Hastert agrees to plead guilty
Former House leader may face prison in hush money case
Former House speaker Dennis Hastert intends to plead guilty to criminal charges as part of an agreement to resolve a case in which he is accused of lying to the FBI about making illegally structured bank transactions to pay hush money to someone he wronged years ago, prosecutors and his attorneys said in court Thursday.
Under the plea agreement, Hastert, 73, may be able to keep further embarrassing details about his past out of the public eye, but it could mean serving time in prison.
Lawyers confirmed Thursday in court that Hastert will plead guilty Oct. 28.
Joseph Fitzpatrick, a spokesman for the office of the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, said “principles of an agreement” had been reached, but he did not reveal which charges Hastert would admit to or whether the agreement includes prison time. Attorneys are to deliver a draft of the plea agreement to Judge Thomas Durkin by Monday.
Hastert, the longest-serving GOP speaker in history, was indicted in May on charges that he lied to the FBI and made hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegally structured bank payments as hush money for unspecified past misconduct to someone identified only as “Individual A.” Prosecutors said he agreed to make a total of $3.5 million in payments before he was indicted.
Hastert, who served 20 years in Congress that included nearly eight years as speaker of the House, taught and coached at Yorkville High School from 1965 to 1981.
Though the indictment doesn’t detail the wrongdoing against the unnamed individual, law enforcement officials told USA TODAY that the former lawmaker made the payments to conceal sexual misconduct committed against a male student when he worked at Yorkville High. The officials, who were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Since the indictment was unsealed, Hastert’s lead attorney, Thomas Green, complained to the judge that leaks to the media about the nature of his alleged misconduct have put an unfair burden on his client.
Steven Block, the assistant U.S. attorney who is the lead prosecutor in the case, denied in court that his office was behind the leaks.
Hastert, who has appeared in court only once since the court unsealed the indictment more than four months ago, did not appear at Thursday’s hearing. He has yet to publicly address either the structuring charges or sexual misconduct allegations.