CBS News had to delete its post on former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert’s death after being bullied on X.
The original version of their post, which announced Hastert’s death on Monday, was determined to have “missed the mark” pretty spectacularly. So much so that it received a community note and was quickly deleted.
Look:
CBS deleted their Dennis Hastert tweet https://t.co/GPLF0iDcYi
— PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes) October 6, 2026
“Former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, who represented Illinois for two decades in Congress and was jailed for violating banking laws, has died,” the post read.
While technically correct, the community note addressed the elephant in the room – the sinister allegations those banking violations revealed.
“Banking violations revealed accusations he had sexually abused teenagers while coaching wrestling at a suburban Chicago high school,” it explained.
The outlet would go on to publish a new post that added a little bit more about Hastert’s sordid past.
Look:
Dennis Hastert, the disgraced former GOP Speaker of the House, died earlier today at 84.
A prior version of this post stated that Hastert was jailed for violating banking laws. That post missed the mark. Hastert was jailed on charges related to his concealment of hush money payments made to cover up sexual abuse. https://t.co/008WGt1wPR
— CBS News (@CBSNews) October 5, 2026
“Dennis Hastert, the disgraced former GOP Speaker of the House, died earlier today at 84. A prior version of this post stated that Hastert was jailed for violating banking laws. That post missed the mark. Hastert was jailed on charges related to his concealment of hush money payments made to cover up sexual abuse,” the caption reads.
The story itself goes into more detail about the claims against him:
Both the longest-serving Republican House speaker and the highest-ranking elected U.S. official to serve a prison sentence, Hastert’s stunning fall from grace came in 2016, when he was sentenced to 15 months in prison on charges related to his concealment of hush money payments made to cover up his sexual abuse of teenage boys during his time as a high school wrestling coach.
Kendall County Coroner Jacquie Purcell confirmed Monday that Hastert died at his home over the weekend due to natural causes. No further details were given.
X users reacted:
This new post still hides the fact he was a pedophile rapist. Still covering up for the Epstein class CBS News pic.twitter.com/1vYvqaNisi
— Marty Golingan (@mgolingan1) October 5, 2026
Seems no one at CBS News understands how “news” works so I’ll just leave this here pic.twitter.com/T7XeqBGXDm
— lspear (@lspear412) October 5, 2026
Missed the mark??? JFC he was a PEDOPHILE pic.twitter.com/agxjBdHGVU
— Ms. M @msmalarkey24.bsky (@MsMalarkey24) October 6, 2026
Missed the mark? It’s like if you described Ted Bundy as the King of Rideshare. pic.twitter.com/iI3TCWCqk2
— Jimmy Daring (@ManOfSteal17) October 6, 2026
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
Sierra Marlee is a millennial whose hunger for the truth in a world of fake news has led her to write. Marlee also contributes to BizPac Review.
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