2026年10月5日 美国东部时间晚上9:13 / 福克斯新闻
哈斯特曾承认与掩盖1960至70年代性侵执教过的少年男孩相关的银行犯罪
作者：查德·珀格拉姆 福克斯新闻
伊利诺伊州肯德尔县验尸官办公室表示，美国历史上任职时间最长的共和党议长、后来成为首位入狱的美国最高级别官员丹尼斯·哈斯特去世，享年84岁。
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已故众议院议长丹尼斯·哈斯特（R-伊利诺伊州）是一位意外当选的议长。
而在他离开国会多年后，世人得知哈斯特的黑暗秘密，同样纯属意外。
那是大约20年前，几乎与事发当天同期。众议院共和党人在2006年中期选举中濒临失去多数席位。而他们的议长丹尼斯·哈斯特正陷入崩溃。
美国首位入狱的最高级别官员、前众议院议长丹尼斯·哈斯特去世，享年84岁
当时的众议员马克·福利（R-佛罗里达州）向担任众议院实习生的高中年龄段男性青少年发送不当信息的消息刚被曝光。2006年9月29日，由共和党领导的众议院正在开会，试图休会以便共和党人能返乡竞选以捍卫多数席位。但共和党人的一切进展都不顺利。公众对乔治·W·布什总统和伊拉克战争日益厌倦。民主党人有望在11月夺回众议院控制权。
1999年1月20日，比尔·克林顿总统在国会两院联席会议发表国情咨文演讲前不久，众议院议长丹尼斯·哈斯特在国会会议厅他的座位旁。（大卫·休姆·肯纳利/盖蒂图片社）
我当时和当时任职于CNN的迪尔德丽·沃尔什看到身材肥胖的哈斯特步履蹒跚地穿过雕像大厅，走向议长办公室。
“他联系你了吗？”沃尔什向哈斯特询问福利的事情。
“你打算怎么处理这件事？”我问道。
“我们稍后会讨论这个问题，”哈斯特低声含糊地说，他的宽框眼镜几乎从鼻梁上滑下来，他喘着气走进议长套房。
一小时后，哈斯特、即将卸任的参议院多数党领袖
比尔·弗里斯特（R-田纳西州）和其他高级共和党人召开了简短的新闻发布会，吹捧他们刚刚通过的一项国家安全法案。这项立法旨在作为共和党人的送行之举，以便议员们返乡竞选。
“好的，我们开始提问。只针对这项法案，”弗里斯特指示道。“只针对这项法案。”
没人吭声。
最后我开口了。
“我们有其他议题的问题，”我宣布，决心询问福利事件。
“好吧，”弗里斯特说着，把椅子往后推了推。
这位田纳西州共和党人知道接下来会发生什么。弗里斯特很高兴自己不必直面福利事件。那是哈斯特的事。尤其是因为弗里斯特计划在2008年竞选总统。
2026年8月7日，美国国会大厦在华盛顿特区。（凯文·卡特/盖蒂图片社）
我询问了福利事件的情况。哈斯特含糊其辞，给出的回答几乎无法用于播出。他嘟囔着说他对福利“不太满意”。但在伤痕累累的共和党人即将离开参加中期选举竞选之际，这是众议院议长就这一丑闻发表的一段讲话录音。
随后有人迅速结束了新闻发布会。仅此而已。
[前共和党众议院议长丹尼斯·哈斯特去世，享年84岁]
几天后，伊利诺伊州的当地记者追问哈斯特他如何处理福利事件。在华盛顿，议长的一名助手被问及，作为一名前教师和教练，哈斯特为何没有更积极地保护青少年实习生。
我们多年后或许找到了答案。
84岁的丹尼斯·哈斯特周末自然去世。这位已故议长是美国政坛最声名狼藉的人物之一。
他是美国历史上任职时间最长的共和党议长，执掌议长职权从1999年到2007年。哈斯特意外登上议长宝座，凭借他人的失误得以晋升。尽管他在国会任职多年，但在他离任近十年后，我们了解到的哈斯特的真面目，显示他是国会史上最变态的人物之一。事实上，哈斯特是美国首位入狱的最高级别官员。
几乎无人知晓，哈斯特是一个肆无忌惮的性掠夺者。国会同事们都称他为“教练”而非“议长先生”，哈斯特在1960年代和1970年代担任高中教师时，就曾侵害少年男孩。
哈斯特从未被卷入实习生丑闻。众议院随后不久就取消了该项目，尽管该项目几乎与美国共和国一样历史悠久。但回想起来，哈斯特在处理众议院实习生事件时的拙劣表现，后来令人震惊地与他的过往联系在了一起。
民主党人在2006年中期选举中轻松赢得众议院控制权。哈斯特没有参选——而且很可能也赢不了——新一届国会的领导层选举。他以普通议员身份留任几个月后，于2007年底辞职。
哈斯特离开国会后几乎销声匿迹。这符合他的行事风格。他担任议长时就回避采访，甚至很少在国会走廊露面。为了为自己对媒体的沉默辩护，这位议长宣称自己更像是一个“倾听者”。
2025年10月1日黎明时分，美国国会大厦西翼。（J·戴维·阿克/盖蒂图片社）
随后，哈斯特原本平淡无奇、几乎被遗忘的议长生涯在2015年迎来了黑暗转折。
联邦银行监管机构盯上了哈斯特几笔数额惊人的可疑现金取款。他们怀疑这些交易表明有人在敲诈这位前议长。于是他们展开了调查。但正是通过这次调查，人们才发现哈斯特实际上一直在支付封口费，以掩盖他与未成年人的性越界行为。
