For Dennis Hastert, it could be the easy way out.

A federal court deadline Tuesday will be a pivotal turning point in his felony case, signaling whether the former House speaker will plead guilty to a deal that has been under negotiation since at least late September with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago.


A plea deal would give Hastert his best hope of averting a full public reckoning of allegations and rumors about his alleged misconduct as a teacher and coach, stories that POLITICO found have circulated for decades in political circles in and around Yorkville, Illinois.

In interviews with numerous Hastert associates, POLITICO found that at least some of Hastert's allies were aware of rumors emanating from Yorkville High School as Hastert began his political career after many years as a popular teacher and coach, and no one apparently took action to address them. The findings shed new light on what was known about Hastert’s behavior long before a May 28 indictment spelled out an alleged secretive effort to pay $3.5 million to an anonymous “Individual A” for “past misconduct."

Suzanne Deuchler, who served alongside Hastert in the Illinois House of Representatives, told POLITICO that she heard from a political contact about Hastert’s alleged sexual conduct with a student soon after he was elected in 1980.

“I did hear a few little comments coming from the Yorkville area via people who seemed to know, but didn’t really know,” she said. “It was just local political people talking. ... My contact had heard there was some sexual contact there when he was wrestling coach.”

An Illinois political activist who asked that his name not be used told POLITICO he heard similar talk from Yorkville that Hastert took a sexual interest in students and “before he even got indicted, the rumors kept spreading.”

The activist recalled discussing the remarks with Deuchler on several occasions as Hastert moved from the Illinois legislature to Congress and eventually to the powerful post of House speaker.

Yorkville High graduate Jolene Burdge has been the most vocal critic of Hastert. In June, she told ABC that Hastert had sexual contact for several years with her late brother Steven Reinboldt, who worked closely with Hastert during his high school years as equipment manager for the wrestling team. She said she confronted Hastert when he came to her brother's funeral visitation, but she said he remained silent.

Burdge was interviewed by the FBI during its Hastert investigation and told POLITICO she believes Hastert’s abuse went beyond her brother and the longtime Hastert acquaintance mentioned in the indictment.

“I think there were boys that turned to him who came from bad families where fathers were missing and who needed guidance, a father figure in their life, and I think those were the ones he targeted,” Burdge told POLITICO.

Officials with the Yorkville school district have said they were unaware of such allegations until Hastert’s indictment. However, most of those who worked at the school during Hastert’s tenure — from 1965 to 1981 — have retired or died.

Hastert has not been charged with any crime relating to the abuse of students. His attorney declined to comment for this story.

So far, the name of “Individual A” has remained a mystery to the public. But to keep details under wraps, Hastert’s attorneys would have to carefully structure a deal. He could plead guilty to the banking offense without admitting to or discussing publicly why he made the withdrawals or whether they were in fact part of an effort to hide some aspect of his past, as prosecutors allege.

“A plea deal is the easiest way for Hastert to get this story to end in the public square and not to have detail any of what he did with students when he was a coach,” said Cardozo Law School professor Marci Hamilton.

Judge Thomas Durkin has repeatedly extended the deadline for lengthy pretrial motions, which, if filed, could blow up the negotiations and force a public airing of facts behind the charges. The judge seems reluctant to grant another extension, and Hastert’s defense team on Thursday moved to keep open the prospect of challenging the government’s case, suggesting that negotiations are still underway.

Hastert is charged with illegally structuring nearly $1 million in bank withdrawals that served as hush money to cover up “past misconduct” with a longtime acquaintance and later lying to the FBI about what he did with the money. The former speaker entered pleas of not guilty to the charges at a June hearing and has not been heard from publicly since.

“A plea deal would have the effect of keeping Individual A’s identity confidential,” said former federal judge Paul Cassell, now a law professor at the University of Utah. “That is an advantage of a plea deal. It tends to mean less evidence is produced in public so it’s good for the defendant so the full extent of his wrongdoing isn’t disclosed, and in many cases it’s also good for the victims that don’t have to testify and have their names bandied about in the media.”

The second charge against Hastert — lying to the FBI — poses a greater risk of exposure. A guilty plea to that charge might open the door to a courtroom discussion of his past. Legal experts say that charge might be set aside in any deal.

It’s unclear how much muffled chatter about Hastert followed him to Washington when he was elected to Congress in 1986. Soon after Hastert’s indictment in May, former Rep. Mel Watt (D-N.C.) acknowledged he’d been told of some personal misconduct by Hastert.

“Over 15 years ago, I heard an unseemly rumor from someone who, contrary to what has been reported, was not an intermediary or advocate for the alleged victim’s family,” said Watt, now director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. “It would not be the first nor last time that I, as a member of Congress, would hear rumors or innuendoes about colleagues. I had no direct knowledge of any abuse by former Speaker Hastert and, therefore, took no action.”

Allegations against Hastert surfaced briefly in 2006, when Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) wound up in hot water over inappropriate text messages exchanged with male participants in the House page program. A blog maintained by conspiracy-focused writer Wayne Madsen reported that before Hastert entered politics in Illinois he’d been dogged by rumors of “inappropriate contact with male high school students.”

Hastert’s remained close to some members of his high school wrestling teams, and a few have stepped forward to adamantly defend him. Names of some former students and wrestlers surface in Hastert’s official visitor’s logs at the Illinois Legislature. Hastert hired a former member of the wrestling team for his congressional staff and another dealt with him as a lobbyist, POLITICO found.

Most of those students known to be close to Hastert have gone underground, declining to return phone calls or respond to messages.

Hastert’s political mentor and benefactor, Dallas Ingemunson, a former county prosecutor who served for decades as Kendall County, Illinois, GOP chairman, continues to defend Hastert and thinks he is being “blackmailed.”

Told of Deuchler’s remarks, Ingemunson said he never knew of early concerns about Hastert .

“I have no idea what’s she’s talking about ... not a bit,” Ingemunson said.

However, Ingemunson said he doesn’t know what to make of Burdge's charges about Hastert's relationship with her late brother.

“I’m still very confused by it,” Ingemunson told POLITICO.

Legal experts say such charges would be impossible to bring at this point because of statutes of limitations.

“The statute of limitations is [Hastert's] security blanket,” added Hamilton, a wellknown victims’ rights advocate.



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