Dennis Hastert, disgraced former House speaker, dies at 84

Washington — Former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, who represented Illinois for two decades in Congress and was jailed for violating banking laws, has died, a coroner in Illinois said. He was 84.

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. 

Born in 1942 in Aurora, Illinois, Hastert grew up in a farming community. He went on to graduate from Wheaton College, where he received a degree in economics, before earning a teaching degree from Northern Illinois University. Hastert married Jean Kahl in 1973. The couple had two sons. 

Hastert worked as a teacher in Illinois for 16 years while coaching wrestling. In 1976, he was named Illinois Coach of the Year. Four decades later, he would admit to sexually abusing boys during his time as a coach. 

Hastert then served in the Illinois legislature, before going on to be elected to represent Illinois’ 14th district in the U.S. House in 1986.

Hastert served in Congress from 1987 to 2007. With the mentorship of House Minority Leader Robert. H Michel, Hastert’s profile grew among the GOP ranks, and in 1995, he became chief deputy whip. When former House Speaker Newt Gingrich stepped down in 1998, Hastert became the conference’s second choice for his successor, following Rep. Bob Livingston’s decision to step aside amid a scandal over extra-marital affairs.

Known as the “accidental speaker,” Hastert would go on to become the longest-serving Republican speaker in history. During his tenure, Hastert, who had been a vocal critic of the Clinton administration, worked closely with former President George W. Bush on his policy agenda. 

Among Hastert’s most enduring imprints on the chamber is the rule that bears his name, which informally requires that the House vote only on measures that have a majority of support from the majority party in the chamber. The rule, which has faced criticism for making Congress more partisan, has posed hurdles for Republican House leadership in recent years.

After House Republicans lost the majority in the 2006 midterm elections, Hastert opted to leave leadership, before resigning from Congress in 2007.

Hastert became a lobbyist and consultant after leaving office. In 2013, the FBI and IRS began investigating the former speaker surrounding suspicions that he was illegally structuring bank transactions. In 2015, Hastert was indicted for structuring bank transactions to evade reporting requirements and making false statements to the FBI. 

Hastert pleaded guilty in 2015 to violating banking laws by making repeated large cash withdrawals, which were revealed to be going to one of his victims. During the hearing, Hastert admitted to sexually abusing boys during his time as their wrestling coach. At his sentencing, U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Durkin called Hastert a “serial child molester,” and sentenced him to 15 months in prison, a $250,000 fine and ordered him to participate in a sex offender program. Hastert was not charged with sex-related crimes, as the statutes of limitations had expired. He served 13 months in a federal prison before his release in 2017. 

Zachary Farden, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, said after Hastert was sentenced that there are “no winners in any of this” 

“Mr. Hastert’s legend and legacy are gone, and in its place are a broken, humiliated man,” Farden said. “That is how it should be.”