Dennis Hastert

John Dennis "Denny" Hastert (/ˈhæstərt/; born January 2, 1942) is a former Republican politician from Illinois, the 51st Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, serving from 1999 to 2007, and an admitted serial child molester. He represented Illinois's 14th congressional district in the House for twenty years, 1987 to 2007. He is the longest-serving Republican Speaker of the House in history. In 2015, Hastert pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges of structuring financial transactions to conceal payments to an individual whom he had sexually abused decades earlier, when Hastert worked as a high school wrestling coach. In 2016, Hastert admitted that he had molested boys, but he could not be criminally charged for these acts due to the statute of limitations expiring.