Republican US Congress Scandals List

Had an affair with a subordinate staffer who he rewarded with a massive raise and bonus leaving her earning thousands more than her colleagues while also being an unabashed married "family values" Republican with six children

Hired sex workers in Georgia during an unsanctioned trip related to the Afghanistan withdrawal which disgusted his group so much that they cut ties with him before heading to Afghanistan

Skipped a court date tied to a case for driving with a suspended license in Florida and was later arrested for failing to appear

Illegally spent a total of $12,500 in campaign funds to pay for his lodging at a home owned by fellow Rep. Darrell Issa [R-CA] in violation of federal law

Repeatedly threatened to release sex videos and nude photographs of his ex-girlfriend Lindsey Langston and physically assault anyone she dated over a monthslong period of incessant harassment after she left him because of his infidelity

Shared non-public information about a steel manufacturer's finances with his wife who proceeded to buy stock in the company based off his insider information

Bought luxury clothing, erotic adult content online, luxury skin care products, meals and paid off personal debts with more than $50,000 in campaign contributions he told donors would be used to support his bid for Congress

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

Grabbed and forcefully shoved his paramour out of a door leaving noticeable bruising on her arm and then tried to get her to lie to the police about how she got her injuries while also being married with two young children

Brazenly violated House rules he voted in favor of by improperly having a Republican colleague cast two votes for him by proxy so he could skip town to participate in Bill Maher's "Real Time" show after he hypocritically spent years blasting Democrats for the process

Paid more than a dozen women tens of thousands of dollars for sex and left a paper trail by using a mobile cash app to give them the money

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

Attended numerous alcohol and drug-fueled "sex parties" where he consumed cocaine and other illicit drugs while he was a sitting congressman

Allegedly had sex with an underage 17-year-old girl who had just completed her junior year in high school twice in one night at a party hosted by convicted sex offender Joel Greenberg and then paid her $400 in cash afterwards

Consumed too much alcohol and then took some sleep medication while waiting for his flight at a local airport resulting in him missing his flight and being detained by police for public intoxication

Had an affair with a woman and then paid her $7,400 for part-time work at his local district office that she never showed up for and only stopped paying her after his fiancée found out

Used his local connections to get a taxpayer funded job in a local town village for his fiancée and a job with the local sanitation department for her son

Had an extramarital affair with a woman nearly 30 years younger than him that resulted in the destruction of his marriage of 35 years while also publicly portraying himself as “a Christian, conservative family man” who adheres to traditional family values

Packed a handgun in her carryon bag and was caught by airport security when she went through a security check

Falsely reported that he had loaned his campaign $320k and took an additional $700k line of credit on campaign finance forms he submitted in an apparent attempt to make potential challengers think that he had vastly more money in his campaign account than he actually did

Diverted more than $25,000 in campaign contributions to an entity that he was the sole proprietor of and was located at his home address by falsely claiming the money was used to pay rent on office space for his political campaign

Continued to prominently wear a military honor pin for that he didn’t earn and was awarded to him by mistake even after the military revoked the honor

Reportedly lied about being shot during his deployment in Afghanistan when in reality he accidentally shot himself in the arm in a federal park

Drank so much alcohol at a political dinner and gala that servers cut her off and told her she couldn't have any more because she was noticeably drunk

Consumed alcohol and the sleep drug Ambien with subordinates while on duty as President Obama's top physician which could have resulted in catastrophe if he were called to care for the President in an emergency

Had sex with a 21-year-old who was under the influence of "all kinds of controlled substances" at a drug-fueled party she was paid to attend

Asked a young woman who was getting paid by his best friend Joel Greenberg to have sex with other men to join him for a weekend trip to the Florida Keys where he said there would be "2 guys, 4 girls" and insinuated sex would be involved

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

Charged fellow US Rep. Mas Miller's credit card for political donations that "exceeded FEC limits" without his knowledge or consent

Allegedly elbowed fellow GOP Rep. Tim Burchett in his kidney while he was speaking with a reporter, escalating the long-simmering feud between the two which kicked into overdrive after Burchett publicly criticized McCarthy's leadership and voted to oust him from his post as Speaker of the House

Cheated on and left his wife of 34 years for a DC lobbyist after having spent years touting "traditional family values" as a pillar of his political identity

Illegally made more than $126,000 in profit after receiving confidential information about T-Mobile's intention to acquire Sprint from a T-Mobile executive at a golf outing

Illegally profited more than $223,000 by acting on insider information to purchase shares of Navigant Consulting stock shortly before it was acquired by another consulting firm

