Republican Abuse of Power Scandals List

Illegally collected Social Security Disability and retirement benefits from the government by neglecting to inform them about the more than $132,000 he earned working on political campaigns which would have drastically reduced the number of benefits he would have been eligible for

Accepted cash bribes totaling over $150,000 from the co-owner of orthodontic clinics in exchange for his efforts to help overturn a dental practices law he didn't like

Pardoned personal friend Conrad Black who published a fawning book with a title calling him a "President Like No Other" and previously served time for scheming to siphon off millions of dollars from the newspaper company he was CEO of

Pardoned former Army lieutenant Michael Behenna who was convicted of murdering an unarmed Iraqi detainee and attempting to cover it up after Republican Governor Mary Falin and state AG Mike Hunter personally intervened on his behalf

Pardoned his late mentor's grandson who was convicted of felony drug trafficking and tried to keep it secret in a breach of precedent in which governors usually publicly identify the names of people they pardoned

Communicated through close intermediaries to his personal lawyer Michael Cohen that he would pardon him if he didn't cooperate with prosecutors and provide them with potentially damaging information about his business and financial dealings days after the FBI raided Cohen's office and residence

Publicly signaled he would pardon his former campaign manager Paul Manafort if he refused to cooperate with the Mueller investigation after it was reported Manafort repeatedly lied to federal investigators in violation of his earlier plea agreement

Received 16 trademarks from the Chinese government on items ranging from handbags to jewelry three months *after* she supposedly shut down her brand ostensibly to focus on working for her dad in the White House

Received special treatment from the Chinese government who fast tracked 34 of her company's patent applications in one year alone which led to various ethics groups questioning whether Trump made foreign policy decisions that benefited himself and his family’s businesses

Accepted over $900,000 from a well-connected political consultant in exchange for acting in his client's interests in secret by not disclosing the true source of the funds as required by state law and later lied to a grand jury about it in an attempt to cover it up

Rewarded Arizona real estate developer Mike Ingram who donated $10,000 to a Trump super PAC a week prior by pardoning two men he advocated for: convicted arsonists Dwight and Steven Hammond who intentionally set a fire on their property to destroy evidence of their illegal poaching that got out of control and spread to federal land

Used a government-issued credit card for personal expenses including gasoline, claimed mileage for trips that he used a government-owned vehicle for, pressured a witness to lie to federal investigators and lied to investigators himself

Pardoned radical rightwing filmmaker Dinesh D'Souza six years after his conviction of making illegal campaign contributions after Senator Ted Cruz personally lobbied for it

Pardoned Navy sailor Kristian Saucier who illegally took photographs of classified areas inside a nuclear submarine after he and his lawyers baselessly compared his illegal actions to Hillary Clinton using a private server to send and receive emails during her time as Secretary of State

Hired a prostitute on two separate occasions and took her to a hotel room he used taxpayer dollars to pay for while also being a married father of three who voted for stricter solicitation laws shortly before getting caught

Pocketed $46,500 in state grants designated for community upgrades by manipulating the bidding process to award his company a contract for work that was never done

Accepted over $4 million from lobbyists working on behalf of his father's consulting firm and then advocated on their behalf for legislation that would benefit them

Sent pictures of himself masturbating to three women -- two whom he had an extramarital affair with -- and threatened to sic the Capitol Police on one of the women he was involved with if she went public with his naked pictures

Routinely grabbed five female senate staff and lobbyists buttocks, breasts and other parts of their bodies and threatened to retaliate against them by refusing to take meetings with them if they complained about his behavior while also being married

Pardoned Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio after he was convicted of contempt of court for racially profiling and illegally detaining people of Latino descent before he would be sentenced for his crime

Directed three top White House officials to repeatedly call and threaten Morning Joe hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski that a negative article about their private lives would be published in the National Enquirer unless they call him and personally apologize for their negative coverage of him

Told his wife's chief of staff Heather Hannah that she better "watch herself" after he found out she helped his wife secretly record intimate conversations with a woman he was having an affair with

Ordered the head of state police Paul Collier to "be prepared to arrest" his wife's chief of staff Heather Hannah in order to prevent her from going public with details of an affair he had with a senior political adviser

Ordered head of the state police Paul Collier to track down a secret recording of him speaking with a woman he was having an extramarital affair with so he could presumably have the recording destroyed

