Former U.S. House Speaker Hastert dies at 84

U.S. officials said today that former House Speaker Hastert had died at the age of 84. During his lifetime, he admitted to sexually abusing teenagers he taught, and his political career ended in disgrace.

Agence France-Presse reported that the Kendall County Coroner's Office in Illinois, USA, stated that Dennis Hastert passed away while receiving hospice care at home on the evening of the 3rd.

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Hastert served as Speaker of the House of Representatives for eight years from 1999 to 2007. He was the longest-serving Republican speaker in history and was once one of the most powerful politicians in Washington. This position puts him second in the line of presidential succession.

But years after he left Congress, his reputation plummeted after a federal investigation into questionable bank withdrawals found that the payments were intended to cover up sexual assault while he was a high school wrestling coach.

Hastert pleaded guilty in 2015 to deliberately splitting cash withdrawals related to a $3.5 million agreement he made with one of his victims to avoid bank reporting requirements.

When he was sentenced the following year, Hastert admitted for the first time that he had sexually assaulted male students while he was a teacher and wrestling coach at Yorkville High School in Illinois from the 1960s to the early 1980s.

"They had a trust in me and I took advantage of them," Hastert told the court at the time.

Prosecutors detailed at the time that at least five boys, some as young as 14, had been sexually assaulted.

Because the statute of limitations for sex crimes had expired, Hastert was not prosecuted for related sex crimes and was eventually sentenced to 15 months in federal prison for violating banking regulations.