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CHICAGO – Federal records indicate the judge overseeing the hush-money case of former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert donated $1,500 to the then-Illinois congressman’s re-election campaigns.
Federal Election Commission records show Thomas M. Durkin gave $500 to the “Hastert for Congress” campaign in 2002, and $1,000 in 2004.
Durkin was an attorney at the Mayer Brown law firm in Chicago at the time. President Barack Obama appointed him a federal judge in 2012.
Durkin’s office said Monday he couldn’t comment on whether he might recuse himself. Hastert, a Republican, is accused of skirting banking laws while withdrawing $952,000 that investigators allege he gave to someone accusing him of wrongdoing.
Judicial ethicist Bob Cummins says Durkin has a good reputation as a judge, and the modest contributions aren’t a clear case for recusal.
