Foley Now In Deeper Trouble

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


Congressman Mark Foley, already in enough trouble for sending sexually explicit and other inappropriate messages to adolescent Congressional pages, is now looking at a more serious charge. It turns out that Foley made repeated attempts to get a page to rendevous with him at night.

“I would drive a few miles for a hot stud like you,” Foley said in one message. This text, according to the FBI, could constitute what it takes for the government to make a federal charge of soliciting for sex with a minor on the Internet against the former Congressman. There is also at least one message that indicates that Foley met with at least one page in San Diego, though the nature of the meeting is not known.

Here is the text of one message:

Maf54: I want to see you
Teen: Like I said not til feb…then we will go to dinner
Maf54: and then what happens
Teen: we eat…we drink…who knows…hang out…late into the night
Maf54: and
Teen: I dunno
Maf54: dunno what
Teen: hmmm I have the feeling that you are fishing here…im not sure what I would be comfortable with…well see

Foley, former co-chair of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, has checked into a rehab facility in order to deal with his alcoholism. He once said, “We track library books better than we do sexual predators.” Apparently, Foley was counting on a continuation of that poor tracking.

BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And the essential ingredient that makes all this possible? Readers like you.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to devote the time and resources to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And the essential ingredient that makes all this possible? Readers like you.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to devote the time and resources to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate