Republican Corruption Scandals List

Pardoned tech CEO Changpeng Zhao who pleaded guilty to enabling money laundering, drug trafficking and CSAM on his platform while secretly backing the Trump family’s crypto empire after a PR blitz by his company

Communicated disgraced former US Rep. George's prison sentence mere months into his 7-year prison sentence for fraud

Accepted $50,000 cash from undercover FBI agents posing as executives seeking immigration contracts and promised to deliver if Trump returned to power

Directed her government staff to work on her campaign and personal events while on the clock

Used a state vehicle for personal and political errands in violation of state law

Steered $1.5M in public funds to a business park project in exchange for over $67K in kickbacks sent through his wife’s consulting firm and then lied to the authorities when they caught him

Illegally charged taxpayers $2,776.95 for mileage reimbursement he wasn't entitled to since he routinely used a county-owned vehicle for work travel

Lied about his income on an application for state government benefits so he could get taxpayers to pay for things he could've paid for himself

Decreased his home’s assessed value in an apparent attempt to illegally lower his taxes by taking advantage of his position as town assessor

Raked in more than $700,000 for himself and his daughter in exchange for helping to steer more than $10 million in COVID relief funds to a nonprofit she worked at that was supposed to feed needy seniors who were food insecure but instead spent lavishly on private expenses including a $1 million home

Pardoned convicted felon Paul Walczak and spared him from serving any of his 18-month prison sentence or having to pay a penny of his nearly $4.4 million fine mere days after his mother attended a $1 million per person fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago

Pardoned convicted fraudsters Todd and Julie Chrisley who illegally obtained over $30 million in improper loans and failed to pay any taxes on it mere months into their multi-year sentences

Pardoned former MAGA sheriff Scott Jenkins who was convicted of accepting over $75k in bribes the day before he was set to begin serving his 10-year prison sentence

Created a fictitious consulting company along with state rep. Robin Smith and his chief of staff where they charged taxpayers $51,947 for official mailing services and hid his involvement in the scheme by submitting fake invoices to state officials and also accepted bribes from his chief of staff in exchange for his help in securing government approval for the fake consulting company to operate as an official state vendor

Illegally put pressure on a government official to reassess their decision on a property appraisal she had an interest in

Pardoned convicted felon and former Nevada lawmaker Michele Fiore who was found guilty of stealing over $70k from a police charity meant for an officer killed in the line of duty before she ever had to face any type of judgement for her crimes

Illegally pocketed at least $28,000 from hundreds of people who paid her roughly $150 each for her to select them as poll workers over a multiyear period

Quietly commuted the sentence of convicted felon Jason Galanis who still had over 10 years left in his prison sentence for his role in a massive fraud against Native American tribes as an apparent reward for his politicized testimony against Hunter Biden to House Republicans

Accepted cash bribes totaling $72,500 to circumvent concealed carry gun laws by giving people official deputy credentials that allowed them to carry a concealed weapon in any state without a permit

Quietly pardoned disgraced former state Sen. and MAGA diehard Brian Kelsey mere days into his 21-month sentence for campaign finance fraud

Had a romantic relationship with at least two top military officials who frequently lobbied on behalf of the military to the Senate Armed Services Committee of which she was a member

Rushed to give his close friend and former business associate $170k in taxpayer dollars for contract work by skipping the public bidding process that is required by state law and was penalized by his peers with a lifetime ban from the state senate floor

Accepted $25,000 from a Russian national who actively promotes pro-Russian propaganda for his participation in a film where he vowed to “shut down the FBI headquarters building and open it up as a museum to the ‘deep state’” mere months before Trump nominated him to take over as FBI Director

Fraudulently received $30,120 in COVID unemployment benefits while he was still employed and concealed $54,700 in consulting fees he earned and "thousands of dollars in income" from the IRS when he filed his 2021 federal income taxes

Illegally obtained license plates without paying the required $758 fee and then altered public records to make it appear she paid it

Illegally obtained $122,000 in COVID relief funds for two of her businesses by falsifying documents about their total revenues, number of employees and whether the businesses were legally incorporated to begin with

Illegally operated his private business out of the mayor's office where he utilized public resources and personnel to improperly obtain government permits that enriched him personally and then encouraged at least one witness to lie to investigators if they were questioned

Formed fake shell companies to conceal the millions of dollars he earned working as an unregistered foreign agent from the IRS

Violated contractual obligations he signed with the US military by acquiescing to Russian President Vladimir Putin's demand that he deny satellite internet service over Taiwan as a favor to the Chinese leader during one of his many secret conversations he had with the Russian leader over a two-year period

Fraudulently spent $188,474 in COVID relief funds on three luxury sports cars and other expenses after he lied about his company's earnings by nearly 1M in order to increase his chances of getting more grant money

Commuted convicted fraudster Phillip Esformes' sentence after he had only served less than two years of his twenty-year sentence for a massive healthcare fraud following a public relations campaign his well-connected family waged with the Trump White House and after released criminally threatened his wife and another family member with verbal threats and by breaking glassware set on a nearby table

Clandestinely spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin as many as seven times after he left office, during which time he possessed highly classified national security documents he illegally took with him when he left the White House and realistically could have shared with Putin

Secretly gave Russian President Vladimir Putin extremely rare Covid-19 test machines for his personal use at a time they were desperately needed all throughout the United States possibly to curry favor with Putin or as a reward for his 2016 election interference that helped put him in office

Stole at least $36,000 from city taxpayers by falsifying time sheets for poll-workers who didn't show up to their assigned shift and diverted the money to her personal bank account over a yearslong period

Allowed an unauthorized individual to make copies of voting machine hard drives and attend a voting machine software update intended only for credentialed election officials

Received free services from an auto shop in exchange for sending county vehicles to the shop when they needed work done on them

Asked wealthy oil executives to spend $1 billion to elect him in 2024 and promised to throw out environmental regulations designed to combat global climate change on "Day 1" as a reward if he were to return to the White House

Declined to recuse himself from a Supreme Court case determining whether Donald Trump is immune from criminal charges stemming from his attempt to overturn the 2020 election despite the fact that his wife Ginni was intimately involved in the scheme to prevent Biden from becoming President

Stole $9,657 in proceeds from an online auction of old government-owned vehicles

Remained closely tied to his namesake company which ended up raking in at least $7.8 million from 20 different foreign governments throughout his Presidency by having his sons run it instead of placing it in the hands of a neutral arbiter which violated decades of norms and traditions that were in place to prevent a President from profiting off the office

Masterminded a scheme to illegally conceal $2.1 million he earned in a three-month period for lobbying services he provided for the government of Qatar by creating an LLC with his coconspirator to hide the money from federal officials

Helped his coconspirator illegally conceal $2.1 million they earned lobbying for the government of Qatar by creating an LLC with to hide the money from tax authorities and then lied to federal officials twice after they confronted him

Accepted at least $55k in cash bribes and at least one trip to Miami on a private jet from who he thought were local businessmen that wanted preferential treatment for development projects in Cincinnati, Ohio but who were in fact undercover federal agents

Secretly sold up to $50,000 of Boeing shares mere days before a House committee he was on released a highly critical report about the company and then failed to disclose the sale for more than two months and only reported it after he won reelection by a mere 333 votes

Pardoned a convicted drug smuggler who had connections with his son-in-law Jared Kushner's family after only serving two and a half years of his ten-year sentence and who was later arrested for assaulting his wife and father-in-law

Illegally obtained over $45,000 in Small Business Covid-Relief Funds out of $150,000 he applied for by claiming that dormant companies he owned with no employees actually had 6 employees and revenue of $800k and then lied to federal agents when they questioned him about it

Secretly flew on a private plane to attend events hosted by a right-wing organization which frequently argued cases before the Supreme Court and failed to disclose it which George W. Bush appointed judge John E. Jones III characterized as taking his "breath away" and noted that it would have resulted in a "disciplinary hearing" for any lower court federal judge

Secretly accepted a golf trip without reporting it as required by law in which a major Republican businessman flew him on a private jet to play a round and stay overnight at the Augusta National Golf Club (the most exclusive in the country) and soon after his administration gave his business $92 million in COVID relief funds to fund a major highway project

Accepted over $150,000 in cash and gifts including premium NY Mets season tickets, a discounted beachfront apartment, custom-made suit and a one-of-a-kind painting by an apprentice of Spanish surrealist Salvador Dalí in exchange for helping his co-conspirators gain special access to top officials to get a leg up on various pet projects they had

Unsuccessfully solicited an illegal $1 million campaign contribution from executives with the Los Angeles Angels in exchange for giving them confidential information to help boost their negotiation position with the sale of their stadium and then lied to federal officials when they confronted him