联邦政府以向调查人员撒谎和逃避银行法规的罪名起诉哈斯特。他后来承认了银行相关的罪行。检察官撤销了虚假陈述的指控。联邦法官托马斯·德金宣称这位前议长是“连环儿童性骚扰者”。在法庭上，哈斯特承认他“虐待了运动员”并“利用了”他本应指导的人。
检察官从未以性犯罪罪名起诉哈斯特。他在明尼苏达州罗切斯特的联邦监狱服刑15个月刑期中的13个月。
像他这样在美国政府高层运作的人，能将如此可怕的秘密隐藏这么久，这令人震惊。
正如近20年前福利丑闻曝光、共和党人濒临失去众议院控制权、哈斯特的议长职位被草率终结的那一天一样，他如何登上领导岗位的经历更具启发性。
共和党人在1998年中期选举中险些失去众议院控制权。众议院议长纽特·金里奇（R-佐治亚州）声名狼藉，共和党人将他赶下了台。1998年底，共和党人推举时任拨款委员会主席的众议员鲍勃·利文斯顿（R-路易斯安那州）在1999年成为议长。但随后在1998年12月19日，圣诞节前的周六。
我经历过9/11事件的报道。我经历过1月6日事件的报道。我报道过无数重大听证会、众议院议长凯文·麦卡锡（R-加利福尼亚州）被罢免的事件。甚至还在小时候作为辛辛那提的一名实习记者报道过皮特·罗斯被美国职业棒球大联盟终身禁赛的事件。你能想到的重大事件，我都报道过。
但从纯粹的新闻角度来看，1998年12月19日的事件可以与其中任何一件相媲美。
众议院在圣诞节前的那个周六开会，批准针对克林顿总统的弹劾条款，原因是莫妮卡·莱温斯基丑闻。这将是美国历史上第二次众议院弹劾美国总统。
当天，克林顿总统还下令对违反禁飞区规定的伊拉克发动空袭，这是第一次海湾战争后的行动。因此这条新闻占据了头条。但前一天晚上，有消息称，共和党候任议长利文斯顿与一名说客有染。
将此事与众议院试图因克林顿的性丑闻对其采取行动放在一起对比。
1998年12月19日上午，利文斯顿在众议院 floor 上发言，要求总统为自己的越轨行为辞职。
“不！你辞职！你辞职！”众议院会议厅里民主党人异口同声地发出一片嘘声。
利文斯顿停顿了一下，举起手让喧嚣声平息下来。
这位路易斯安那州共和党人随后宣布，当1999年1月新一届国会召开时，他不会作为共和党候选人参选议长。他承诺几个月后辞去众议院席位。
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国会陷入一片混乱。
众议院共和党人乱作一团。他们需要新的议长候选人。
到傍晚时分，他们选中了J·丹尼斯·哈斯特担任这一职务。时任共和党会议副督导员。哈斯特是共和党领导层团队的一员。但他只是个无名小卒。他那个不起眼的领导职位只是负责在议会中清点票数。
许多报道国会的记者甚至都不知道哈斯特是谁。
哈斯特几乎没有经过媒体的审查。
但当时还有其他重大新闻。对伊拉克的空袭。利文斯顿丑闻。更不用说美国历史上第二次总统弹劾审判了。
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哈斯特于1999年1月执掌议长权杖。他在这个职位上又待了八年。比任何其他共和党人都长。他令人憎恶的过往被掩盖了。
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但最终，丹尼斯·哈斯特并没有将他隐藏了这么久的可憎秘密带进坟墓。
查德·珀格拉姆目前担任福克斯新闻频道（FNC）首席国会通讯员。他于2007年9月加入该网络，总部位于华盛顿特区。
Dennis Hastert, longest-serving Republican House Speaker and convicted child molester, dies at 84
October 5, 2026 9:13pm EDT / Fox News
Hastert pleaded guilty to bank crimes tied to concealing sexual abuse of teenage boys he coached in the 1960s and 1970s
By Chad Pergram Fox News
Dennis Hastert, the longest-serving Republican speaker in history who later became the highest-ranking U.S. official to ever do jail time, died at age 84, the Kendall County, Illinois Coroner’s Office said.
