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The Indictments of Defendant Trump are only “unprecedented” in one way — it’s the first time* that a former president committed such blatant crimes, while in office, that he left the Dept of Justice little recourse, but to pursue justice against him. (*Discounting Nixon, who first resigned.)
It is Trump’s actions that are “unprecedented” — not the fact that he is being held to account for those suspected crimes.
Indeed, there is a long, long history of federal politicians being held to account in America. They were convicted for their crimes. Many of them served time. In prison. Their political status DID NOT protect them from being convicted.
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The following is a truncated listing of such convictions, starting with year 1900 convictions. There were numerous of Federal politicians convictions prior to this, but who’s got the time or the inclination to wade through all those.
Data is from wikipedia.org, but this was also rehosted at wikiwand.com for enhanced readability.
The following compressed listing focuses on Criminals and their Sentences. The Administration headers and some background crime details are excluded, to get to the TL;DR version of this relatively common occurrence. Click one of the above links to get the rest of the story, if you want all the details.
List of American federal politicians convicted of crimes
[Bolding and underlining emphasis has been added]
- John W. Langley (R-KY) convicted of violating the Volstead Act (Prohibition). He had also been caught trying to bribe a Prohibition officer. He was sentenced to two years [...] (1926).
- Harry E. Rowbottom (R-IN) was convicted in Federal court of accepting bribes from persons who sought post office appointments. He served one year in Leavenworth (1931).[19]
- James M. Curley (D-MA) fined $1,000 (equivalent to $13,106 in 2022) and served six months for fraud before Harry S. Truman commuted the rest of his sentence (1947).[26]
- Andrew J. May (D-KY) convicted of accepting bribes from a war munitions manufacturer. Was sentenced to 9 months in prison, after which he was pardoned by Truman (1947).[27]
- J. Parnell Thomas (R-NJ) was convicted of salary fraud and given an 18-month sentence and a fine. He was imprisoned in Danbury Prison. After serving his 18 months he was pardoned by Truman (1950).[28]
- Walter E. Brehm (R-OH) convicted of accepting contributions illegally from one of his employees. Received a 15-month suspended sentence and a $5,000 (equivalent to $56,372 in 2022) fine (1951).[29]
- Orland K. Armstrong (R-MS) was convicted of fraud (1953).[30]
- Ernest K. Bramblett (R-CA) received a suspended sentence and a $5,000 (equivalent to $54,486 in 2022) fine for making false statements in connection with payroll padding and kickbacks from congressional employees (1954).[31]
- Thomas J. Lane (D-MA) convicted for evading taxes on his congressional income. Served 4 months in prison, but was re-elected three more times[32] (1956).[33]
- Thomas F. Johnson (D-MD) was convicted of conspiracy and conflict of interest regarding the receipt of illegal gratuities (1962).[34]
- Frank W. Boykin (D-AL) was convicted of conspiracy and conflict of interest (1963).[35]
- Daniel Brewster (D-MD) pleaded no contest to accepting "an unlawful gratuity without corrupt intent" (1969).[36]
- Watergate (1972–1973) [...] Eventually, Nixon resigned his position.[37]
- John N. Mitchell (R) former United States Attorney General, convicted of perjury.[38]
- Richard Kleindienst (R) United States Attorney General, convicted of obstruction, given one month in jail.
- H. R. Haldeman (R) White House Chief of Staff, convicted of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and perjury. Served 18 months in prison.
- John Ehrlichman (R) former White House Counsel, convicted of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and perjury. Served 18 months in prison.
- Egil Krogh (R) United States Undersecretary of Transportation, sentenced to six months.
- John Dean (R) White House Counsel, convicted of obstruction of justice, later reduced to felony offenses and served 4 months.
- Dwight Chapin (R) Secretary to the President of the United States, convicted of perjury.
- Herbert W. Kalmbach (R) Nixon's Personal Attorney, guilty of corrupt practices, 191 days in jail.
- Charles Colson (R) Special Counsel to the President for Public Liaison, convicted of obstruction of justice. Served 7 months.
