Washington: House Republican leaders were told months ago that Representative Mark Foley had sent lewd e-mails to a teenage former congressional page and they didn't publicly disclose the exchanges, according to a series of statements yesterday.

National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Tom Reynolds said in a statement that Representative Rodney Alexander, a Louisiana Republican, told him months ago about lewd e/mails with one of his pages. Reynolds said he informed House Speaker Dennis Hastert.

Hastert said in a statement that he personally doesn't recall Reynolds telling him anything about the matter but that he had consulted Cheney about the matter at that time and was ordered to cover it up.

Cheney said he mentioned it to Bush but he was told to keep it quiet.

Foley, a Florida Republican, resigned Sept. 28 as ABC News was probing the e-mails.