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The late House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) was an accidental speaker.
And it was a sheer accident that the world learned a dark secret about Hastert, years after he left Capitol Hill.
It was twenty years ago, almost to the date. House Republicans were on the verge of losing their majority in the 2006 midterms. And their Speaker, Dennis Hastert, was in meltdown.
HIGHEST-RANKING US OFFICIAL TO EVER SERVE JAIL TIME, FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER DENNIS HASTERT DEAD AT 84
Word had just broken that then-Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) had sent inappropriate messages to high school-age male teens, serving as House pages. The Republican-led House was meeting on September 29, 2006, trying to escape town so the GOP could defend their majority. But nothing was going right for Republicans. The public was growing weary of President George W. Bush and the war in Iraq. Democrats were poised to retake the House in November.
Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert next to his seat in the Congressional Chambers shortly before President Bill Clinton delivers his State of the Union speech before a joint session of Congress on January 20, 1999.(David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images)
Yours truly and Deirdre Walsh — then of CNN — spotted the portly Hastert lumbering across Statuary Hall toward the Speaker’s office.
“Did he call you?” Walsh asked Hastert about Foley.
“What are you going to do about it?” I inquired.
“We’ll talk about that shortly,” mumbled Hastert under his breath, his wide glasses nearly tumbling over the bridge of his nose as he huffed into the Speaker’s suite.
An hour later, Hastert, outgoing Senate Majority Leader
Bill Frist (R-TN) and other top Republicans convened a brief press conference to tout a national security bill they just passed. The legislation was designed as the GOP sendoff as lawmakers went home to campaign.
“Ok, we’ll take questions. Only on the bill,” instructed Frist. “Only on the bill.”
No one even squeaked.
Finally, I piped up.
“We have questions about other subjects,” I announced, determined to ask about Foley.
“Alright,” said Frist, shoving back from the table.
The Tennessee Republican knew what was coming. Frist was happy he wouldn’t have to address Foley. That was something for Hastert. Especially since Frist planned to run for President in 2008.
The U.S. Capitol building is seen on Aug. 7, 2026 in Washington, D.C.(Kevin Carter/Getty Images)
I inquired about Foley. Hastert muttered a non-answer which was barely usable for broadcast. He mumbled something about him not being “very happy” about Foley. But it was a soundbite from the Speaker of the House on the scandal, right as a bloodied GOP hit the exits for the midterm campaign.
Someone then quickly adjourned the press conference. And that was it.
[FORMER REPUBLICAN HOUSE SPEAKER DENNIS HASTERT DEAD AT 84]
A few days later, local reporters in Illinois pressed Hastert about how he handled the Foley matter. Back in Washington, asked one of the Speaker’s aides why Hastert – as a former teacher and coach – wasn’t more aggressive protecting the teen pages.
We may have found out why years later.
Eighty-four year-old Dennis Hastert died of natural causes over the weekend. The late Speaker is one of the most ignominious figures in American politics.
He was the longest-serving Republican Speaker in history, wielding the gavel from 1999 to 2007. Hastert stumbled into the Speakership, rising thanks to the missteps of others. Yet despite his years in Congress, what we learned about Hastert nearly a decade after he left office revealed him to be one of the most grotesque persons to ever serve in Congress. In fact, Hastert is the highest-serving U.S. official to ever serve jail time.
Virtually no one knew it, but Hastert was an unbridled sexual predator. Known as “Coach” rather than “Mr. Speaker” to his Capitol colleagues, Hastert preyed on teenage boys when he taught high school in the 1960s and 1970s.
