Highest-ranking US official to ever serve jail time, former House Speaker Dennis Hastert dead at 84

By Fox News · Fox News

The Purcell County, Illinois, Coroner’s Office says former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., "passed away at his home due to natural causes." The brief statement was posted on the coroner’s website early Monday morning. Hastert was 84 and one of the most ignominious figures to serve in American politics. He was the longest-serving Republican speaker in history, wielding the gavel from 1999 to 2007. But Hastert’s career featured one of the most disgraceful falls from grace, becoming the highest-ranking U.S. official to ever do jail time. MONICA LEWINSKY RECALLS 'VERY DARK MOMENTS' AFTER SCANDAL, SURVIVING JUDGMENT BY 'BILLIONS OF STRANGERS' The scandal involving Hastert emerged years after he left Congress — but dates back to the 1960s and 1970s when he served as high school history teacher and wrestling coach in Illinois. Hastert admitted in 2015 that he sexually abused teenage students and athletes as young as 14 — long before he entered Congress in the mid-1980s. Hastert was an accidental speaker. He served as chief deputy whip in the Republican hierarchy in late 1998 when House Speaker Newt Gingrich , R-Ga., decided to step aside. Gingrich was controversial. Some GOP members had knives out for him and believed Gingrich overplayed his hand pushing for impeachment of President Clinton . This, coupled with Republicans nearly losing control of the House in the 1998 midterms, set the table for Gingrich to step aside. Republicans tapped then-Rep. Bob Livingston, R-La., Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, to become Speaker in 1999. But in late 1998, as the House voted to impeach Clinton, it came to light that Livingston had an inappropriate relationship with a lobbyist. Hours before the House voted to approve two articles of impeachment for Clinton linked to his relationship with Monica Lewinsky , Livingston stepped aside and said he would not stand for speaker in the new year. By nightfall, Republicans picked Hastert, a backbencher, to serve as speaker in 19…