- Ted Kennedy (D-MA) drove his car into the channel between Chappaquiddick Island and Martha's Vineyard, killing passenger Mary Jo Kopechne. Kennedy pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and received a suspended sentence of two months (1969)[41]
- Martin B. McKneally (R-NY) placed on one year's probation and fined $5,000 (equivalent to $36,130 in 2022) for failing to file income tax return. He had not paid taxes for many years prior (1971).[42]
- Cornelius Gallagher (D-NJ) pleaded guilty to tax evasion, and served two years in prison (1972).[43]
- J. Irving Whalley (R-PA) received suspended three-year sentence and fined $11,000 (equivalent to $72,514 in 2022) in 1973 for using mails to deposit staff salary kickbacks and threatening an employee to prevent her from giving information to the FBI (1973).[44]
- Edwin Reinecke (R-CA) convicted of perjury and sentenced to 18 months in prison as part of the Watergate investigation (1973).[45]
- Earl Butz (R) United States Secretary of Agriculture. He was charged with failing to report more than $148,000 of income in 1978. Butz pleaded guilty to the tax evasion charge and was sentenced to 30 days in jail and five years of probation and was ordered to make restitution. He served 25 days behind bars before his release.[46][47]
- John V. Dowdy (D-TX) convicted of perjury and served six months in prison (1973).[48][49]
- Richard T. Hanna (D-CA) convicted in an influence-buying scandal (1974).[50]
- Frank Brasco (D-NY) sentenced to five years in jail and fined $10,000 (equivalent to $59,339 in 2022) for conspiracy to accept bribes from a reputed Mafia figure who sought truck leasing contracts from the Post Office and loans to buy trucks (1974).[44]
- Bertram Podell (D-NY) pleaded guilty to conspiracy and conflict of interest. He was fined $5,000 (equivalent to $29,669 in 2022) and served four months in prison (1974).[51]
- James F. Hastings (R-NY) convicted of kickbacks and mail fraud, he also took money from his employees for personal use. Served 14 months at Allenwood penitentiary (1976).[52]
- Andrew J. Hinshaw (R-CA) US Representative was convicted of accepting bribes. He served one year in prison (1977).[53][54]
- Richard Tonry (D-LA) pleaded guilty to receiving illegal campaign contributions (1977).[55]
- Charles Diggs (D-MI), convicted on 29 charges of mail fraud and filing false payroll forms which formed a kickback scheme with his staff. Sentenced to three years (1978).[56]
- J. Herbert Burke (R-FL) pleaded guilty to disorderly intoxication, resisting arrest, and nolo contendere to an additional charge of witness tampering. He was sentenced to three months plus fines (1978).[57]
- Frank M. Clark (D-PA) pleaded guilty to mail fraud and tax evasion and was sentenced to two years in prison (1979).[58]
- Operation Ill Wind [...]
- Melvyn Paisley (R) Assistant Secretary of the Navy,[62] was found to have accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes. He pleaded guilty to bribery and served four years in prison.[63][64][65]
- Victor D. Cohen, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force, was the 50th conviction obtained under the Ill Wind probe when he pleaded guilty to accepting bribes and conspiring to defraud the government. He was sentenced to 33 months in prison.[66][67]
- James E. Gaines, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy, took over when Paisley resigned his office.[68] Gaines was convicted of accepting an illegal gratuity and theft and conversion of government property. He was sentenced to six months in prison.[69]
- Deborah Gore Dean (R) Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, convicted of fraud (1988).[70]
- Housing and Urban Development Scandal [...]
- James G. Watt (R) United States Secretary of the Interior, was charged with 25 counts of perjury and obstruction of justice. Sentenced to five years' probation, fined $5,000 (equivalent to $9,603 in 2022) and 500 hours of community service (1995).[72]
- Abscam FBI sting [...] The following Congressmen were convicted:
- Harrison A. Williams Senator (D-NJ) Convicted on 9 counts of bribery and conspiracy. Sentenced to 3 years in prison.[74]
- John Jenrette (D-SC) sentenced to two years in prison for bribery and conspiracy.[75]
- Richard Kelly (R-FL) Accepted $25K and then claimed he was conducting his own investigation into corruption. Served 13 months.[76]
- Raymond Lederer (D-PA) "I can give you me" he said after accepting $50K. Sentenced to 3 years.[77]
- Michael Myers (D-PA) Accepted $50K saying, "...money talks and bullshit walks." Sentenced to 3 years and was expelled from the House.[78]
- Frank Thompson (D-NJ) Sentenced to 3 years.[79]
- John M. Murphy (D-NY) Served 20 months of a 3-year sentence.[80]
- Jon Hinson (R-MS) was arrested for having homosexual oral sex in the House of Representatives' bathroom with a government staffer. Hinson, who was married, later received a 30-day jail sentence, and a year's probation, on condition that he get counseling and treatment (1981).[81][82]
- Joshua Eilberg (D-PA) pleaded guilty to conflict-of-interest charges (1981).[44]
- Dan Flood (D-PA) censured for bribery. After a trial ended in a deadlocked jury, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a year's probation (1981).[83][84]
- Frederick W. Richmond (D-NY), Convicted of tax fraud and possession of marijuana. Served 9 months in prison (1982).[85]
- George V. Hansen (R-ID) censured for failing to fill in disclosure forms. Spent 15 months in prison (1984).[86]
- Wedtech scandal [...]
