Former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert has hired longtime Washington white collar criminal defense attorney Thomas Green to represent him on charges Hastert arranged to pay $3.5 million in hush money to cover up wrongdoing against an acquaintance, a partner with Green's firm confirmed Monday.
The announcement that Green, of the firm Sidley Austin LLC, was representing Hastert comes nearly two weeks after the Republican powerhouse's stunning indictment and a day before he is scheduled to be arraigned on the charges in U.S. District Court in Chicago.
Carter Phillips, a partner at Sidley Austin, confirmed in an email to the Tribune Monday afternoon that Green was hired. He said the firm would have no comment before the hearing, scheduled for 2 p.m. Tuesday before U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin.
According to his bio on Sidley Austin's website, Green has "represented members of Congress and other public officials in responding to some of the most well-known and significant federal and congressional investigations of official misconduct."
Green represented former Assistant Attorney General Robert Mardian during the trial of the Watergate case as well as a prominent businessman and political figure in the prosecution of former Maryland Gov. Marvin Mandel, according to the bio.
Federal court officials in Chicago were bracing for a media frenzy this week. Hastert will enter a plea to the charges and be processed by the U.S. Marshals office before likely being released on his own recognizance.
After nearly two weeks in hiding, Hastert's arraignment is expected to generate a media coverage unseen at the courthouse since then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich's arrest on corruption charges nearly seven years ago.
On Monday, court officials announced that out-of-town reporters and spectators who want a seat in U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin's 14th floor courtroom should begin lining up in the hallway as early as 11:30 a.m. — 2 1/2 hours before the hearing. An overflow courtroom with a live audio feed is being set up to accommodate hordes of reporters, and the feed will also be streamed in the building's press room.
As with all cases, TV cameras and photographers will be restricted to a bullpen in the courthouse lobby, though camera crews have sometimes chased after high-profile defendants out of the building onto South Dearborn Street.
In an emailed news release, Thomas Bruton, the clerk of the court, said courthouse security would address "any action that may cause an unsafe environment."
Hastert was charged in a seven-page indictment unsealed May 28 with illegally structuring bank withdrawals over 4 1/2 years to allegedly conceal $1.7 million in hush payments to "Individual A," who law enforcement sources describe as a former Yorkville High School student Hastert had sexually abused decades earlier. Hastert also was charged with lying to FBI agents who questioned him about the withdrawals in December.
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Federal agents also have interviewed a second person who raised similar allegations of sexual abuse against Hastert that corroborated the account of the initial alleged victim, another law enforcement source said after the indictment.
Last week, a onetime Yorkville resident took to national television to say Hastert abused her now-deceased brother while he was a student. Jolene Burdge, now of Montana, told ABC News her brother, Stephen Reinboldt, was abused by Hastert for years before he graduated in 1971. Hastert was the wrestling coach, and Reinboldt was an equipment manager for the team.
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