Conspired with former state House Speaker Larry Householder to accept $60 million in bribes from a state nuclear energy company that in turn was given a $1.3 billion taxpayer bailout for two struggling nuclear power plants it operated

Masterminded a bribery scheme that saw him illegally raking in a whopping $60 million from a state nuclear energy company that in turn was given a $1.3 billion taxpayer bailout for two struggling nuclear power plants it operated

Declined to recuse himself from an investigation into an addiction recovery center he accepted a $6,900 donation from when in a prior case he forced a judge to recuse themself for accepting a donation of only $250

Traveled free of charge on an opulent private jet chartered by billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Singer to an exclusive Alaskan fishing resort without reporting it on his financial disclosure forms and later voted with the majority in Singer's favor on a case involving his business

Failed to report $100,000 in secret payments his wife accepted from a rightwing organization who filed a legal brief arguing to strike down a major part of the Voting Rights Act after which he joined a 5-4 majority doing just that

Didn't report that the person who purchased a large property he owned -- nine days after he was sworn in as a Supreme Court Justice -- was the CEO of a major law firm that regularly argued for conservative causes before the Supreme Court

Refused to disclose which company he held as much as $25 million worth of stocks in on his legally mandated disclosure forms which makes it impossible for an average taxpayer to ever know if he favored this unknown company in his rulings

Didn't report the proceeds from the sale of family property to conservative donor Harlan Crow -- who then allowed Thomas's mother to continue living at rent-free for years -- on his public disclosure records as required by law

Accepted $110,200 in cash and other bribes including thousands of dollars' worth of sex with a prostitute and chartered flights from a businessman and two lobbyists in exchange for approving their medical marijuana business licenses during his time as chair of Michigan's marijuana licensing board

Secretly took luxurious trips over a twenty-year period without disclosing they were paid by ultra-wealthy conservative donor Harlan Crow which included multiple private jet flights, lavish vacations aboard a 162-foot mega yacht and luxury accommodations at resorts throughout the world

Accepted two loans totaling $8 million for Trump Media from a shadowy entity closely associated with Russian oligarchs at the same time the company was on the verge of dissolution for lack of funding

Accepted over $280k in kickbacks from a local excavation company in exchange for approving over $700k in invoices for purported road work they never performed over an eight-year period

Cashed in between $628,000 and $1.72 million in stocks from companies seen as vulnerable to the burgeoning COVID-19 outbreak over a series of 33 separate transactions after receiving confidential briefings as chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee

Raked in thousands of dollars in illegal campaign donations and accepted gifts including a suite at an NHL game from wealthy donors in exchange for special treatment helping them obtain concealed weapons permits that her office was in charge of approving

Accepted three $5k checks from a local business owner in exchange for a proposing an ordinance that would personally benefit them

Failed to report hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of taxable income to the government and siphoned even more to himself through a PAC that he earned from working as an unregistered foreign agent and lobbyist for the Venezuelan government

Illegally paid $92,800 in taxpayer funds to his legislative aide's relatives to pay for rent at two cottages located well outside his district by falsely declaring that one cottage was his district office which entitled him to a taxpayer funded stipend

Accepted a $2 billion investment from a major investment fund managed by the crown prince of Saudi Arabia -- a major Trump ally during his Administration -- mere months after he stopped working at the Trump White House

Failed to disclose gifts he received from foreign governments in 2020 in a clear violation of the Constitutional ban explicatively prohibiting Presidents from accepting gifts from foreign leaders without Congressional approval

Stole an unknown amount from parking meters that was supposed to be deposited into a government bank account and sold government office furniture through a social media account with the intention of keeping the money he made from the sale

Accepted a $24,000 bribe in exchange for encouraging fellow state lawmakers to contract with a fake consulting company the state speaker of the house created

Used his stature as the second highest-ranking member of the state senate to push through legislation that he knew would have a direct positive impact on his wife's finances she otherwise would not have been able to pursue if the law weren't changed

Pocketed at least $6k to facilitate a bribe between the owner of a nursing home and a judge with an active case that involved the nursing home before his court

Accepted an illegal $24k campaign donation from the owner of a nursing home with an active case before his court and tried to obfuscate its origins by teaming with a coconspirator and former Republican state senator to act as an intermediary and then one day later drastically reduced the amount the nursing home was ordered to pay a family for gross negligence from $5.2 million to $1 million