Publicly fondled her date inside a large theater, vaped smokeless tobacco at her seat, loudly sang along to songs that weren't meant to be sung along to and taunted an usher who properly escorted her and her date out of the theater

Ordered a politicized impeachment inquiry to shamelessly smear President Biden with ridiculous claims to appease Donald Trump and House MAGA House extremists (with leverage to remove him as Speaker) and presumably to also distract from the myriad of real crimes committed by Trump and his associates

Opened a sham investigation into Jack Smith's prosecution of Donald Trump and his co-conspirators based on ridiculous claims from a lawyer involved in the case presumably to hinder it

Was wrestled to the ground and handcuffed by police officers after he refused repeated commands to not interfere with emergency responders helping a 15-year-old girl experiencing seizures during which he screamed one was a "f*cking full-on d*ck!" who "better recalculate, motherf*cker!" while also hypocritically promising he will "ALWAYS stand by our country's police officers" which apparently only applies when it is politically convenient for him

Struck his wife in the head on two separate occasions, had a "history" of physically pinning her to the ground and once punched multiple holes in the wall during an argument

Strangled his wife's neck while their infant daughter slept next to her after he drank himself into a "fiery rage" on Mother's Day

Falsely attacked pages as not being respectful of the history and grandeur of the US Capitol around midnight after hosting a party in his office during which he presumably consumed too much alcohol

Killed his copilot and pinned a teenage girl against a wall after losing power midair and crashing his plane into a residential home which authorities later concluded happened in part due to his negligent flying

Weaponized his GOP committee by threatening FBI Director Christopher Wray with an unprecedented charge of contempt of Congress to get access to a document discredited as not reliable enough to pursue as part of a shameless political smear campaign and sham investigation against Joe Biden without regard to protecting the identities of redacted sources

Forcefully grabbed and pushed back a citizen journalist filming him and other congresspeople giving a press conference outside the US Capitol as the victim yelled "you're hurting me!" while asking Higgins to let him go

Got pregnant and gave birth to a boy during her senior year of high school

Illegally received over $24,000 in COVID unemployment benefits from New York while he was still employed making a $120,000 salary at his job in Florida and then later hypocritically signed on as a top cosigner of a House bill meant to recover these ill-gotten funds

Violated federal law by asserting he had upwards of $5 million in assets that didn't actually exist and falsely reported he loaned his campaign $500,000 on financial disclosure forms he submitted during his 2022 run for Congress because it helped him qualify for financial help from the RNC

Pressured a sexual abuse victim's elderly parents to convince their son to retract his accusation that he knew about rampant sexual abuse by a team doctor he worked with and turned a blind eye to it for years

Refused to disclose what he did with the nearly $25k he raised from a GoFundMe he set up ostensibly to build a to create a burial garden for stillborn babies but never built even though he withdrew all the money that was raised

Allegedly paid an accomplice $100 per day to illegally tamper with ATM machines in order to sell customer credit and debit card data online

Lied about being a "former member of law enforcement" who had a specialization in "international sex crimes" when in fact he was a volunteer reserve deputy who had zero involvement in sex trafficking cases and only lasted two years because he had made no progress in his field training and rarely showed up to required meetings

Lied to a judge about working for Goldman Sachs during a bail hearing for a friend who was accused of fraud

Gave Tucker Carlson exclusive access to 41,000 hours of January 6 insurrection footage captured by surveillance cameras throughout the Capitol complex despite the very real possibility that sensitive information pertaining to the security of the Capitol could be made public

Lied about earning a second bachelors degree in economics from Middle Tennessee State while also publicly asserting "I'm an economist" on numerous occasions

Purchased four golden retriever puppies from an Amish breeder with fraudulent checks that later bounced and left the owner of the puppies out of nearly $5,000 in lost income

Grabbed potential employee Derek Myers' crotch without his consent while they were alone in his office and then told him "my husband is out of town tonight if you want to come over" which he declined

Pocketed $3,000 from a GoFundMe fundraiser meant to save a homeless veteran's dying service dog who later died

Suspiciously listed 37 campaign expenses on purchases like a hotel stay in Miami and other travel expenses as costing $199.99 -- one cent below the legally binding $200 threshold that required itemized receipts -- on his campaign finance forms

Allowed a top campaign aide to impersonate GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy's chief of staff in calls soliciting money from wealthy donors in both the 2020 and 2022 election cycles

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

Voted using his former invalid address instead of the one he actually lived at in a different county 60 miles away in the 2022 primary, general and U.S. Senate runoff elections

Lied about earning degrees in economics and finance from Baruch College and New York University when in fact he hadn't earned any college degree at all

