denny hastert admitted financial crimes related to him paying hush money to a man that says denny hastertmolested him when he was a high school students. today the judge in his case three times described denny hastert to his face as a serial child molester. in open court he acknowledged that he did sexually abuse multiple boys when he was a teefrp and wrestling coach. he apologized in court today, but he will serve 15 months in prison. he'll have to pay a fine that will go to the crime victim's fine, but there are questions of what will happen to denny hastert. he really was second in line to the presidency for eight years and not all that long ago with this prison sentence today he has become one of the highest ranking politicians to be sentenced to prison time. the speaker of the house did have the decency in november to remove his portrait. that happened after he was charged, but now that he's been not just charged, but convicted and sentenced to prison there remains this interesting political question as to why the house of representatives has not had anything else to say about this v

turning from isis to the embodiment of true evil, dennis hastert. the former speaker of the house and sexual predator is finally facing the music for his crimes. >> hastert finally admitted he had molested boys on the yorkville high school wrestling team he coached decades ago. "what i did was wrong," he said, "and i regret it." judge thomas durkin suggested that was not enough. "nothing is more stunning than having serial child molester and speaker of the house in the same sentence." >> larry: that's true. that's true. the only other ones that come close are "president" and "trump" in the same sentence. on. >> thank you very much. ok, so how long is this old dirty hastert going away for? years? decades? life? >> some breaking news today on the former house speaker dennis hastert. this federal judge in chicago just sentenced him to 15 months in prison plus two more years of supervised release. ( laughter ) ( applause ) >> larry: why do i keep eating yogurt at inopportune moments? 15 months! look, if you've ruined the lives of boys in high school, yo

it knows too much. ( laughter ) ( applause ) now, it might seem weird that a man of dennis hastert's station would risk jail time for breaking treasury laws. but he had under-- i think you might agree-- a perfectly good reason for needing that money. >> federal prosecutors say dennis hastert was paying hush money to a man who was 14 years old when hastert sexually abused him in a motel room decades ago. >> disturbing allegations involving former house speaker dennis hastert that he sexually abused several teenaged boys on the high school wrestling team he once coached. >> trevor: what? the ( bleep )? ( laughter ) a man who for six years was just one pret expel one faulty pacemaker removed from an oval office position is an alleged child molester? laugh i don't understand why this isn't everywhere. this is-- this is shocking. although, technically, we should and could have seen it coming because, let's be honest, whenever there's a news story that starts with the headline, "he was once a high school wrestling coach," the story never ends well. and this story is no exception. >> some o

closely mentored by dennis hastert. the former speaker actually reached out to tom cross for character reference, to be used in today's sentencing hearing. but that reference was never sent. the sister of another victim spoke today in court. her brother died of aids in 1995. >> it wasn't just steve making up the story. >> validation. >> absolutely. >> reporter: today in court the judge asked hastert directly about him. did you sexually abuse him? yes. standing to deliver a statement in a shaky voice, hastert said, i wanted to apologize to the boys i mistreated when i was their coach. still, the judge issued a harsh rebuke, concluding in his words that some actions can obliterate a lifetime of good works. in a statement hastert's lawyer said his client accepts the sentence and hopes he can now focus on fixing the emotional damage he's done to family and friends. so far, authorities have yet to identify the prison where he will serve his time. lester? >> all right. stephanie gosk tonight, thank you. >>> it's been a day of

court documents reveal new details about sexual abuse allegations against former house speaker dennis hastertcutors say hastert abused at least four boys during days as wrestling coach in illinois. he served as speaker of the house. for more on the court documents, bring in nick valencia. prosecutors say he violated a trust between the young boys and their coach. he is not facing charges as relates to these allegations, right? >> right. >> but there are documents that federal authorities released. why? >> they're laying out the case for sentencing. we should remind viewers how we got here. back in october dennis pled guilty to breaking banking laws. two days ago his defense team released the request for sentencing. federal prosecutors released court documents that detail what they say are five cases of sexual molestation of minors at the hands of dennis hastert. how the two are connected, the recent crime of breaking banking laws is recent. federal prosecutors say it is rooted in a dark part of dennis hastert's past in the 1960s and '70s was a wrestling coach. money he was pulling out accordi

also tonight, more sex abuse allegations against former speaker of the house dennis hastert ahead of his sentencing. ♪ some people call me the space cowboy ♪ >> quijano: a rock star rants as he enters the hall of fame. >> the whole process needs to be changed from the top to the bottom. >> quijano: and the search for a cuddly little mascot lost at the edge of captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news." >> quijano: good evening. i'm elaine quijano with a western edition of the broadcast. the elusive terror suspect known as "the han in the hat" is under arrest. mohamed abrini was detained yesterday after a raid in belgium. today, authorities say, abrini confessed to being the third attacker seen in surveillance video at the airport in brussels where 16 people were killed on march 22. abrini is also linked to the attacks in paris last november that killed 130 people. jonathan vigliotti has more. >> reporter: mohamed abrini's confession not only gives a face to the man under the hat. it also reveals a terror cell authorities say was responsible for both the brussels bombi

>> pelley: sentencing day for dennis hastert. a judge calls the man once second in line to the presidency a serial child molester. [bell tolls] parents who lost their son to heroin go public to save lives. >> when you look at this picture, do you see a junkie? >> pelley: and female sports reporters confront hate head on. >> she's a self-important, know-it-all [bleeped]. >> this is ca

the disturbing new details about the allegations against former house speaker dennis hastert, and the hush money he paid to one victim. >>> captured. how authorities tracked down the only woman on the fbi's ten most wanted list, charged in the murder of a texas woman dating her ex-boyfriend. >>> and fighting zika. the increased urgency to stop the spread of the virus in florida, which leads the nation in the number of infections. "nightly news" begins now. >>> from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is "nbc nightly news". reporting tonight, thomas roberts. >> good evening. we begin with breaking news from brussels. in an unexpected twist, belgium's federal prosecutor says they have a confession from the man in the hat, ending a massive manhunt since the march terrorist attacks in brussels. nbc news confirms the alleged suspect is 31-year-old mohamed abrini. captured just over 24 hours ago. authorities say he now admits his involvement with the belgian airport bombings, but they also believe he's a key suspect for playing a role in the deadly paris attacks from november. our

for the first time, prosecutors are saying dennis hastert was paying hush money to a man who was 14 when hastert sexually abused him in a hotel room decades ago. they say he had similar contact with two other wrestlers and the team manager when he was a coach. some incidents happened in the team locker room. these disclosures come in court filings ahead of hastert's sentencing later this month. the justice department lawyer say the victims struggled with what happened and still struggling now. hastert pleaded guilty to bank law violations in october, structuring withdraws to conceal the fact he agreed to pay $3.5 million to one of the victims. the statute of limitations has long since expired on the sexual abuse allegations. for the bank law violation, the government recommends a sentence of up to six months in prison, which is what federal sentencing guidelines have called for. hastert's lawyers said the proper punishment is probation because he's suffered humiliation and isolation since the incidents came to light and because he is, at age 74, in very poor health. dennis hastert will b

nbc's stephanie gosk has more. >> reporter: former speaker of the house dennis hastert arrived at theederal courthouse in a wheelchair. his lawyers argued his poor health should keep him out of prison. but the judge was unsparing. saying if hastert nothing is more stunning than having serial child molester and speaker of the house in the same sentence. hastert was sentence to 15 months in prison for illegally structuring cash withdrawals, hush money to pay a man who was sexually abused by hastert. the statute of limitations has expired but the judge considered the allegations in giving him nearly three times the sentencing recommendation from the federal prosecutor. the lawyer for the alleged victim reacted to the sentence. >> they worked hard to get at the truth and eventually i think they got there. >> reporter: scott cross also wrestled for the yorkville team. now a 53-year-old business man and a father of two. he was referred to as individual "d" by federal prosecutors until speaking out in court. >> after decades of unfathomable silence, he stood up and spoke the truth. >> report

we all have our flaws, but dennis hastert has very few.doesn't deserve what he is going through. >> i mean, yeah. that boggles the mind, that he's never disappointed tom delay in any way? he molested children. these letters were written in february. now that hastert has essentially confessed, do any of the former congressmen wish they perhaps had said something different, especially tom delay, saying hastert doesn't deserve this. >> tom delay wouldn't comment on the letter he wrote, i guess he's sticking by it. anderson, we heard from porter goss, he called me directly to say he is stunned by this. former head of the cia doesn't apologize for the letter he wrote in february, he said he thought it was important for the sentencing judge to weigh the good and the bad in hastert's life, but concerning details that have now come out, he said this. i think everybody is recalculating their view of the speaker. he called hastert's actions inexcusable, not acceptable to any of the parties involved, and i would say he is mostly shocked that none of

well, no republican has served as speaker of the house longer than dennis hastert. during the clinton and george w. bush years, he was second in line to the presidency. today dean reynolds was in the courtroom as hastert admitted for the first time to being a serial child molester. >> reporter: withered and wheelchair-bound, former speaker of the house dennis hastert came to federal court for a public shaping he brought on himself. in the courtroom, hastert finally admitted he had molested boys on the yorkville high school wrestling team he coached decades ago. "what i did was wrong," he said, "and i regret it." judge thomas durkin suggested that was not enough. "nothing is more stunning than having serial child molester and speaker of the house in the same sentence," the judge said. zachary fardon is the u.s. >> mr. hastert's legend and legacy are gone, and in its place are a broken, humiliated man. that is as it should be. >> reporter: six months ago hastert pleaded guilty to violating banking laws by repeatedly making large cash withdrawals. his undoing began in 2

and it seemed that dennis hastert was actually asking for support, a letter of support from one of thosetims' brothers. it just is appalling. >> you know, that really seemed to rub the judge the wrong way. because i think hastert going in, his lawyers had been making, you know, this argument that all of this conduct was old. it was decades old. but the judge said he was so disturbed by that specifically, that he called, you know, this-- a politician well known here in illinois, tom cross, who used to be the leader of the g.o.p. in the illinois house. hastert was a mentor to tom cross. he called him and asked him for a letter. instead, the cross family contacted federal authorities and scott cross, tom's brother, came forward and gave very pointed and very tearful, emotional testimony today, and he was really-- is really the first victim that we have heard from publicly. we've heard from a deceased victim's system who has been, you know, unrelenting in all of this. and, you know, she timely heard what she wanted to hear from hastert today as well. >> sreenivasan: now, the criminal proceed

. >>> and later, dennis hastert was sentenced to prison time after being accused of sexually accusing young boys when he was a wrestling coach. he is a serial child predator. it hasn't gotten focus it deserves. charges that led to the sentence, and what hastert has said and hasn't owned up to. be right back. what's up? ♪ ♪ ♪ does nobody use a turn signal anymore? ♪ ♪coming soon from progressive, it's "savin' u," the new hit single from the dizzcounts. ♪ cash money ♪ the biggest discount and understand... ♪ the dizzcounts. safe driver, paperless, paid-in-full, multi-car and joey fatone. ♪ savin' you five hundred ♪ i'm savin' you five hundred we have auto-tune, right? oh, yeah. that's a hit! all: yeah! [ boss ] it is a very smart plan. so we're all on board? [ paul ] no. this is a stupid plan. hate drama? go to cars.com. research. price. find. only cars.com helps you get the right car without all the drama. i wish we had looked for aou bigger place before he was born. oh, when we wanted another place, first thing we did was check out credit karma - made things a lot easier. that sounds

