Dennis Hastert, longtime Republican House speaker who went to prison after molestation allegations, dies at age 84

Dennis Hastert, the nation’s longest-serving Republican House speaker, who helped turn much of President George W. Bush’s agenda into law before his legacy was forever fouled by allegations that he molested high school athletes when he was a wrestling coach, died over the weekend at the age of 84, a coroner said on Monday. Hastert, who was speaker from 1999 until 2007, died of natural causes at his home, according to Kendall County, Illinois, Coroner Jacquie Purcell. When he was sentenced in 2016 to more than a year behind bars, the former history teacher became one of the highest-ranking American politicians ever ordered to prison. In the late 1990s, Hastert was a little-known Illinois lawmaker with a reputation for congeniality that had helped him ascend the ranks of congressional leaders.