Former Speaker Dennis Hastert Passes Away at 84
Former Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert, has died at the age of 84, according to a report from CBS News on Monday. The Kendal County Coroner in Illinois, Jacquie Purcell, confirmed that Hastert passed away from natural causes at his home over the weekend. Hastert had an extensive political career, having served in the Illinois legislature and representing the state in Congress for two decades. He is noted for being the longest-serving Republican speaker in U.S. history.
The details of his life were marked by both triumph and a dramatic downfall. In 2016, Hastert was sentenced to 15 months in prison related to hush money payments he made to cover up his sexual abuse of teenage boys while he worked as a high school wrestling coach. This made him the highest-ranking elected U.S. official to serve a prison sentence.
Previously, Hastert was featured in a 2011 Politico report about allegations of insider trading involving several political figures, with a focus on research by Peter Schweizer, who leads the Government Accountability Institute. Schweizer and his team highlighted unethical practices by lawmakers, labeling them as “honest graft”—a term he deemed offensive and wrong.
In his well-known book, Throw Them All Out, Schweizer discussed how Hastert transitioned from someone with modest financial beginnings to a millionaire through political dealings that enhanced the value of his land in Illinois.
According to CBS, Hastert had pleaded guilty in 2015 to breaching banking laws after making large cash withdrawals meant for one of his victims. He admitted to sexually abusing boys during his tenure as their wrestling coach during court proceedings.
At sentencing, U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Durkin stated that Hastert was a “serial child molester” and handed him a 15-month sentence, along with a $250,000 fine and a requirement to enroll in a sex offender program. Notably, he was not charged with sex-related crimes due to expired statutes of limitations. Hastert ultimately served 13 months in federal prison before his release in 2017.