Directed roughly $600,000 in taxpayer money to a Christian college and another non-profit organization in exchange for a large financial payoff that was facilitated through a third-party consulting company who concealed the bribes

Engaged in a yearlong sexual relationship with a woman who was a defendant in a felony case being litigated in his court and admitted to privately discussing the case with her when confronted

Received a $38k bribe to funnel $600k in government funds to a private evangelical Christian college and another non-profit organization

Secretly paid $44,500 in taxpayer money to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by his former assistant that he fired after she complained about his behavior

Refused to publicly release his tax returns before the 2016 election and while he was President which broke over forty years of precedent meant to show that the President does not have any financial conflicts of interest that could affect his decision making

Had sex with an intern in his private chambers and then later wrote her a letter of recommendation for a job in the local DA's office while also being a married father of two young children who ran on a platform highlighting the "importance of family" in his life

Had sex with an attorney who practiced in his court in his private chambers while also being a married father of two young children who ran on a platform highlighting the "importance of family" in his life

Took bribes including a free vacation to Thailand and a $11k luxury handbag from a military contractor when he was a captain in the Navy

Created a politicized special committee into the 2012 Benghazi attacks -- three years after the attacks happened -- that was designed to undermine Hillary Clinton's standing with the public just as she ramped up her Presidential campaign

Received nearly $50,000 he was not entitled to after he lied about driving 90,000 more miles than he actually did in reimbursement forms he filed with the government and his campaign

Sold his home to a major Republican donor for $925,000 --more than three times its assessed value of $255,000 -- at the height of his reelection campaign

Spent tens of thousands of dollars in taxpayer funds on private jets, automobiles, tickets to the Super Bowl, massages and cigars and many other things over a five-year period

Spent over $100,000 in taxpayer money renovating his Congressional office to resemble a room on the show "Downton Abbey"

Funneled roughly $2.3 million to his private businesses by leveraging his status as state Speaker of the House and chair of the Alabama Republican Party to solicit favors from some of Alabama's most influential politicians (including former Gov. Bob Riley) and businesspeople

Threatened to veto $7.5 million in state funding for an office that was investigating one of his signature projects for corruption unless the District Attorney leading it didn't resign after a DUI which would have been an unprecedented move, presumably after which he could replace her with someone more favorable to his interests

Accepted $12,400 in cash bribes in exchange for helping a health insurance broker keep their contract with a local school district

Charged local taxpayers to reimburse him $1,331 on expenses he spent entertaining a subordinate he was having an extramarital affair with and on rental cars he used to visit the woman and his wife on different weekends

Pardoned a man who killed an 8-month-old boy in an alcohol-fueled crash who belongs to a politically connected family that donates a lot of money to Republicans

Pardoned a man convicted of shooting and killing his estranged wife and infant son and wounding another man less than twenty years into his life sentence

Pardoned a man convicted of shooting his girlfriend in the back and killing her at a public cafe just over ten years into his life sentence

Pardoned a man who shot his victim twice in the head at point blank range less than twenty years into a life sentence

Pardoned the brother of famed NFL quarterback Brett Favre who killed someone else in a drunk driving crash decades ago and had long since completed his sentence which makes you wonder if the only reason he pardoned him is because he's close with Favre

Pardoned a man convicted of soliciting sexually explicit messages from an underage girl after having a private lunch with a close friend of his family

Accepted $255,000 worth of lavish home renovations and over $236,000 in rental payments from billionaire business developer Eitan Wertheimer in exchange for using his position as NYPD Commissioner to lobby on Wertheimer's behalf with city officials, failed to report the additional income on his federal taxes and lied to federal investigators when confronted about it

Pardoned a man convicted of killing a man with a cinder block and then buying his body in a shallow grave less than 9 years into his life sentence

Commuted the sentence of a man who later went on to kill four police officers execution style in Lakewood, WA in a crime that wouldn't have happened if the criminal had to complete his 95-year sentence for burglary and robbery

Had his parents pay his close friend and his friend's wife who he had an affair with $96,000 to keep them both quiet and used his influence to get his friend a corporate lobbying job, all of which resulted in him eventually resigning from the senate

Accepted free vacations and construction services at his vacation home valued at $107,000 in exchange for directing state contracts to a prominent businessman and also failed to report the income on his taxes