Hastert Pleads Guilty

In an abrupt change, former Republican Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert will plead guilty of flouting banking laws and lying to federal investigators, the New York Times reports. In May, Hastert was charged with structuring cash withdrawals of $1.7 million in a manner intended to avoid detection, and then lying about the withdrawals. In the indictment, Hastert was accused of getting the cash to pay off a person identified only as “Individual A,” to conceal misconduct while Hastert was a high school teacher and coach decades ago.