Hastert's attorney, John Gallo, told U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin that a written plea agreement has been worked out in the case.
Durkin set a hearing for Hastert to enter the guilty plea on Oct. 28 -- five months to the day after the indictment against the former Illinois politician was announced, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Hastert, the longest-serving Republican House Speaker, was indicted in May for lying to the FBI and setting up cash withdrawals to avoid bank reporting requirements to make payments to an unnamed individual to "compensate for and conceal his prior misconduct" against that person. Various media reports at the time indicated that Hastert paid a man -- identified in court documents only as "Individual A" -- to conceal sexual misconduct while the man was a 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.
The indictment alleged that Hastert agreed to make $3.5 million in hush money payments to Individual A to cover up wrongdoing from Hastert while he was a teacher and coach at Yorkville. According to the charges, Hastert lied to the FBI about the reasons he withdrew $952,000 in cash over the previous 2 1/2 years when questioned last December.
Back in June, Hastert, 73, pleaded not guilty to one count each of evading currency reporting requirements and lying to the FBI and remains free on his own recognizance. He did not attend Thursday's brief hearing.
Neither Hastert's attorney nor a spokesperson for the federal prosecutor would answer reporter questions after today's hearing.
Jeffrey Cramer, a former federal prosecutor who now heads up the Chicago-based security firm Kroll, told the Chicago Tribune, "Dennis Hastert wants to avoid a sentencing hearing probably more than any other public official in history. Normally a public figure wants to present all the good things he's done in his life. But that opens the door for prosecutors to bring in their own evidence."
Hastert faces a maximum prison term of five years for the crimes for which he is charged.
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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