. >>> let's get to the allegations general former speaker of the house dennis hastert. prosecutors revealing new details alleging hastert sexually abused four boys when he was a wrestling coach years ago. nbc's pete williams has the latest. >> good morning. the first time dennis hastert was paying hush money to a man who was 14 when hastert sexually abused him in a hotel room decades ago. hastert has contact with two other wrestlers while he was the coach. some incidents happened in the team locker room. these disclosures come in court filings ahead of his sentence later this month. the justice department lawyer what happened and still struggling now. hastert pleaded guilty to bank law violations structuring withdraws to conceal the fact he agreed to pay $3.5 million to one of the victims. the statute of limitations has long since expired on the sexual abuse charges. for the bank law violation, the law recommends up to six months in prison. that is federal guidelines. hastert's lawyers say the appropriate punishment is probation because he h moas suffered humiliation and

he did not just mistreat the students, he molested them. >> it's reprehensible that denny hastert actedhat way. and i'm grateful that the judge recognized it as such. >> hart of the statement . >> it follows dozens of letters written on hastert's behalf. one from former majority leader tom delay reading we all have our flaws, but dennis hastert has very few, he doesn't deserve what he's going through. >> some of the people have even asked to retract some of those letters. so i don't think the judge really looked at too many letters. >> in addition to prison time, hastert will need to do two years of supervised release, undergo sex offender treatment and pay a quarter-million dollars to a sex abuse survivors program. the judge pointed out any sentence he could hand down for obvious violations of banking laws pale in comparison to what hastert would have gotten had the statute of limitations not run out on sex abuse cases. >>> how does the freedom to express a person's religion apply to the men and women who lay their lives on the line to preserve that freedom? that's the question tonight

. >>> and later, dennis hastert was sentenced to prison time after being accused of sexually accusing young boys when he was a wrestling coach. he is a serial child predator. it hasn't gotten focus it deserves. charges that led to the sentence, and what hastert has said and hasn't owned up to. be right back. before earning enough cash back from bank of america to buy a new gym bag. before earning 1% cash back everywhere, every time and 2% back at the grocery store. even before he got 3% back on gas. kenny used his bankamericard cash rewards credit card to join the wednesday night league. because he loves to play hoops. not jump through them. that's the excitement of rewarding connections. apply online or at a bank of america near you. it's my job and it's i takealso my passion.rises. but with my back pain i couldn't sleep... so i couldn't get up in time. then i found aleve pm. aleve pm is the only one to combine a safe sleep aid plus the 12-hour strength of aleve... for pain relief that can last into the morning. and now... i'm back. aleve pm for a better am. >>> despite big losses la

that's how long they want dennis hastert to spend in prison. they say he abused four young boys when he was their wrestling coach in the '70s. the former speaker guilty to a financial violation for allege paying hush money to a victim. his lawyer has not admitted his client abused anyone but did say he was sorry. >>> gop presidential candidate ted cruz can add 21 more delegates to his count. cruz swept seven congressional districts. donald trump only picked up two delegates. 13 more are at stake tonight. there is a look at the overall delegate count. the magic number is 1,237. donald trump with 756. cruz with 532. john kasich with 143. >>> let's head to the democratic side of things. both hillary clinton and bernie sanders campaigning hard in new york. clinton is slipping in the polls of her state. she's firing back against over whether she is qualified silly. sanders backed off that statement in a town hall live on the "today" show. at her rochester rally on friday, clinton shifted the focus to the republican candidates. >> a lot of what we're

prince died last week at his home in suburban minneapolis. >>> former house speaker dennis hastert wasnced to prison today for trying to pay off a man who accused him of sexual abuse. it stems from hastert's illegal bank transactions and his efforts to hide them from the federal government. it drew tough words from the judge and a tougher than expected sentence. >> reporter: once house speaker and second in line to the presidency, dennis hastert was wheeled out of a courthouse in shame, sentenced to 15 months in prison. >> mr. hastert's legacy is gone and in its place are a broken, humiliated man. >> reporter: a victim and a sister of a victim told the court how hastert used his position as a high school wrestling coach to abuse teenage boys. her brother steven lived quitely with the shame until he died of aids in 1995. >> we had a really hard childhood. we went through a lot of stuff. i think that's one of the issues that he took -- hastert took advantage of because i think that's typical pedophile behavior. >> reporter: once hastert became rich and powerful, another victim demanded h