- Mario Biaggi (D-NY) Convicted of obstruction of justice and accepting illegal gratuities he was sentenced to 2½ years in prison and fined $500K (equivalent to $1,287,932 in 2022) (1987).[88]
- Robert Garcia (D-NY) sentenced to 2½ years.[89]
- David Durenberger Senator (R-MN) denounced by Senate for unethical financial transactions and then disbarred (1990). He pleaded guilty to misuse of public funds and given one year's probation (1995)[95]
- Jay Kim (R-CA) accepted $250,000 (equivalent to $521,342 in 2022) in illegal 1992 campaign contributions and was sentenced to two months' house arrest (1992).[96][97][98][99]
- Nicholas Mavroules (D-MA) was convicted of extortion, accepting illegal gifts and failing to report them on congressional disclosure and income tax forms. Mavroules pleaded guilty to fifteen counts in April 1993 and was sentenced to a fifteen-month prison term (1993).[100][101]
- Albert Bustamante (D-TX) was convicted of accepting bribes and sentenced to three-and-one-half years in prison (1993).[102]
- Darleen Druyun Principal Deputy United States Under Secretary of the Air Force.[106] She pleaded guilty to inflating the price of contracts to favor her future employer, Boeing. In October 2004, she was sentenced to nine months in jail for corruption, fined $5,000 (equivalent to $7,492 in 2022), given three years of supervised release and 150 hours of community service (2005).[107]
- Wes Cooley (R-OR) was convicted of having lied on the 1994 voter information pamphlet about his service in the Army. He was fined and sentenced to two years' probation (1997)[123] He was later convicted of income tax fraud connected to an investment scheme. He was sentenced to one year in prison and to pay restitution of $3.5 million to investors and $138,000 to the IRS.[124]
- Austin Murphy (D-PA) was convicted of one count of voter fraud for filling out absentee ballots for members of a nursing home (1999).[125]
- Mel Reynolds (D-IL) was convicted on 12 counts of sexual assault, obstruction of justice and solicitation of child pornography (1997). He was later convicted of 12 counts of bank fraud (1999).
- John Korsmo (R) Chairman of the Federal Housing Finance Board, pleaded guilty to lying to congress (2005).[126]
- Claude Allen (R) Director of the Domestic Policy Council, was arrested for a series of felony thefts in retail stores. He was convicted on one count (2006).[127]
- Lester Crawford (R) Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, pleaded guilty to conflict of interest and received 3 years suspended sentence and fined $90,000 (equivalent to $130,647 in 2022) (2006).[128]
- Scooter Libby (R) Chief of Staff to Vice President Dick Cheney (R), convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice in the Plame Affair on March 6, 2007, and was sentenced to 30 months in prison and fined $250,000 (equivalent to $352,833 in 2022). His sentence was commuted by George W. Bush (R) on July 1, 2007 (2007).[129] Libby was pardoned by President Donald Trump on April 13, 2018.[130]
- David Safavian (R) Administrator for the Office of Management and Budget[131][132][133] After an overturned conviction and a retrial, he was found guilty of perjury,[134] and sentenced to 12 months (2008).[135][136]
- Robert E. Coughlin (R) Deputy Chief of Staff for the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice, pleaded guilty to accepting bribes relating to the Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal (2009).[126]
- Felipe Sixto (R) Special Assistant for Intergovernmental Affairs, convicted of misusing money. Sentenced to 30 months (2009).[137]
- Scott Bloch (R) United States Special Counsel, pleaded guilty to criminal contempt of Congress for "willfully and unlawfully withholding pertinent information from a House Committee investigating his decision to have several government computers wiped...."[138][139] Bloch was sentenced to one day in jail and two years' probation, and also ordered him to pay a $5,000 (equivalent to $6,281 in 2022) fine and perform 200 hours of community service (2013).[140]
- Jim Traficant (D-OH) was found guilty on ten felony counts of financial corruption, sentenced to eight years in prison and expelled from the House of Representatives (2002).[141]
- Bill Janklow (R-SD) was convicted of second-degree manslaughter for running a stop sign and killing a motorcyclist. Resigned from the House and given 100 days in the county jail and three years' probation (2003).[142]
- Frank Ballance (D-NC) admitted to federal charges of money laundering and mail fraud in October 2005 and was sentenced to four years in prison (2005).[143]
- Duke Cunningham (R-CA) pleaded guilty November 28, 2005, to charges of conspiracy to commit bribery, mail fraud, wire fraud and tax evasion in what came to be called the Cunningham scandal and was sentenced to over eight years in prison (2005).[144]
- Bob Ney (R-OH) pleaded guilty to conspiracy and making false statements as a result of his receiving trips from Jack Abramoff in exchange for legislative favors in the Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal. Ney received 30 months in prison (2007).[145]
- Larry Craig (R-ID) was arrested for lewd conduct in a men's restroom at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on June 11, 2007, and entered a guilty plea to a lesser charge of disorderly conduct on August 8, 2007.