Stole a checkbook from a dying man his mother was caring for and used the stolen checks to purchase clothing and shoes while living in Brazil

Collected $50 per person at a fundraiser he hosted for animal rescue charity Friends of Pets United that did not appear to exist which makes you wonder where that money went

Lied about working for Goldman Sachs and also Citigroup as an "associate asset manager" of which both companies confirmed they had no information of him ever working for 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

Used his influence as a US Rep. to convince a judge to order the arrest and jailing of the husband of a woman he was having an extramarital affair with on bogus kidnapping charges so he could continue seeing her unabated

Used $1,929.07 in campaign funds to pay for 11 months' worth of dues to gain "unlimited access" to a private social and dining club located in Texas

Spent $3,147.06 in campaign funds to pay for an extravagant dinner at a private social and dining club that the nonpartisan Office of Congressional Ethics reported was likely a personal expense and not a fundraising event as he claimed

Got on top of another man while he was naked and simulated receiving oral sex by repeatedly thrusting his pelvis near their head while making high-pitched moaning sounds

Attempted to take his loaded handgun onto his airplane at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, but was stopped by TSA agents who took possession of his weapon and issued him a citation

Promoted a new cryptocurrency he had secret information on one day before it was released to the public without disclosing his investment as required by law

Broke security protocols by sharing live images of a briefing U.S. Representatives & Senators had with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy despite being asked not to share any posts or images until the meeting had concluded

Engaged in a yearlong extramarital affair with a woman who was formerly married to an ISIS terrorist and paid her $5,000 to keep quiet about it

Accepted a $30,200 campaign contribution from Nigerian billionaire Gilbert Chagoury through three "straw donors" and then lied to federal authorities after they confronted him about it

Was caught with an unloaded gun and loaded magazine clip in his carryon bag as he was going through security at a regional airport in North Carolina

Forcefully threw his girlfriend and former Trump White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham against a wall and slapped her on the face in his apartment after she accused him of being unfaithful

Crashed head-on into a light pole in the parking lot of a campus hotel after a night of heavy drinking after which police officers responding at 8:55am observed him stumbling out of his car nearly falling down, noticed he had bloodshot eyes and a strong odor of alcohol on his breath and took a statement from him that he "woke up in urine-soaked pants" after which they arrested him

Violated federal law by neglecting to disclose over $1 million in stock transactions that he conducted shortly after entering office

Snorted cocaine with a paid escort he also presumably had sex with inside an Orlando hotel room he paid for with campaign funds

Drunkenly unhooked a 25-year-old junior lobbyist's bra and massaged her thigh without her consent at a table full of lobbyists at an Irish pub while he was married with two children

Told a female White House medical staff subordinate he'd like to see her tattoos unobstructed of clothing and commented to a male subordinate that she had "great t*ts" and a "nice ass"

Drove multiple women out into remote rural areas while in college and if they turned down his advances, he would drive back to campus recklessly at very high speeds because as one woman described it "he was upset that I had turned him down or refused his advances"

Had an affair with a polyamorous tantric sex aficionado and professional weightlifter while also being married with three young children

Had an affair with a local gym manager while also being married with three young children

Cursed and yelled at police officers who were in the process of arresting minors they caught drinking alcohol and urged the teens to run away which police reported caused the teens to become "unruly" while also portraying herself as a "law and order" politician who supports the police

Scratched her boyfriend's face and chest and vandalized the inside of his home during a drunken argument that happened when she wasn't old enough to legally drink alcohol

Unsuccessfully pushed Georgia's Secretary of State to illegally discard thousands of legally cast ballots from the 2020 Presidential election

Attempted to take his loaded concealed handgun onto an airplane at Tampa International Airport, but was stopped by airport security and forced to secure it before being allowed to board his flight

Illegally used a local UPS store as his legal address for voting purposes in violation of state election law

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

Engaged in multiple extramarital affairs which an acquaintance described as being "out of control" while professing in public to be a "family man" who was devoted to his wife

Inappropriately touched a female Army contractor without her consent and unsuccessfully tried to get her to have sex with him in a room he had just locked while also being married

Illegally gave insider information to his son and others to help them avoid more than $768k in losses by selling their stock in a biotech company before news of a multiple sclerosis drug trial failing FDA authorization went public causing the stock to drop 90%

Ignored repeated accusations of sexual molestation by a team physician for a college wrestling team he coached and even told one student athlete that he wanted "nothing to do with this" after they told him about the alleged abuse

Sucker-punched someone in the back of the head and attempted to run away from the police but got caught

