FORMER US HOUSE SPEAKER DENNIS HASTERT DIES AT HOME

Dennis Hastert, the longest-serving Republican speaker of the US House of Representatives, has died at his home in Illinois, officials said on Monday. Jacquie Purcell, the Kendall County Coroner, confirmed he died of natural causes over the weekend. Hastert led the House from January 1999 to January 2007, spanning the presidencies of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. In 2016 he was sentenced to 15 months in prison for banking violations linked to hush-money payments made to a victim of sexual abuse, revelations that surfaced eight years after he left Congress.

Hastert worked as a civics teacher and wrestling coach at Yorkville Secondary school, outside Chicago, between the 1960s and early 1980s. Prosecutors said he abused five teenagers, described in court filings as young as 14, in conduct that included touching minors' genitals and oral sex with a minor. Because the statute of limitations had expired, he could not be charged over the assaults directly, and instead pleaded guilty to structuring cash withdrawals to conceal payments intended to keep a victim silent. Sentencing him, US District Judge Thomas Durkin told the court: "The defendant is a serial child molester," adding that "some actions can obliterate a lifetime of good works."

Hastert, known as "Denny", was regarded by some as an affable Midwestern conservative during his time as speaker, one of the most senior political positions in the United States. Accounts of his leadership differ, with some describing his style as having deepened partisan divisions in Congress. His standing in American politics was transformed by the later disclosures of abuse, which overshadowed his legislative record. Officials had not confirmed details of funeral arrangements at the time his death was announced.