- William J. Jefferson (D-LA) was charged in August 2005 after the FBI seized $90,000 in cash from his home freezer. He was re-elected to the House in 2006, but lost in 2008. He was convicted November 13, 2009, of 11 counts of bribery and sentenced to 13 years in prison (2009).[146] Jefferson's Chief of Staff Brett Pfeffer, was sentenced to 84 months for bribery (2006).[147]
- Mark D. Siljander (R-MI) was convicted of obstruction of justice (2012).[150]
- Laura Richardson (D-CA) was found guilty on seven counts of violating US House rules by improperly using her staff to campaign for her, destroying the evidence and tampering with witness testimony. The House Ethics Committee ordered Richardson to pay a fine of $10,000 (equivalent to $12,747 in 2022) (2012).[151][152]
- Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL) pleaded guilty February 20, 2013, to one count of wire and mail fraud in connection with his misuse of $750,000 in campaign funds. Jackson was sentenced to two-and-one-half years' imprisonment (2013).[153]
- Rick Renzi (R-AZ) was found guilty on 17 of 32 counts against him June 12, 2013, including wire fraud, conspiracy, extortion, racketeering, money laundering and making false statements to insurance regulators (2013).[154]
- Trey Radel (R-FL) was convicted of possession of cocaine in November 2013. As a first-time offender, he was sentenced to one year probation and fined $250. Radel announced he would take a leave of absence, but did not resign. [...]
- Michael Grimm (R-NY) pleaded guilty of felony tax evasion. This was the fourth count in a 20-count indictment brought against him for improper use of campaign funds. The guilty plea had a maximum sentence of three years; he was sentenced to eight months in prison (2015).[158][159]
- Dennis Hastert (R-IL) Speaker of the United States House of Representatives pleaded guilty in court for illegally structuring bank transactions related to payment of $3.5 million to quash allegations of sexual misconduct with a student when he was a high school teacher and coach decades ago.[160] (2016)
- Chaka Fattah (D-PA) was convicted on 23 counts of racketeering, fraud, and other corruption charges (2016).[161]
- Corrine Brown (D-FL) was convicted on 18 felony counts of wire and tax fraud, conspiracy, lying to federal investigators, and other corruption charges (2017).[162][163]
- Anthony Weiner (D-NY)[164] was convicted of sending sexually explicit photos of himself to a 15-year-old girl and was mandated to register as a sex offender. He also was sentenced to 21 months in prison, a charge that was later reduced to 18 months. He reported to prison in November 2017 and was released in May 2019 (2017).[165]
- Samuel B. Kent (R), Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, was sentenced May 11, 2009, to 33 months in prison for having lied about sexually harassing two female employees (2009).[166]
- Jack Camp (R), Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia was arrested in an undercover drug bust while trying to purchase cocaine from an FBI agent and resigned his position after pleading guilty to three criminal charges. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail, fined an undisclosed amount, and ordered to undergo 400 hours of community service (2010).[167][168][169]
- Thomas Porteous (D), Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana was impeached, convicted and removed from office December 8, 2010, on charges of bribery and lying to Congress (2010).[170][171]
- Mark E. Fuller (R) Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, was found guilty of domestic violence and sentenced to 24 weeks of family and domestic training and forced to resign his position (2015).[172][173][174]
- Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE) was found guilty of one count of falsifying and concealing material facts and two counts of making false statements. (2022)[182]
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The exemption from criminal prosecution is for sitting presidents. Once they are out of office, all bets are offs. The other serving politicians, and public officials, have no such federal exemption, as the above list clearly shows.
Bottom-line: Don’t do the crime, if you can’t do the time.
Even for ex-billionaire ex-presidents.
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