house speaker, dennis hastert is learning his fate in court today. >>> and why harvard officials are more worried than ever over a recent mumps outbreak. >> finding curing together and donate together at aarc foundation. this change in attitude brought to you by escape to margaritaville, the new instant game from the pennsylvania lottery. featuring a second chance trip to the fabulous margaritaville beach resort in hollywood beach, florida. the ultimate paradise getaway, offering relaxation, entertainment and adventure. incredible dining and more. escape to margaritaville. paradise could be yours in an instant. keep on scratchin' >>> surveillance video shows a small plane crashing into a tree and then bursting in flames in alabama. and the pit pilot walked away with just a scratch. several witnesses rushed to the crash and smith made it out with just a cut on his hand. >>> the key suspect in last year's paris attacks is now in french custody. brussel extradited abdelhamid abaauoud to paris. he'll appear before investigating judges who will decide how to charge him. prosecutors say he

dennis hastert has been sentenced to 15 months in prison .t is for paying hush money to a victim who said the former high school wrestling coach and abused him as a boy. before the sentence was handed down, dennis hastert and headed for the first time that he sexually abused boys when he was in illinois high school teacher from the 19 axes to the early 1980's. a female suicide bomber carried out an attack in the city of birth in north turkey. there have been a number of bombings by islam state militants. they have focused on the capital of ankara. kenya will burn one of the against ivory stockpiles in the country's history. messageant to send a that the government is serious about saving elephants. 40,000 are killed in africa every year so the tusks and be sold. for how much: longer will elephants roam the need for the slopes of mount kilimanjaro? these giants of the natural world have been coached so fast that in a generation most could be gone. the greed for ivory drives their slaughter across africa. the contents of this room are from thou

"the washington post" reports a $1.8 million lawsuit against former house speaker dennis hastert. an unnamed man claims hastert promised him the money to keep quiet about sexual abuse decades ago. hastert already paid him nearly all of that money and broke banking laws in the process, and he will be sentenced for that tomorrow. "the tennesseen" reports on erin andrews. terms were not revealed. >>> buzz squnfeed reports that a transgender woman claims to have used the bathroom in the office of the north carolina governor. at least 50 demonstrators were arrested yesterday in the capital, raleigh. they were protesting a new state law that bans transgender people from using bathrooms that match their gender identity and also bans anti-discrimination >>> and on the players tribune website, a muslim athlete opens up about a confrontation over her faith. last month she was told to remove her hijab when she attended south by southwest, the festival in texas. >> they kept saying, well, everybody has to remove their hat, essentially like i wasn't special. i asked to speak to the supervisor.

nbc's stephanie gosk has the details. >> reporter: the anonymous man who received payments from dennis hastert that prosecutors say was used as hush money is now suing the former speaker of the house. the lawsuit claims hastert, a wrestling coach at yorkville high school at the time, sexually abused the man when he was just 14 years old, in a hotel room they shared during a wrestling camp. the man referred to in the complaint as james doe was not yet in high school. he's now suing for $1.8 million. the remainder of what the complaint describes as an oral agreement that hastert would pay doe $3.5 million. for years after the incident, the complaint said doe faced, among other things, severe panic attacks, bouts of depression, and long-term psychiatric treatment. today his lawyer spoke publicly about her client for the first time. >> he's a very private person and never sought out this kind of publicity. i can't tell you he's glad it came to light. you know, what happened happened, so he's dealing with those circumstances. >> reporter: the complaint claims james doe did not speak up at the time

>>> there are new details tonight about disturbing allegations involving former house speaker dennis hastert, that he sexually buysed several teenage boys on the high school wrestling team he once coached. the new specifics are from federal prosecutors less than three weeks before he's to be sentenced in connection with a series of financial payments he made to one victim. we get more from justice correspondent pete williams. >> reporter: for the first time, federal prosecutors say dennis hastert was paying hush money to a man who was 14 years old, when hafter sexually abused him in a motel room decades ago. he abused two others and the team manager while he was the coach. some of the incidents room at yorkville high school. one said he would sit in a reclining chair with a view of the stalls where the boys showered. while hastert enjoyed the benefits of a successful political career, his victims struggled and are still struggling with what he did to them and all of them carry the scars of what happened. the wrestling team manager was identified previously at steven ryan bolt who died in 199