Punched through a glass door leaving a trail of blood from his wrist during a physical altercation with another patron outside of a hookah bar at 2am and then left the scene before police arrived

Propositioned an aide who was decades younger than him to become romantically involved while also being married and then made her life in the office so miserable after she rebuffed his advances that she quit and sued him for sexual harassment, which resulted in him secretly spending thousands of taxpayer dollars to settle

Pressured a female aide to take $5 million to carry his child as a surrogate mother and strongly implied he wanted to impregnate her through intercourse since he was against invitro fertilization

Openly talked with a male aide about "sexual fantasies" and "wet dreams" he had about his female communications director Lauren Greene and fired her after shortly after she filed a formal complaint and then secretly paid her $84,000 in taxpayer funds from a secretive "Office of Compliance" account after she agreed to drop a federal lawsuit she filed against him

Settled a sexual harassment lawsuit with a confidentiality agreement for $84,000 using a secret taxpayer funded account which kept it from the public for years

Routinely "drank to excess” at Capitol Hill functions so much that his staff felt they had to be on "red head patrol" in order to "keep him out of trouble" because he would regularly say sexually improper things to female staff and lobbyists when he was drunk

Had sex multiple times in one day inside his political office in rural Texas with a woman he met on Facebook while also being married

Had sex with a woman who wasn't his wife twice -- once in Washington, D.C. and another time in Texas -- and continued to communicate with her over sexualized text messages, videos and voicemails for five more years

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

Preached the importance of adhering to Christian "family values" like being faithful to your wife but had affairs with 2 different women and sent naked pictures of himself to a third

Asked a woman he was having an extramarital affair with to get an abortion when she told him she thought she was pregnant while also having had voted in favor of numerous abortion restrictions against women

Illegally spent $1.25 million dollars in funds meant for charity on campaign and personal expenses including hot air balloon rides and a new dishwasher

Sexually abused and molested four teenage boys as young as 14-years-old during his time as a high school educator and wrestling coach while he was married

Stole $250,000 from his campaign to spend on everyday personal expenses like family vacations, private school tuition and jewelry in addition to a multitude of expenses that funded at least five extramarital relationships on things like ride shares, bar tabs and hotel rooms

Illegally concealed over $900,000 in business earnings and wages he paid to employees from state and federal tax authorities resulting in an underpayment of nearly $200,000 in taxes over a multiyear period

Lied about the origins of a $355,000 loan to his 2010 congressional campaign that his parents gave him by falsely asserting the money came from earnings he made working in the private sector

Illegally structured hush money payments of $1.7 million to elude federal bank reporting requirements in order to hide the fact he was paying the victim of his past sex crimes and then lied to Federal investigators about it

Physically abused his college girlfriend by grabbing her wrists so hard they would bruise and emotionally abused her by controlling many aspects of her life and demanding to approve of anyone she interacted with

Drove his college girlfriend to get a secret abortion at a Louisville clinic and became "enraged" when he learned she listed his real name as her driver home on the release form which exposed his anti-choice hypocrisy

Billed $50,000 in false expense reports to his campaign by lying about driving 90,000 more miles than he actually did on reimbursement forms

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

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

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

Lied to state officials investigating a wide-ranging scandal involving state Republican Speaker Mike Hubbard and other legislators about his knowledge of Hubbard's actions and how it affected his political success or failure

Made out with one of his married congressional aides inside his office while he was married with five kids

Had a difficult time handing his license and registration to police officers after getting pulled over for speeding, couldn't stand upright without swaying and refused field sobriety and breathalyzer tests upon which he was arrested

Strongarmed leaders of a copper mining company into purchasing a large tract of land from a business associate who owed him money in exchange for him sponsoring legislation that would be favorable to the company, even once explicitly telling those involved "no Sandlin Property, no bill" and then failed to pay taxes on the $733,000 he received from the sale once the deal went through

Fathered a son with a fellow US Senator's daughter while married with eight children and kept it secret for more than 30 years

Ran a red light and then told the officer who pulled him over that he had drank "several shots of vodka" that evening, failed multiple field sobriety tests and submitted to a breathalyzer test which found he had a BAC of .14%

Had extramarital affairs with one of his OBGYN patients, three coworkers and a pharmaceutical drug representative over a multiyear period

Helped facilitate two abortions for his ex-wife while also hypocritically portraying himself as a "consistent support of pro-life values" who repeatedly voted to pass anti-abortion legislation

Urged a woman he was having an affair with who also happened to be his OBGYN patient to get an abortion while having had expressed ardently anti-choice views in public

