Former House Speaker Hastert’s lawyers say he doesn’t recall incident of alleged sex abuse

Lawyers for J. Dennis Hastert said in a court filing that the former House speaker had no recollection of sexual abuse decades ago of a former high school wrestler who is scheduled to testify about the alleged incident at Hastert’s upcoming sentencing in a financial case that prosecutors say was related.

The filing, unsealed Wednesday, also said Hastert “deeply regrets” another incident with a different wrestler — identified only as Individual A — during a massage in a motel room but questioned whether it rose to the level of sexual abuse. Hastert was a high school teacher and wrestling coach in Yorkville, Ill., at the time of the alleged incidents.

“While undoubtedly many would consider this episode as described by Individual A, consisting [of] a groin rub for a groin pull and a massage, to be misconduct, we are not so certain that the incident qualifies as sexual misconduct, especially for a coach and trainer 43 years ago,” his lawyers wrote.

The comments were made in a 14-page filing objecting to a recommendation from probation officials that Hastert receive prison time when he is sentenced April 27.

Hastert pleaded guilty to one count of illegally structuring bank withdrawals to avoid reporting requirements. He cannot be prosecuted on abuse charges because the statute of limitations has expired.

The filing also objects to recommendations that Hastert undergo a “sex offender assessment” and submit to a lie-detector test to “reveal any recent misconduct.”

Hastert’s lawyers initially filed the document under seal, arguing that it contained references to the probation department official’s recommendation that is typically not part of the public record. But U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Durkin ordered the document unsealed Wednesday.

In a court filing last week, federal prosecutors alleged that Hastert sexually abused five teenage students in the years before the Illinois Republican’s two-decade tenure in the House of Representatives, including eight years as speaker.

Prosecutors alleged that Hastert performed a sex act on two wrestlers at separate times and inappropriately touched two others, once each, while giving them massages. The filing also alleged that Hastert set up a reclining chair outside the locker room’s showers in order to sit and watch the boys.

Prosecutors said Individual A alleged that Hastert had him stay in a motel room overnight with him while they were returning from a wrestling camp. Individual A had complained about a groin pull, so Hastert said he wanted to check it out and began massaging his groin area after telling him to remove his underwear, the federal court filing said.

When it became clear that Hastert was touching him in an inappropriate way, Individual A jumped off the bed, but he said he was confused and embarrassed and apologized to Hastert, the filing says. He told authorities that Hastert massaged his back and the two slept on the same bed.

In the document unsealed Wednesday, Hastert’s lawyers revealed that a lawyer for Individual A, whom Hastert has paid $1.7 million, threatened to sue the ex-speaker if he doesn’t pay the remaining $1.8 million he allegedly promised to pay in hush money, plus interest. The threat was made in a letter sent by the lawyer in January, the filing said.

Attorney Kristi Browne confirmed that she represents Individual A, a wrestler on Hastert’s team in the 1970s, but she declined to comment further.

It was also revealed that FBI agents wore hidden recorders and secretly recorded Hastert when he was first questioned in December 2014 about hundreds of thousands of dollars in unusual bank withdrawals he’d recently made.

In their filing last week asking for up to six months in prison for Hastert, prosecutors said he lied in a February 2015 proffer session that Individual A was seeking to extort $3.5 million from him over false claims of sexual abuse.

Also Wednesday, prosecutors said they believed another former wrestler of Hastert’s, identified as Individual D, would testify under oath at the sentencing. Individual D told authorities that Hastert performed a sexual act on him in the school locker room when he was 17.

Hastert faces up to five years in prison when he is sentenced.

jmeisner@tribpub.com

Meisner writes for the Chicago Tribune.