(Photo by Joshua Lott\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nHe took over as Speaker after Newt Gingrich\u2019s resignation and went on to lead the House during President Bill Clinton\u2019s impeachment proceedings. <\/p>\n
He later worked closely with President George W. Bush to advance the administration\u2019s agenda, including major tax cuts and an expansion of Medicare prescription drug benefits.<\/p>\n
Hastert also became associated with the so-called \u201cHastert Rule,\u201d an unwritten practice under which House Republican leaders generally avoided bringing legislation to the floor unless it had the support of a majority of the majority party.<\/p>\n
But whatever accomplishments Hastert accumulated during his decades in politics were ultimately eclipsed by a shocking scandal.<\/p>\n
In 2015, Hastert was charged with violating federal banking laws while making large cash payments to a former student. Prosecutors eventually revealed that the payments were intended to conceal Hastert\u2019s sexual abuse of teenage boys while he was a high school teacher and wrestling coach.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors said Hastert had abused at least four boys during his coaching career.<\/p>\n
\nBecause the alleged abuse had occurred decades earlier, Hastert was not prosecuted for those acts. Instead, he pleaded guilty to financial crimes related to the hush-money payments.<\/p>\n
He was sentenced in 2016 to 15 months in prison, becoming the highest-ranking U.S. elected official to serve a federal prison sentence at that time. During his sentencing, Hastert apologized to the boys he had \u201cmistreated\u201d as a coach.<\/p>\n
The scandal destroyed his reputation.<\/p>\n
His portrait was removed from the U.S. Capitol, and Wheaton College removed his name from a public policy center that had previously honored him.<\/p>\n
Hastert left Congress in 2007 after Democrats regained control of the House and later worked as a lobbyist.<\/p>\n
He is survived by his wife, Jean, and their two adult sons.<\/p>\n
Whatever Hastert\u2019s supporters may have remembered about his years in Washington, his final legacy was inevitably defined by the horrific conduct that emerged after his political career had ended.<\/p>\n
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