As former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert was released early from prison on Tuesday, two months shy of his 15-month sentence, one his sexual molestation victims spoke out to CNN. Scott Cross, a former Republican legislator himself, explained to CNN’s Jake Tapper that most victims have a tendency to want to “bury” traumatic experiences, and thus “I didn’t say anything for 37 years... and this is just a burden that you carry: you think about shame, guilt, embarrassment, humiliation.” He added: “The Hasterts of the world have so much trust and respect over you that you really have a hard time processing and understanding it.” Cross additionally said that he is “troubled” by the former speaker’s early release from his financial crimes sentence; and that he has since heard from other Hastert abuse victims, noticing “a common theme in kind of how he went about his abuse.”
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