Hastert arraignment delayed until next week

Ex-U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert’s arraignment has been rescheduled for next Tuesday afternoon, court records show.

That puts off for another week the former congressman’s first appearance in federal court since he was charged with violating banking laws and lying to the FBI.

Hastert has not been seen in public since being charged; it is alleged the cash he was withdrawing was for hush money payoffs that sources say were tied to alleged sexual misconduct decades ago.

He and his wife, Jean, have a home in Plano and a 403-acre farm on the Mississippi River bluffs near Prairie Du Chien, Wis.

His appearance at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse is likely to be brief. He will be officially informed of the charges against him and asked to enter a plea. But the sight of a former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives in a federal courtroom is likely to draw swarms of media and curious spectators.

No lawyer has spoken up on behalf of the Illinois Republican, and no formal appearances have been filed in federal court. But one document filed Monday identified Hastert’s attorney as Barry Levine.

The document did not make clear whether it’s the same Levine who works for the Washington D.C.-based law firm Dickstein Shapiro, where Hastert served as a lobbyist until last week. Neither Levine nor the firm’s spokesman has responded to requests for comment.

In all, it is alleged that $1.7 million in cash payments were made by Hastert to a man to conceal sexual misconduct that allegedly occurred sometime between 1965 and 1981, when he was a high school teacher and wrestling coach in Yorkville.

Hastert’s arraignment had originally been scheduled for Thursday.