Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert Suffers Stroke

— -- Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert is recovering from a stroke, his lawyer said Thursday.

“[D]uring the first week of November our client Dennis Hastert was admitted to the hospital. Mr. Hastert has suffered a stroke and has been treated for Sepsis," Thomas Green said in a statement Thursday.

"While in the hospital two surgeries on his back were performed. We are hopeful that Mr. Hastert will be released from the hospital in the early part of the new year. The family very much desires that during Mr. Hastert’s continued hospitalization his privacy will be respected.”

The 73 year-old former Illinois congressman is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to one count related to hush money paid to allegedly cover up sexual misconduct earlier this year.

In May, Hastert, a Republican who served as speaker for eight years, was charged with "structuring currency transactions" and making false statements to the FBI relating to payments he allegedly made to an individual to conceal "prior misconduct." Federal officials told ABC News that misconduct related to Hastert's alleged sexual abuse of a male student while he was a wrestling coach decades ago.

Hastert could face up to six months in prison.