On the October 5 edition of CNN's American Morning, congressional correspondent Dana Bash uncritically reported House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert's (R-IL) unsubstantiated claim that Democrats were behind the revelations about former Republican Rep. Mark Foley (FL). In doing so, Bash ignored a new report in The Hill that a House Republican aide was responsible for giving Foley's emails to the media.

Hastert, according to Bash, “stepped up a charge that he has been making in the past couple of days that Democrats were behind the timing of all this. He said that his opponents, funded by George Soros, even aligned with Bill Clinton, held on to this to make a bigger splash right before the election.”

In an article dated October 5, but available online the night before, The Hill reported:

The source who in July gave news media Rep. Mark Foley's (R-Fla.) suspect e-mails to a former House page says the documents came to him from a House GOP aide.

That aide has been a registered Republican since becoming eligible to vote, said the source, who showed The Hill public records supporting his claim.

The same source, who acted as an intermediary between the aide-turned-whistleblower and several news outlets, says the person who shared the documents is no longer employed in the House.

But the whistleblower was a paid GOP staffer when the documents were first given to the media.

From the October 5 edition of CNN's American Morning:

BASH: Now, the speaker told the Chicago Tribune last night that he has no intention of resigning and tried to make the case -- tried to rally his angry base by saying that's exactly what Democrats want, for him to fold his tent so they can sweep the House. He also stepped up a charge that he has been making in the past couple of days that Democrats were behind the timing of all this. He said that his opponents, funded by George Soros, even aligned with Bill Clinton, held on to this to make a bigger splash right before the election.