Disgraced former House Speaker Dennis Hastert dies at 84

Former Rep.Dennis Hastert, who served eight years as speaker of the House — longer than any Republican in U.S.

history — and then spent more than a year in prison after he left Congress for scheming to cover up sexual abuse allegations, died over the weekend, according to Kendall County Coroner’s Office in Illinois.He was 84 years old.“Kendall County Coroner Jacquie Purcell confirmed that over the weekend, former US House Speaker John Dennis Hastert passed away at his home due to natural causes,” the coroner’s office said in a Monday statement.“No further information is available for release.”Hastert, of Illinois, served in the House from 1987 to 2007 and became speaker in 1999.

He relinquished the speaker's gavel in 2007 after Democrats took control of the chamber, then announced his resignation from Congress before the end of his 11th term.Nearly a decade later, Hastert faced allegations that he molested four teenagers, ages 14 to 17, in the 1970s, when he was a wrestling coach at Yorkville High School in Illinois.In 2015, Hastert pleaded guilty to structuring cash withdrawals to hide hush-money payments to one of his sexual-abuse accusers.The following year he was sentenced to 15 months in prison.

He was released from a prison hospital in 2017, several weeks ahead of schedule.Former Speaker Dennis Hastert departs federal court in Chicago on April 27, 2016, after being sentenced to more than a year in prison in a hush-money case.Charles Rex Arbogast / APAt his sentencing hearing in 2016, Hastert said he was “deeply ashamed” of his actions, adding, “I’m the only one responsible,” NBC Chicago reported.“I know I am here because I mistreated some of the athletes I coached,” he said.“The thing I want to do is say I’m sorry.”For SubscribersFOR SUBSCRIBERSFamily of Epstein victim appears in campaign attack ad in ColoradoFOR SUBSCRIBERSFlying through ‘fire clouds’: A NASA project is studying the weather wildfires createFOR SUBSC...