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Dennis Hastert, Former House Speaker, Dies at 84

  • Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert died at age 84 at his home over the weekend, Kendall County Coroner Jacquie Purcell confirmed Monday. The death resulted from natural causes.
  • Elected to represent Illinois' 14th district in 1986, Hastert rose to become the longest-serving Republican House Speaker, presiding over the chamber from January 1999 until January 2007. He succeeded Newt Gingrich and preceded Nancy Pelosi.
  • Eight years after leaving Congress, investigators uncovered that Hastert paid $3.5 million to conceal sexual abuse of students while coaching at Yorkville High School between the 1960s and early 1980s. Prosecutors alleged he abused at least four teenagers.
  • U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Durkin sentenced Hastert to 15 months in prison and a $250,000 fine in April 2016 for violating banking laws. Durkin called him a "serial child molester" during sentencing, citing the abuse that destroyed his legacy.
  • Hastert became the highest-ranking elected U.S. official ever to serve a federal prison sentence, serving 13 months before release in 2017. He is survived by his wife, Jean, and two adult sons, Joshua and Ethan.
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He was once one of the most powerful men in Washington, and years later he had to go to prison because of an affair surrounding the abuse of jacks: former chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives, Dennis Hastert, is dead. The Republican died at the age of 84 in his home in the Greater Chicago area.

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Politico broke the news in Arlington County, United States on Monday, October 5, 2026.
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