courtroom confrontation, as dennis hastert's accuser breaks his silence.man once send in line to the presidency is called a serial child molester by a judge who is sending him to prison. >>> campaign bombshells as trump's landslide wins put him closer to the nomination. cruz is naming a running mate. late word sanders is laying off hundreds of staffers. >>> news in the prince death investigation. what nbc news has learned about prescription painkillers. >>> paying with a selfie. no more cash, no more swiping cards. checking out with just a blink of an eye. >>> inside the secret lab. designing the amazing products of the future. wait until you see what we've uncovered. >>> "nightly news"

that person has now sued dennis hastert. with the was annoyed sexual abuse allegations and his attempt to cover them up. a 15e judge handed down month sentence and he called dennis hastert a serial child molester. host: can he get back into court and fight the sentence? or is this set in stone? guest: he does have appeal rights. i think they are laid out in the plea agreement. they might be limited and i don't have that in front of you now that he does have the option to appeal. talk about how his former colleagues in illinois are reacting to the scandal and the sentence yesterday? guest: i think everyone is taken aback and is shocked by this. and you know, speaking of colleagues. this victim who stepped forward and revealed himself for the first time is actually the brother of the former state house republican leader and a political protege of dennis hastert. so this just added to the shock and disbelief. he tried to file 60 letters of support with the judge. the judge said if he was going to consider them, they would have

. >>> it's decision day against dennis hastert. what's expected to happen later today going to court. >>> and get out the broom, donald trump swept the republican primaries last night and hillary clinton almost did the same. how close they are to clenching their hey mom, i could use some basil. oh, sure thing, sweetie. life is eating out of a flower pot. wait where's the? right. it's being a food paparazzi. honey, your rump roast just broke the internet. as it should. and a takeout romantic. dessert! happy anniversary. life is mucho, and grande. life is eating, laughing, loving and a place to enjoy it together. >>> no rest for the candidates after five states weigh in on the race for the white house. donald trump is set to give a major foreign policy address right here in washington. nbc's tracie potts is live on capitol hill with more on what to expect. tracie, good morning. >> reporter: donald trump is pulling so far ahead in the primary as he called himself last night, he's the presumptive nominee. he still has a few hundred del

it had run out. >> reporter: withered and wheelchair-bound, former speaker of the house dennis hastert came to federal court for a public shaming he'd brought on himself. in the courtroom, hastert finally admit he had molested school wrestling team he coached decades ago. "what i did was wrong," he said, "and i regret it." the judge suggested that was not enough. "nothing is more stunning than having serial child molester and speaker of the house in the same sentence," the judge said. zachary farden is the u.s. attorney. >> mr. hastert's legend and legacy are gone, and in its place are a broken, humiliated man. that it as it should be. >> reporter: six months ago, hastert pleaded guilty to violating banking laws by repeatedly making large cash withdrawals. his undoing began in 2014 when he told the fbi he was keeping the money, though it was actually going to one of his victims known as individual a, as a kind of compensation for his misdeeds. hastert lied again when he said individual a was blackmailing him. a claim the judge called an victimize a victim one more time. individual a wa

dennis hastert paid out $1.7 million to cover this years ago. let's bring in cnn correspondent ryan young outside the courthouse with a little bit of what happened in there including the fact that the judge called him flat out a serial child molester. >> reporter: yeah, brooke, we decided to stay on the inside here. let me tell you, you could feel the judge's anger. if he could sentence him more, he would. he talked about the idea of being a serial child molester. asked him the question straightforward, did you do this one? did you do the second one? the third one? he admitted to two of them and said the other he could not remember. in the courtroom you could hear the pin drop of what happened so many years ago. one of the victim's details in the court that hastert had a chair on the edge of the shower and would watch the wrestling team take showers all the time. everyone started looking around at each other. the judge was like, for you to abuse the idea of being a coach and also being a teacher to take advantage of these boys is absolutely disg