CHICAGO — Former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, awaiting sentencing in a hush-money case, has suffered a stroke and was admitted to a hospital the first week of November.
Hastert also has been treated for sepsis, a potentially life-threatening complication of infection, and had two back surgeries while in the hospital, his attorney, Tom Green, said in a statement.
“We are very hopeful that Mr. Hastert will be released from the hospital in the early part of the new year,” Green said. “The family very much desires that during Mr. Hastert’s continued hospitalization his privacy will be respected.”
Hastert was accused in May of evading banking regulations as part of a plan to pay hush money to conceal “prior misconduct.” Media outlets, citing anonymous sources, have reported that Hastert wanted to hide claims that he sexually molested someone decades earlier.
The 73-year-old pleaded guilty Oct. 28 to a felony count of evading bank reporting laws in a hush-money scheme. The Illinois Republican acknowledged he sought to pay someone $3.5 million to hide misconduct dating back several decades.
His sentencing date is Feb. 29. Prosecutors recommended that he serve no more than six months in prison.
Hastert’s lawyers are almost certain to ask for a delay in sentencing.
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