Dennis Hastert, the former US House speaker whose career ended in disgrace over child sexual abuse, has died at 84.

Hastert was the longest-serving Republican speaker in US history. He led the House from 1999 to 2007.

In 2016 he was sentenced to prison for breaking banking laws. He had paid hush money to cover up the sexual abuse of boys he coached decades earlier.

The Guardian, CBS News and The New York Times all reported his death. The Times called him a powerful politician disgraced by child sexual abuse.

His fall was one of the sharpest in modern American politics. He went from second in line to the presidency to a federal inmate within a decade.

Hastert served as speaker for eight years, the longest Republican tenure in the post’s history. His 2016 conviction related to structuring bank withdrawals to hide hush-money payments. He admitted in court to sexually abusing boys he had coached as a young teacher. The case shocked Washington. His legacy is now defined by the disgrace, not the speakership.