Dennis Hastert"We are hopeful that Mr. Hastert will be released from the hospital in the early part of the new year," Green said.
At the October 28 hearing where Hastert entered his plea, U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin asked him if he was in good health. The former politician from Illinois responded, "Considering I am 73 years old, yes."
According to the Chicago Tribune, there have been rumors about Hastert's hospitalization for several days. Last week, C. William Pollard, a Chicago area CEO who served on the board of what had been the J. Dennis Hastert economics center at Wheaton College, wrote a letter to the judge on behalf of his longtime friend, urging him to consider the congressman's years of service to his country as he determined a sentence.
"The prosecution of this case has been a very painful experience for him and his family," Pollard wrote in the letter, which was posted to the public court docket Wednesday "In light of his recent hospital stay, I would hope that probation in lieu of confinement would be considered in determining his sentence."
Another friend and political advisor, Dallas Ingemunson, told the Tribune the stroke was "mild" and that Hastert was upbeat in a recent phone call.
"I talked to him last week. He sounded OK on the phone," said Ingemunson.
Media reports indicate that Hastert's medical condition may delay his sentencing, scheduled for Feb. 29. His attorneys may wait until closer to that date to ask for a delay, depending on the former Speaker's health.
Former prosecutor Jeff Cramer told the Associated Press that judges frequently send ailing defendants to prisons with medical facilities. But he said that a defense argument for probation over prison may be more persuasive given Hastert's stroke.
At the time of the plea hearing, it was widely reported that Hastert might be facing six months in prison.
In October, Hastert pleaded guilty to withdrawing funds from several bank accounts in increments less than $10,000 to evade bank reporting rules. The money -- approximately $1.7 million -- was paid to someone from his Hastert's hometown of Yorkville, Ill., identified in federal documents only as "Individual A" but widely reported to be a former student at Yorkville High School. The school, located about 50 miles southwest of Chicago, is where Hastert taught history and coached wrestling from 1965 to 1981 before entering politics.
Born not far from Yorkville in Plano, Ill. in 1942, Hastert was a member of the wrestling team at Wheaton College, a private, four-year school in the western suburbs of Chicago, in the early 1960s. He then taught government and history at Yorkville High, and coached wrestling, taking his team to an Illinois state championship in 1976. His coaching record also included three runners-up and a third place finish, according to his National Wrestling Hall of Fame biography, where he was inducted as an Outstanding American in 2000. Four years earlier, Hastert was honored for his efforts and contributions to wrestling as the recipient of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame's Order of Merit .
Hastert had served three terms in the Illinois General Assembly before being elected to the House of Representatives in 1986. In 1999, the six-term congressman was elected Speaker of the House after the incumbent Speaker Newt Gingrich stepped down, and his intended replacement, Bob Livingston of Louisiana, gave up the position before he ever assumed it after admitting to having conducted adulterous affairs. Hastert left Congress in 2007.
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