Former Speaker Pleads Not Guilty

Former congressman and Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert has pleaded not guilty to all charges today in federal court in Chicago, according to a report from the Associated Press. Hastert is represented by defense attorney Thomas C. Green, who entered the pleas on Hastert’s behalf.

Hastert has been charged with lying to the FBI and evading federal rules governing bank transactions, according to an indictment released Thursday, May 28.

As part of his pretrial release, U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin said Hastert must cooperate in collection of DNA if authorized by court, advise officials before changing his name or phone number and must not violate any laws.

Hastert’s defense attorney says the former House speaker has already surrendered his passport. He’s also required to have no contact with victims or witnesses in the case and have any firearms removed from his property by June 23.

Hastert withdrew large sums of money in order to pay off a person known only as Individual A, according to the indictment.

The indictment states:

In or about 2010, Individual A met with defendant JOHN DENNIS HASTERT multiple times. During at least one of the meetings, Individual A and defendant discussed past misconduct by defendant against Individual A that had occurred years earlier.

During the 2010 meetings and subsequent discussions, defendant JOHN DENNIS HASTERT agreed to provide Individual A $3.5 million in order to compensate for and conceal his prior misconduct against Individual A.

Shortly thereafter, defendant began providing Individual A cash payments.

It later came out that the misconduct mentioned in the indictment was of a sexual nature that occurred when Hastert was employed by Yorkville High School as a teacher and wrestling coach.

Jolene Burdge recently told ABC News that her late brother, Steven Reinboldt, was a victim of Hastert’s but said Reinboldt was not Individual A and neither she nor her brother ever received money from Hastert.

Meanwhile, U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin is giving attorneys until Thursday to decide if they want him to remain on the case.

Durkin had donated $500 to the “Hastert for Congress” campaign in 2002 and $1,000 in 2004. He was an attorney at a Chicago law firm at the time of the donations.

During the former House speaker’s first court appearance on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Durkin said he had no doubt he could be impartial.

John Marshall Law School Evidence Professor and former federal defender Hugh Mundy said that although Hastert pleaded not guilty, it’s likely his counsel will explore the possibility of a guilty plea.

“That’s what happens in the vast majority of federal criminal prosecutions,” Mundy said. “Over 90 percent end in a guilty plea rather than proceeding to trial. So just playing the odds, it seems likely that his lawyers will at least approach or discuss the possibility of a guilty plea to one or both of the charges.”

According to Mundy, very few cases proceed to trial, but this is a unique case both because of the charges and the defendant.

“If Mr. Hastert decided to proceed to trial, the government would be required to prove that he was aware of the reporting requirements and made bank withdrawals to avoid those reporting requirements and that he knew that he was lying to federal agents when he claimed he was keeping that money for himself,” Mundy said.

It’s very rare for a person to plead guilty at an arraignment, according to Mundy, so Hastert’s not guilty plea is not a prediction that he will proceed to trial.

“It’s simply standard procedure in virtually all federal criminal cases,” Mundy said.

One reason Hastert might not want to proceed to trial is because of the possibility of the identity of Individual A getting out.

“That certainly could happen if the case went to trial,” Mundy said. “Mr. Hastert certainly wouldn’t be the first defendant to plead guilty because he was concerned about disturbing allegations to be proved at trial.”