CHICAGO—In his 2004 memoir, former US House Speaker Dennis Hastert claimed he was never a good liar.
“Maybe I wasn’t smart enough,” Hastert wrote. “I could never get away with it, so I made up my mind as a kid to tell the truth and pay the consequences.”
It took nearly 40 years, but in a packed Chicago courtroom on Wednesday, Hastert finally, reluctantly, admitted to his dark past.
In a raspy voice, Hastert, once the third most powerful elected leader in the country, acknowledged he sexually abused several boys he coached on the Yorkville High School wrestling team in the 1960s and 1970s.
Moments later, Hastert, 74, learned the consequences for his decades of dishonesty when a federal judge sentenced him to 15 months in prison.
In handing down the sentence, US District Judge Thomas M. Durkin repeatedly slammed Hastert as a “serial child molester” who not only violated the trust of the boys he’d coached but also tried to mislead federal authorities years later by claiming he was being blackmailed by one of his victims.
“Nothing is more stunning than having the words ‘serial child molester’ and ‘speaker of the House’ in the same sentence,” Durkin said.
Hastert, dressed in a dark gray suit and appearing much thinner than his last court appearance in October, showed no outward reaction to the sentence, which was more than twice the high end of what prosecutors had sought. As spectators filed from the courtroom, Hastert remained motionless, not speaking to anyone. He was seated in a wheelchair and outfitted with a leg brace due to recent health issues.
The two-hour sentencing hearing capped a stunning downfall for Hastert, who rose from humble beginnings as a schoolteacher and coach to become the longest-serving Republican House speaker in US history, a powerhouse in Illinois politics who was revered in the small town of Kendall County he called home.
Dozens of reporters and spectators lined up to get a seat in Durkin’s 14th-floor courtroom, where two of Hastert’s accusers came forward to testify for the first time about his sexual misconduct.
Scott Cross, previously identified in court papers only as Individual D, went public with his account of how Hastert had sexually molested him in an otherwise empty locker room one afternoon in fall 1979 when he was a 17-year-old senior. Cross’s brother, Tom, a former longtime Illinois Republican House leader, had been a Hastert protegé.
Also testifying was Jolene Burdge, who recalled in poignant detail how her brother, Stephen Reinboldt, had spent years “running from the pain and turmoil” Hastert’s abuse had caused, afraid to speak out about it because he thought no one would believe him. When she had confronted Hastert about the abuse at her brother’s funeral in 1995, he treated her like an “insignificant annoyance,” she said.
“Now I stand here 20 years later with the truth on my side,” said Burdge, turning and looking directly at Hastert, who did not meet her gaze. “I hope I have been your worst nightmare.”
Hastert, who his lawyers said nearly died last year from a blood infection, sat in the wheelchair without expression for nearly the entire hearing, his mouth turned down and eyes only occasionally glancing across the room. When it came time for him to speak, he shook as he was helped to his feet by his attorneys and leaned heavily on a walker to approach the lectern at the front of the hushed courtroom.
Looking through eyeglasses at his written notes, the white-haired Hastert apologized for mistreating some of his athletes, but as in past apologies conveyed through his attorneys, he didn’t specify what it was he’d done.
“For 11 months, I have been struggling to come to terms with events that occurred almost four decades ago,” Hastert said. “I wanted to apologize for the boys I mistreated when I was their coach. What I did was wrong, and I regret it. They looked to me, and I took advantage of them.”
After apologizing to his family, supporters, constituents and the government, Hastert wrapped up his remarks by thanking Durkin for listening. But the judge didn’t let him off the hook. As Hastert gathered his papers and moved to take a seat, Durkin said he had a few questions of his own.
“You said you mistreated athletes. Did you sexually abuse Mr. Cross?” Durkin asked.
“I…I don’t remember doing that, but I accept his statement,” Hastert said.
“Did you sexually abuse Victim B?” asked Durkin, referring to another former wrestler who accused Hastert of performing a sex act on him when he was 14.
“Yes,” Hastert replied quickly.
“Alright. And how about Mr. Reinboldt? Did you sexually abuse him?” the judge asked.
After Hastert replied, “That was a different situation,” Durkin said, “If you want to elaborate, now is the time to do it.”
Hastert conferred with his lawyer.
“I…I would accept Ms. Burdge’s statement,” he then said haltingly.
“So you did sexually abuse him?” Durkin asked.
“Yes,” Hastert replied.
Image credits: AP/Charles Rex Arbogast