Former U.S. House Speaker admits evading banking laws
CHICAGO — Dennis Hastert pleaded guilty Wednesday to evading banking laws in a hushmoney scheme, averting a trial by agreeing to a deal with federal prosecutors that recommends the former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives serve no more than six months in prison.
The plea helped seal the downfall of a man who rose from obscurity in rural Illinois to the nation’s third-highest political office. During his eight years as speaker, Hastert was second in the line of succession to the presidency.
Before accepting the plea, the 73-year-old Republican was warned by the judge that he could go beyond the recommendation and give Hastert up to five years behind bars when he is sentenced in February. U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Durkin could also decide to put Hastert on probation or home confinement.
As he stepped to the lectern to answer a series of questions, he spoke in a voice so soft that the judge at one point told him to speak up.
The hearing revealed no new details about why Hastert agreed to pay $3.5 million to an unidentified person.
The indictment says the payments were meant to conceal past misconduct by Hastert against that person, but it does not explain the nature of the wrongdoing.
The Associated Press and other media, citing anonymous sources, have reported that the payments were meant to hide claims of sexual misconduct from decades ago.