Accepted $13,000 from a trucking company in exchange for awarding them over $1 million in city contracts

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

Used $30,000 in county funds to repair the private road he lived on that wasn't supposed to be maintained by the county

Improperly charged taxpayers $3,200 to reimburse him for a personal trip to visit Donald Trump in Washington, D.C. without providing any receipts to prove that he did county business during the trip

Accepted thousands of dollars' worth of home remodeling and repairs in addition to securing employment for a woman he was having an affair with from wealthy real estate developer Nate Paul in exchange for investigating Paul's business adversaries and helping him settle a lawsuit in his favor

Pardoned his former top-adviser Steve Bannon before his case went to trial for stealing one million dollars from donors to an online charity fundraiser that he promised would go towards building a wall on the southern border

Pardoned Republican mayor of Mettawa, IL and brother of famed NFL player Brian Urlacher who was charged with being a leader of a multi-million dollar illegal offshore sports gambling ring led by the Chicago mob after personally meeting with the former player at the White House and before the case against his brother had concluded

Pardoned former Republican Rep. Rick Renzi who served time in prison for corruption giving credence to a public relations campaign he led that baselessly accused the DOJ of wrongfully imprisoning him

Pardoned former Republican Rep. Robin Hayes who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his role in a $1.5 million bribery scheme following a request from Republican Senator Thom Tillis

Pardoned notorious former Republican Rep. Duke Cunningham who served an eight-year prison sentence for raking in $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors

Honored a request from Senator Rand Paul to pardon two aides who worked on his father Ron's 2012 Presidential campaign and were convicted for bribing a state senator $73,000 to change his vote in the Iowa caucuses

Rewarded his 2016 campaign chairman Paul Manafort with a pardon after he served less than two years of his 7-year sentence for breaking his plea deal by lying to investigators about information potentially damaging to Trump

Pardoned his senior adviser Roger Stone as a reward for him refusing to testify against Trump after publicly bashing the US Attorneys who prosecuted the criminal obstruction and witness tampering case against him

Rewarded Dutch attorney Alex van der Zwaan with a pardon after he refused to cooperate with the Mueller investigation and served a 30-day sentence for lying to the FBI about his work with top Trump adviser Rick Gates and an individual tied to Russian intelligence services

Pardoned the wife of disgraced Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter who pleaded guilty to stealing campaign contributions for personal use

Pardoned his son-in-law's father Charles Kushner who served 14 months in prison in the early 2000's for illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion and witness tampering 14 years after he concluded his sentence which benefits his namesake company by making it much easier for them to secure financing for major projects

Pardoned former Rep. and early 2016 campaign supporter Duncan Hunter who admitted to stealing campaign contributions for personal use days before he was set to begin his 11-month prison sentence

Pardoned former Rep. Chris Collins as a reward for being the first member of Congress to endorse his 2016 campaign resulting in him only serving 10 weeks of a 26-month prison sentence for insider trading

Commuted former Republican Rep. Steve Stockman's ten-year prison sentence after serving only two years for stealing $1.25 million meant for a charity but using it for personal expenses and to fund his campaign instead

Pardoned his former campaign aide George Papadopoulos who lied to the FBI about his many interactions with top Russian intelligence officials who claimed they had "dirt" on Hillary Clinton that could help the Trump campaign and used the occasion to lash out at Special Counsel Robert Mueller for prosecuting him in the first place

Rewarded former national security adviser Michael Flynn with a pardon after he stopped cooperating with investigators following his guilty plea for lying to the FBI over his communications with top Russian officials before he was sentenced and without consulting with the Justice Department first

Illegally allowed police deputies she oversaw to stay "on the clock" and also accrue vacation time during supposed volunteer work done outside their normal work hours

Made police deputies and other staff members perform non-work services for his personal businesses, at his private property and for his political campaign during their regular work hours

Gave his 2020 Republican acceptance speech from the White House lawn in what one expert described as an “abomination” that “may be the most visible misuse of official position for private gain in America’s history”

Received over $400k in federal COVID relief by falsely claiming two defunct businesses were still operational

Cashed in between $1.275 and $3.1 million in stocks from companies seen as vulnerable to the burgeoning COVID-19 outbreak over a series of 27 transactions that began mere hours after she received a confidential Senate briefing