Washington- Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, who represented Illinois in Congress for two decades and was imprisoned for violating banking laws, has died, an Illinois coroner said. He was 84 years old.
Both the longest-serving Republican House Speaker and the highest-ranking American elected official to serve a prison sentence, Hastert fell from grace in 2016, when he was sentenced to 15 months in prison for charges related to his concealment of secret payments made to cover up his sexual abuse of teenage boys while he was a high school wrestling coach.
Kendall County Coroner Jacquie Purcell confirmed Monday that Hastert died at his home over the weekend of natural causes. No further details were given.
Born in 1942 in Aurora, Illinois, Hastert grew up in a agricultural community. He then earned his degree in economics at Wheaton College, before earning a teaching degree at 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 also coaching wrestling. In 1976, he was named Illinois Coach of the Year. Four decades later, he would admit to sexually abusing boys while he was a coach.
Hastert later served in the Illinois Legislature, before being elected to represent Illinois’ 14th District in the United States House of Representatives in 1986.
Hastert served in Congress from 1987 to 2007. With the mentorship of House Minority Leader Robert. H Michel, Hastert’s profile grew within the GOP ranks, and in 1995 he became chief deputy whip. When former House Speaker Newt Gingrich resigned in 1998, Hastert became the conference’s second choice for his successor, following Rep. Bob Livingston’s decision to step down amid a scandal over extramarital affairs.
Known as “the accidental speaker,” Hastert would 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.
One of Hastert’s most lasting imprints on the House is the rule that bears his name, which informally requires the House to vote only on measures with majority support of the majority party in the House. The rule, which has been criticized for making Congress more partisan, has posed obstacles to Republican leadership of the House in recent years.
After House Republicans lost their majority in the 2006 midterm elections, Hastert opted to step down from the leadership, eventually resigning from Congress in 2007.
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Hastert became a lobbyist and consultant after leaving office. In 2013, the FBI and IRS began investigating the former speaker on suspicion of illegally structuring bank transactions. In 2015, Hastert was charged for structuring bank transactions to evade reporting requirements and making false reports to the FBI.
Hastert pleaded guilty in 2015 for violating banking laws by repeatedly making large cash withdrawals, which turned out to be intended for one of his victims. During the hearing, Hastert admitted to sexually abusing boys while he was a 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, fined him $250,000 and ordered him to participate in a sex offender program. Hastert was not charged with sex crimes as the statute of limitations had expired. He served 13 months in federal prison before his release in 2017.
Zachary Farden, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, said after Hastert’s sentencing that there were “no winners in this.”
“Mr. Hastert’s legend and legacy are gone and replaced by a broken and humiliated man,” Farden said. “This is how it should be.”
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