Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert dies at 84
In short
Dennis Hastert, the longest-serving Republican speaker of the U.S. House, died over the weekend at his home at age 84, the Kendall County, Illinois, coroner said. Coroner Jacquie Purcell said the cause was natural causes. Hastert was speaker from 1999 to 2007 and later served more than a year in prison after pleading guilty in 2015 to violating banking laws in a scheme to conceal hush-money payments; he never faced sexual abuse charges because the statute of limitations had expired.
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Dennis Hastert, the longest-serving Republican speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, died over the weekend at his home, the Kendall County, Illinois, coroner said Monday. He was 84. Coroner Jacquie Purcell confirmed the death and said the cause was natural causes, according to CBS News, NBC News and The Hill. The coroner's office said in a Monday statement that “no further information is available for release.” [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
Outlets differed on the timing. Axios reported that Hastert died Saturday at his home in Plano, Illinois, while under hospice care, citing the coroner's office, and PBS NewsHour, citing Purcell, also said he died Saturday. Fox News said he died Monday, while most other outlets, including the New York Post and UPI, said only that he died over the weekend. [ 8 , 9 , 14 , 18 , 19 ]
Hastert represented Illinois in the House from 1987 to 2007 and became speaker in 1999 after Newt Gingrich stepped down, taking the gavel as a compromise candidate and earning the label “accidental speaker,” Axios and CBS News reported. As speaker he helped enact two rounds of tax cuts and a major expansion of Medicare prescription drug benefits under President George W. Bush, and he was in power during the Sept. 11 attacks and the launch of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, The Hill reported. He left the speakership in 2007 when Democrats took the chamber, and Axios reported he later worked as a highly paid lobbyist until his indictment. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 6 , 14 , 18 ]
In 2015, Hastert was accused of evading banking regulations as part of a plan to pay hush money to conceal what prosecutors initially described as unspecified “prior misconduct,” and he pleaded guilty that year, according to PBS NewsHour and Axios. Prosecutors later said the payments covered sexual abuse of teenage boys on his wrestling team in Yorkville, Illinois, west of Chicago, according to PBS NewsHour, which said the abuse spanned his 1965-1981 coaching career, and NBC News, which said the allegations involved four teenagers ages 14 to 17. He never faced sexual abuse charges because the statute of limitations had expired, NBC News reported. He was sentenced in 2016 to 15 months in prison and released in 2017, according to The Hill and NBC News. U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin called him a “serial child molester,” and Hastert said at sentencing that he was “deeply ashamed” and that “I'm the only one responsible,” NBC News reported. [ 1 , 3 , 14 , 18 ]
Amid the revelations, then-Speaker Paul Ryan removed Hastert's portrait from the Speaker's lobby of the U.S. Capitol, The Hill reported. Axios reported that Congress still conducts business under an unwritten rule named after him, under which the speaker brings a bill to the floor only if a majority of the majority party supports it. Hastert is survived by his wife, Jean Kahl, and their two sons, Axios reported. [ 1 , 14 ]
Why it matters
Hastert was, by several outlets' account, the highest-ranking elected U.S. official to serve prison time, and as the longest-serving Republican speaker he helped carry much of President George W. Bush's legislative agenda into law. Axios reported that Congress still conducts business under an unwritten practice named after him, the Hastert Rule, under which a speaker brings a bill to the floor only if a majority of the majority party supports it.
Key facts
- Dennis Hastert, the longest-serving Republican speaker of the U.S. House, died at his home over the weekend at age 84, according to Kendall County Coroner Jacquie Purcell. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 6 , 18 ]
- The coroner's office said he died of natural causes and that no further information was available. [ 3 , 14 ]
- Hastert served in the House from 1987 to 2007 and was speaker from 1999 to 2007, longer than any other Republican. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 6 ]
- In 2015 he pleaded guilty to violating banking laws in a scheme to conceal hush-money payments, and in 2016 he was sentenced to 15 months in prison. [ 1 , 3 , 14 , 18 ]
- He never faced sexual abuse charges because the statute of limitations had expired, though prosecutors said the abuse involved teenage boys on his wrestling team in Yorkville, Illinois. [ 1 , 3 , 18 ]
- Axios reported that Hastert died at his home in Plano, Illinois, while under hospice care, citing the coroner's office. [ 14 ]
- Axios reported that after leaving Congress he worked as a highly paid lobbyist until his indictment. [ 14 ]
Confirmed by several sources
- Dennis Hastert died at age 84. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 6 , 18 ]
- Kendall County Coroner Jacquie Purcell and her office confirmed the death at his home and attributed it to natural causes. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 6 , 18 ]
- Hastert was the longest-serving Republican speaker of the House, serving from 1999 to 2007. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 6 ]
- He served in the House from 1987 to 2007, representing Illinois. [ 2 , 3 ]
- He pleaded guilty in 2015 to banking-law violations tied to concealing hush-money payments and was sentenced in 2016 to 15 months in prison. [ 1 , 3 , 14 ]
- He never faced sexual abuse charges because the statute of limitations had expired. [ 1 , 3 ]
Still unclear
- The exact day of death. Axios and PBS NewsHour, both citing the coroner, say he died Saturday; Fox News says he died Monday; most other outlets say only that he died over the weekend.
- Whether Hastert admitted the abuse. The New York Times and the New York Post describe an admission of abusing teenage boys, while NBC News and PBS NewsHour report that he was never charged with sexual abuse because the statute of limitations had expired and that prosecutors described the allegations.
- When his congressional service ended. The Hill says he announced he would not seek reelection in 2008, while CBS News and NBC News say his House service ran from 1987 to 2007.
- Whether he was receiving hospice care. Stated by Axios and PBS NewsHour, both citing the coroner; no other outlet mentions it.
What local media are saying
Timeline, local time
- Hastert dies at his home over the weekend; Axios and PBS NewsHour, both citing the coroner, say he died Saturday, while Fox News says Monday. [ 8 , 14 , 18 ]
- The Hill reports Hastert died at his home of natural causes, citing Kendall County Coroner Jacquie Purcell. [ 1 ]
- CBS News reports the coroner confirmed Monday that Hastert died over the weekend. [ 2 ]
- The Kendall County Coroner's Office says in a Monday statement that Hastert died at his home of natural causes and that no further information is available. [ 3 ]
- Axios reports, citing the coroner's office, that Hastert died Saturday at his home in Plano, Illinois, while under hospice care. [ 14 ]
- PBS NewsHour reports Hastert died Saturday of natural causes while receiving hospice care. [ 18 ]