his actions, Kolbe said a former page contacted his office to report receiving e-mails from Foley that made him uncomfortable. "I was not shown the content of the messages and was not told they were sexually explicit. It was my recommendation that this complaint be passed along to Rep. Foley's office and the clerk who supervised the page program. This was done promptly," he said.

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Associated Press writers Andrew Taylor and Dennis Conrad in Washington and Shannon Dininny in Yakima, Wash., contributed to this story.