I ASKED IF THEY HAD SOMETHING TO HIDE. THE ANSWER JUST MAY BE YES:

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dennis Hastert, is under investigation by the FBI, which is seeking to determine his role in an ongoing public corruption probe into members of Congress, ABC News has learned from high level government sources.

Federal officials say the information implicating Hastert was developed from convicted lobbyists who are now cooperating with the government.

Perhaps the bizarre bipartisan reaction to the Jefferson search — and the lack of cooperation preceding it — stems from the fact that a lot of people in both parties have exposure here. And certainly if the Speaker is under investigation it’s easy to see why the FBI might be reluctant to rely further on the Sergeant at Arms and the Capitol Police.

UPDATE: I’ve got an email from Krista Cole in the House saying that the DOJ denies that Hastert is under investigation. The release, in its entirety: “Speaker Hastert is not under investigation by the Justice Department.”

Nothing on the DOJ webpage yet, though. But here’s a Reuters story.

MORE: Reader Chris Quincy emails: “One wonders if ABC would’ve sourced this more carefully if it were Nancy Pelosi.” It’s a rather surprising error. I wonder who ABC’s sources were?

But hey, they weren’t so much wrong as just too far ahead of the news cycle.

STILL MORE: Krista Cole emails the following statement from Dennis Hastert’s office: “The ABC News report is absolutely untrue. As confirmed by the Justice Department, ‘Speaker Hastert is not under investigation by the Justice Department.’ We are demanding a full retraction of the ABC News story. The Speaker’s earlier statement issued today accurately reflects the facts regarding this matter.”

Of course, if Hastert isn’t under investigation, we’re back to the question of why he’s waging an asinine crusade against the enforcement of laws against Congressional corruption.

MORE STILL: On that topic, Eugene Volokh writes: “I confess I’m pretty puzzled by Speaker Hastert’s theory here.”

EVEN MORE: More anti-Congress backlash. These guys really don’t understand how they come across.

AND FINALLY: ABC News is standing by the story.