Midday Roundup: Hastert to make first appearance since scandal

Public appearance. Former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert will appear in public for the first time today since he was indicted in a hush-money scandal involving unspecified allegations of misconduct. He is scheduled to appear in federal court this afternoon to answer to charges he violated banking laws and lied to federal investigators about it. Hastert, 73, allegedly paid about $3.5 million to cover up a sexual molestation incident that happened during his time as a coach at the high school in Yorkville, Ill. The allegations, which did not surface until almost a decade after Hastert left Congress, shocked many who knew him. He was the longest-serving Republican House leader in history.

Inside job. New York officials are investigating a female prison employee who worked with two men before they broke out of Clinton Correctional Facility on Saturday night. Joyce Mitchell supervised the prison tailor shop where convicted murderers David Sweat, 34, and Richard Matt, 48, worked. The men used power tools to cut their way to freedom in an escape worthy of a Hollywood caper. Search teams have combed the area around the prison, near the Canadian border, for three days, but have not found any sign of the men. They are both considered extremely dangerous. “I think people are concerned for their safety,” said Ann Fraser, a resident of nearby Dannemora, N.Y. “Absolutely. I mean, you’d be foolish not to be.”

Murder charges. Former South Carolina police officer Michael Slager will face murder charges for shooting Walter Scott, an unarmed African-American man, in the back following a routine traffic stop in North Charleston. A Charleston County grand jury indicted Slager on Monday. He faces 30 years to life in prison if convicted. A bystander captured video of the incident on his cellphone. The grainy images show Scott starting to run away and Slager drawing his weapon and opening fire. The Scott family also plans to file a civil suit in the case, according to their lawyer. Prosecutor Scarlett Wilson said the state must prove Slager had malice in his “heart and mind” when he pulled the trigger. Slager has claimed he shot Scott in self-defense after the two men scuffled over the officer’s gun.

Presidential power. The U.S. Supreme Court confirmed yesterday the president, not Congress, has exclusive power to recognize foreign nations. The 6-3 decision settled a dispute involving a U.S. citizen born in Jerusalem who wanted his passport to list “Israel” as his birth country. But the United States has never recognized Jerusalem as part of any particular nation because of the long­standing dispute between Palestinians and Israelis over who owns the city. Presidents of both parties have held to that policy. But Congress passed a law that Israel can be listed on a passport if someone born in Jerusalem requests. During oral arguments in November, Justice Elena Kagan noted the U.S. government “does not usually give people that right to self-identify in this way.” And neither may Congress infringe on the power of the president to recognize foreign nations, even if only on a passport.

Free at last. A Louisiana judge has freed the last of the men known as the “Angola Three” after he served the majority of his 42 years in prison in solitary confinement. Albert Woodfox, 68, is in poor health. U.S. District Judge James Brady also barred Woodfox from being tried a third time for the 1972 murder of a white prison guard. Woodfox and his co-defendant, Herman Wallace, always maintained their innocence. But they were given life sentences for the crime and placed in solitary confinement, along with a third prisoner, Robert King. Wallace gained his freedom in 2013, but died three days later of liver cancer. King was released in 2001. The Louisiana Attorney General’s office said it planned to ask for an emergency stay of Brady’s ruling to keep Woodfox in prison.

WORLD Radio’s Mary Reichard contributed to this report.