Secretly siphoned hundreds of thousands of dollars in unreported campaign donations to his personal accounts and used the money on a myriad of personal expenses including his personal credit card and only escaped charges because he exploited a little-known loophole in Florida's campaign finance laws

Accepted 50k to secretly and illegally lobby for the USA to remove a sanctioned organization from the "specially designated global terrorist" list and then lied to the FBI when they questioned him

Emailed a shirtless photo of himself to a woman he found on a "Women Seeking Men" messaging board and lied about his marital status in his message to her

Laundered $190k in corporate donations through Republican national political committees and his PAC as part of a broader scheme that illegally raised over $600k in corporate money funneled into state legislative races in violation of state election law

Had a yearslong affair with a married staffer who he hypocritically filmed a video singing the praises of abstinence with

Had a yearlong extramarital affair with his co-chief of staff who also happened to be the wife of his close friend and got caught when his friend saw a text message Ensign sent to his wife

Had an extramarital affair with a woman he previously dated in college and would have sex with her in a building designated for supposedly devoutly Christian lawmakers to live at while Congress was in session and his wife and five children were back home

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

Kept a secret second family with a former Air Force colonel who gave birth to his daughter and lived part time with them in another state while also being married with three young children who made conservative "family values" a central part of his political identity

Ran a red light with a BAC more than twice the legal limit shortly after leaving a party at the White House, failed numerous field sobriety tests and belligerently threatened to defecate on the floor at the police station after he was arrested

Embezzled $400k in insurance premiums from a company he owned and deposited it into his congressional campaign account and then tried to cover his tracks by transferring ownership of the company to his wife

Solicited a stranger for sex who happened to be an undercover police officer in a men's airport bathroom by using a code (tapping his foot several times and reaching under the stall divider) while also being a married father who was a leading member of the conservative "family values caucus"

Used a notorious DC escort service at least five times as a US Representative while still married to his wife Wendy Vitter and after having spent most of his political career touting the importance of traditional "family values"

Placed his dog inside a carrier strapped to the top of his family car and set off on a 12-hour trip during which the dog became ill with diarrhea that his children had to watch streak down the back window

Had an affair with a House staffer over twenty years younger than him and then divorced his wife weeks after she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis because she didn't want to have an open marriage

Pleasured himself a mere 10 to 15 feet away from an unsuspecting woman he followed from the beach to the pool at a Florida resort

Accepted over $170k worth of international and domestic trips, meals and drinks totaling "many thousands of dollars," tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions, box suite tickets to concerts and sporting events and numerous free fundraisers paid for by Jack Abramoff in exchange for supporting and/or opposing legislation that would benefit Abramoff and then lied under oath to a congressional committee when questioned about his actions

Offered a 17-year-old boy working as a Congressional page oral sex in exchange for free lodgings at his home at the same time he was chair of a special Congressional committee dedicated to protecting exploited children

Had sexual relations with two former male pages and sent dozens of inappropriate and sexually suggestive emails and instant messages to underage male pages over a yearslong period while also having voted in favor of numerous pieces of anti-gay legislation throughout his time in Congress

Asked a 16-year-old male Congressional page to send him photographs of himself and inquired what he could buy him for his birthday over five emails that the page said "really freaked" him out and made him feel "sick"

Routinely got drunk and sent sexualized emails and chat messages to underage male Congressional pages over a multiyear period

Raked in at least $2.4 million in bribes in the form of cash, a home and a plethora of luxury gifts from defense contractors who he then awarded upwards of $40 billion worth of defense and intelligence contracts funded by the US taxpayer using his clout as a prominent member of the House Appropriations and Intelligence committees

Accepted over $120k worth of lavish luxury resort stays and expensive golf trips paid for through his involvement in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal while trading political favors and legislative influence for the trips

Exploited his role as Majority Leader to push the agenda of Jack Abramoff and his clients including Native American tribes seeking to protect casino profits while his wife quietly accepted over $115k from firms tied to Abramoff, his political action committees pulled in donations funneled through Abramoff’s network and his nonprofit the US Family Network pocketed a $1m payment from Russian energy interests linked to Abramoff

Smelled of alcohol and failed a field sobriety test after being pulled over for a malfunctioning tail light

Physically abused his paramour multiple times throughout their yearslong extramarital affair and then paid her $500k to settle a lawsuit she filed against him with the stipulation that she would get less if she went public

Fired his gun inches from the head of a detained Iraqi police officer after his subordinates beat him in order to gain information that the detainee later described as "meaningless information induced by fear and pain" in violation of international law and was fined $5,000 by a military court