Hastert was never implicated in the page scandal. The House nixed the program soon afterwards, even though it was nearly as old as the republic. But in retrospect, how Hastert fumbled what was going on with the House pages shockingly added up later.
Democrats won the House handily in the 2006 midterms. Hastert didn’t run – and probably wouldn’t have won – a leadership race in the new Congress. He stuck around as rank-and-file member for a few months and resigned in late 2007.
Few heard much from Hastert after he departed Congress. Such was his style. He shunned interviews as Speaker and was rarely even spotted in the Capitol corridors. To defend his reticence with the press corps, the Speaker proclaimed that he was more of a “listener.”
WASHINGTON, DC – OCTOBER 01: The west front of the U.S. Capitol Building is seen at daybreak on October 1, 2025, in Washington, DC.(J. David Ake/Getty Images)
And then Hastert’s otherwise bland, nearly forgotten Speakership took a dark turn in 2015.
Federal banking regulators flagged Hastert’s curious withdrawals of staggering amounts of cash. They suspected the transactions signaled that someone could be blackmailing the former Speaker. So they investigated. But that’s how it came to light that Hastert was actually paying hush money to conceal his sexual transgressions with minors.
The feds indicted Hastert on charges of lying to investigators and evading banking laws. He later pleaded guilty to the bank crimes. Prosecutors dropped the charge of making false statements. Federal Judge Thomas Durkin declared that the former Speaker was “a serial child molester.” In court, Hastert admitted that he “mistreated athletes” and “took advantage” of those he was supposed to mentor.
Prosecutors never charged Hastert in connection with sex crimes. He served 13 months of a 15-month sentence at a federal facility in Rochester, MN.
It’s remarkable that someone who operated at this level of American government obscured such a hideous secret for so long.
And as instructive as the day nearly 20 years ago when the Foley scandal broke and Republicans were on the verge of losing the House, unceremoniously terminating Hastert’s Speakership — the day that propelled him into the leadership is even more illuminating.
Republicans nearly lost the House in the 1998 midterms. House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) was toxic and Republicans showed him the door. In late 1998, Republicans tapped then-Rep. Bob Livingston (R-LA), chairmanof the Appropriations Committee, to become Speaker in 1999. But then came December 19, 1998. The Saturday before Christmas.
I was on the job on 9/11. I was on the job on January 6. I’ve covered Congress for a litany of big hearings, the removal of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). Even the day they banished Pete Rose from Major League Baseball as a kid reporter back in Cincinnati. You name it, I’ve seen it.
But from a sheer news perspective, December 19, 1998 rivals many of those.
The House met on that Saturday before Christmas to approve articles of impeachment against President Clinton for the Monica Lewinsky scandal. This would mark only the second time in American history that the House impeached an American President.
President Clinton also ordered airstrikes against Iraq for violating no-fly zones following the first Gulf War that day. So that story was in full force. But the night before, there was news that Livingston – the GOP’s Speaker in waiting – had an affair with a lobbyist.
Juxtapose that with what the House was trying to do with Clinton because of his sexual exploits.
On the morning of December 19, 1998, Livingston took to the House floor to demand that the president resign for his transgressions.
“No! You resign! You resign!” came a cacophony of catcalls from Democrats in unison in the House chamber.
Livingston paused and held up his hand to quiet the din.
The Louisiana Republican then announced he would not stand as the GOP’s nominee for Speaker when the new Congress convened in January 1999. He promised to resign from the House a few months later.
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Bedlam tore through the Capitol.
House Republicans scrambled. They needed a new Speaker-designee.
By nightfall, they conscripted J. Dennis Hastert for the job. The Chief Deputy Whip in the Republican Conference. Hastert was a part of the GOP leadership team. But he was a backbencher. His obscure leadership slot was to help count votes on the floor.
Many reporters who covered Congress didn’t even know who Hastert was.
Hastert was barely vetted by the press corps.
But there was other big news. Airstrikes against Iraq. The Livingston scandal. That’s to say nothing of only the second impeachment trial of a President in American history.
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Hastert seized the Speaker’s gavel in January 1999. He remained on the job for another eight years. Longer than any other Republican. His odious past obscured.
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But ultimately, Dennis Hastert did not take to the grave the loathsome secrets he hid for so long.
Chad Pergram currently serves as Chief Congressional Correspondent for FOX News Channel (FNC). He joined the network in September 2007 and is based out of Washington, D.C.
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