Dennis Hastert, Former House Speaker, Dies at 84
Dennis Hastert, the disgraced former US House speaker who previously served prison time, died at the age of 84. The news was reported by the Chicago Tribune.
Chicago, IL, October 5, 2026 — Dennis Hastert, who served as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1999 to 2007, has died at the age of 84. The news of his passing was reported by the Chicago Tribune.
Hastert’s tenure as Speaker placed him third in the line of presidential succession during his time in leadership. He represented Illinois’s 14th congressional district for 20 years, from 1987 to 2007, becoming the longest-serving Republican Speaker in the House’s history at that point.
The former congressman’s later years were marked by a public scandal. In 2015, he was indicted on charges related to hush-money payments he made to cover up past sexual misconduct, which allegedly occurred while he was a high school wrestling coach. Hastert pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of lying to the FBI about the withdrawals used for the payments. He was sentenced to 13 months in federal prison and fined $250,000. He began serving his sentence in October 2018.
Details regarding the cause or specific date of his death were not immediately provided in the initial reporting.
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